This house had a number of positives: beautiful location, very comfortable and well-equipped with excellent decor.
Nevertheless, we strongly recommend against staying here. What could have been a great experience turned into a nightmare because of major security problems.
Within 4 hours of arrival, while we were asleep, in a fully locked house, we experienced a home invasion in which we lost many valuables (again, from INSIDE the house).
The security issues did not stop there. We continued to witness additional attempts to break in, which were frustrated by the fact that after the first night we physically jammed the front door before going to bed. On one occasion, with the lights in the house off we saw a man come to the pool area and go through items outside.
Thus, we lost 4 pairs of sneakers and several clothes. We didn’t leave valuables outside, but we did leave dirty shoes, and hung our towels, swimsuits and laundry to dry. You cannot do that in this house. A very uncomfortable situation for a relaxed vacation by the ocean.
These incidents left us all with a sense of vulnerability. First, that this happened within hours of our arrival made us suspect that either this house and/or us were somehow targeted, with knowledge of our arrival—something we cannot prove but which was the r reaction of many locals who talked to us and given some of the context for this house.
Moreover, we learned that a number of people have keys to the house and can access it. Also, when we rented the house, and based on the advertisement, we were led to believe that the house was protected by strong and secure fence around it. It was not: major gaps in the fence during our stay made it possible for anyone to access the property at ease. This was unknown to us at time of booking
Finally, unlike many other rental houses on the island, the house lacks other security measures which would have been helpful to mitigate the attempts at breaking in: only one motion sensing light at the front door, no cameras or alarm system, no safe, etc.
While the owner was sympathetic, in the end no remediation or action was offered to address the problems.
Bottom Line: this house gives unrestricted access to anyone from the street, appears to be known as an insecure home, and may have people attempting to get in. Unless you are prepared to live as if in a fortress, then it is a house that will end up providing inordinate stress to you and your family.