Sorry that you had such a bad experience. Did you book with a management company? They are really pretty strict in the Caymans about the conditions etc of what official rental properties must have, their overall condition and what you are charged. Although the management company takes a large percentage, we feel it offers protection to owners and tenants. Thanks for the heads up here and I think you should let the management company (or governing body) know what you had to deal with. It gives everyone else in the rental market a bad name.

Don't know if it was your first trip to Cayman, I hope you enjoyed the diving/restaurants or some of the other activities!

The house is named Spanish Bay Getaway address 131 North Conch Point Road in West Bay, Grand Cayman British West Indies on the northern end of the island from Georgetown. It is next to the old abandoned Spanish Bay Reef resort that was so popular with divers in years past. I understand that Morritt’s bought the old Spanish Bay Reef but has not remodeled or opened it for rentals. Sadly the house on the other side of Spanish Bay Getaway is also abandoned, falling down and overgrown with vegetation. Just know what you are in for when you stay at Spanish Bay Getaway. You will over-pay for the home thinking it is in perfect condition based on the web descriptions. The antiques and wool rugs are inappropriate for an island vacation home. The house was very dirty. The house is really in just medium shape for rental. Truly sad because it has a million dollar view. Spanish Bay Getaway gets a thumbs down rating from me.

I was thinking about renting this place and when I spoke to the owner he said he would fax over a rental contract that I could review. Once I received the contract I said no way was I renting this place. They charge a fortune for utilities and maid service and you have to put down a large security deposit (I think it was around $500) and only half of it was refundable after checkout. He said the non refundable half went towards a very extensive (7-8 hour) cleaning the maid does upon checkout. I think the owner of this house is a scam artist and people should stay away.

hopefully others are as smart as you! How dreadful for someone to rent trusting they are vacationing at a lovely place only to pay up front and only after arrival find such sub-standard conditions. Good thing TripAdvisor is a conduit for honest, unbiased, accurrate info...God willing, ANYONE planning a vacation to ANYWHERE, comes to Trip Advisor before signing on the dotted line!

As an aside, do not know for sure, but perhaps even with internation rentals if cost is put on credit card there might be a way to get financial staisfaction when scammed like those whose paid to stay at this place which definitely did not offer as promised.

Good thoughts, LoveCayman, but the owner refused to take a credit card even though the website implied a credit card was acceptable. I could go through his website line-by-line and dispute almost everything it says. Such a lack of integrity - what a disappointment.

Maryland -- I really do hope that you contact the authrities in GC that regulate rentals. What happened is totally unfair and the owner should be reported. Maybe the place is falling apart and the sewage is backing up resulting from problems with the shut down of Spanish Bay Club. However, even trying to be kind about that is no excuse for the property being dirty, the lack of credit card acceptance, and the extra money paid for cleaning etc. It doesn't even seem as though the owner is "unaware" of the situation. While I realize that there may be some "old" stuff floating around in cyberspace, you should have been completely updated before you gave your deposit. Best wishes on your next holiday and hopefully there will be lots of wonderful surprises in store for you to make for this last one!

I love Grand Cayman and have been going there since the 70's. I have stayed in many places on Grand Cayman that I would recommend instead of Spanish Bay Getaway. Ones I loved:

The Cayman Sands house on the north shore www.caymansands.com is wonderful and if anything does go wrong the property manager has the correct response to offer a discount on the next stay and a coupon to a nearby restaurant for your troubles. The house is in much better condition than Spanish Bay Getaway and has much better amenities - and the price on the website is the price - no hidden utility or cleaning deposits.

I have also stayed at Villas of the Galleon. The Villas are in a great location on Seven Mile beach. I have not stayed there since Ivan repairs were completed but I have driven by and it looks good from the outside. You can't beat the location and for big groups you can get 1 2 or 3 bedroom condos. The only downside is that the only pool is the ocean - which is one of the best you may ever see.

