This unique house is beautiful and the setting is stunning. No expense was spared in the outside sitting areas. There are so many peaceful retreat niches throughout the property - great places to read or look out. The pool was a luxury for our family andwe spent a portion of each day in it. The dock was amazing, and the lounging mat stretched over the former boat slip was such a wonderful idea. We also enjoyed the underwater light at night which drew large schools of fish to the area. We saw manatees, dolphins and lots of different fish every day.
The things that I would want to know as a renter would be the following:
The main house's master suite is a loft suite, meaning there is no fourth wall and no door to seal off the noise from the only kitchen on the property. As the host, my husband and I would have selected this room as ours, because the terrace is wonderful. Unfortunately, the noise factor was a deal killer, so we opted for the only bedroom that had a bathroom en suite (That was the Jungle Room). Since the doors in the Jungle Room facing the pool do not have all doors covered, we had to drape a blanket over the center door for privacy and darkness, but we made do.
Secondly, every exterior door including the 2 shared bathrooms have an electronic keypad requiring a 6-digit code. The 6 digits seemed excessive and the keypads on the bathroom doors seemed unnecessary. We learned that if you didn't accidentally bump the pad when closing the door, then you could open the door without entering the code.
Thirdly, our party was pretty small for the size of the house (we never exceeded 7 -- though the house sleeps 12), so we expected to have no trouble. The fridge seems very small for the size of the house and there is no way it was holding a week's worth of groceries for 12 people. There is a second basic fridge and freezer on the ground level, which came in handy because the main fridge never really got cold enough.
Lastly, parking is a challenge and having more than 4 cars seems unlikely though it might be doable with planning and parking cars behind one another.
We had an incredible time and this house was absolutely perfect for what we wanted. Tripower Vacation Rentals were great to work with and very responsive. The fridge's water and ice did not work and they brought us bags of ice the next day.