I stayed at the old Caribbean Club that now is completely different than when I stayed there because it was torn down and rebuilt from the ground up after the hurricane. I would give them a try. Also a great location and all brand new.

It is unfortunate that the Spanish Bay Reef has been closed for over a year now and nothing has been done to remodel the place or tear it down. It has a great diving location. I heard that Morritt's bought it and hope they build a new resort there soon.

The Spanish Bay Getaway has so much potential it is too bad it was such bust. All the guy had to do was tell us he was sorry we had so many problems, maybe offer a discount for another stay or perhaps offer a gift certificate to a local restaurant, but no, he doesn't offer anything for our troubles. We paid over $300 extra for a cottage that after it filled up with sewage for 2 days we couldn't stay in. We had to double up in rooms instead for the rest of the 10 nights we stayed.

The trip was still great. We went diving with Divetech at Cobalt Coast both shore and boat dives and had a great experience. The boat was top notch and the crew and dive master were well trained and paid attention to the divers. The tanks could have been filled to 3000 but the dives were so great! We stuck with them diving and at the end of the trip they gave us the multi-dive discount.

Cobalt Coast had a great lunch with a good burger and everybody liked the grilled and fried fish and chips. I would like to stay here sometime when it would be an all diving trip. It would be very convenient and I am sorry to say after over 30 years of going to Cayman I have never been diving on the northwest wall.

The Cracked Conch was a really good restaurant with a great Coconut shrimp. The Coconut Casserole was delightful dish except I only got one little bitty taste. I wanted to go back to the bar it was so unique and pretty inside.

We ate at Mezza's for the first time this trip too. Had a great steak and a really delightful bar. I would definitely go back.

The Royal Palms is a good evening meal and the lunch pizza from the rooftop restaurant at the Reef was excellent. The webcam at the Royal Palms is cool - search for Cayman webcams and see for yourself.

Once again we did a shore dive at Sunset house and snorkeled there too seeing a 5-6 foot reef shark - what fun. The mermaid is still waving her hand to the sea.

The Cemetary Reef was all but destroyed by Ivan but the fish still gather there and who can resist a good snorkel there.

We did the dive at Bonnie's Arch and the sealife is amazing there. I also highly recommend the Oro Verde Wreck - the wreck and reef are busy with life and the water is crystal clear.

Ahhh Cayman I will be back soon....

In this era any rental that will not accept payment by a major credit card should raise a BIG RED FLAG to potential guests.

I recently stayed at Spanish Bay Getaway as a repeat guest (first time in Jan 2007 then again over the holidays of this year) and have experienced none of the complaints that have been posted on this site. If anything, the house remains one of the most satisfying experiences I've had while vacationing in the Caribbean. The house is spacious and clean with astounding views. While you're only 10 minutes away by car from Seven Mile Beach, you are still worlds away in a wonderful private decorated house that provided our families a place to enjoy and relax. We had more than enough of space and the pool was great throughout the entire trip (as was the weather). In addition, the owner negotiated discounts for various situations such as our Avis car rental, scuba diving through the Westin resort, and provided us with untold advice from where to dine to how to explore the other side of the island. In fact, we plan to continue utilizing both the house in years to come since we have yet to find such a luxurious and wonderful experience for a comparable price anywhere else in the Caribbean.

All in all, I vehemently disagree with the below assessments of the quality of the house (it's outstanding and very clean--the maids came throughout the week), the location (it's a gem in a sea of touristy places that over charge and under perform) and the assistance of the owner. I spoke with him at length prior to agreeing to the rental contract and his confident manner and generous assistance was more than enough for me to go forth. Renting here turned out to be one of the best decisions we've made as a family. We plan to continue to go back, adding to our family’s memories.

Thanks for your positive post. Very interesting, makes me wonder........

I have often said that what is pleasing to one person, be it a destination, accomodations or restaurants, may not be as pleasing to someone else.