We have stayed in another 2-bedroom flat within the Gold Coast community in years past and had a much better experience that time. We booked this townhome style condo this time around for more room.
The condo itself was nice, especially for the price, located just steps away from one of the complex's pools. The beds were comfortable and bathrooms were up-to-date. The front bedroom gets sun all day and was always very hot (suggestion: get some darker/thicker curtains or blinds to keep the heat out). The master with king bed was fine, but faces north so it doesn't get as much heat.
We did not use the outdoor patio area - the cushioned furniture looked worn and dirty, and when it rained in the morning, the cushions stayed wet. They'd be better off having a patio table and chairs out there to enjoy breakfast or evenings outside. The patio faces north and doesn't get any sun, which was nice, but we didn't use it.
We would also suggest a normal deadbolt lock for the front door; you have to use the key to "lock yourselves in" which was very inconvenient (and probably a fire hazard!). Kitchen was nice, up-to-date and clean. Another suggestion would be to have some "chip clips" available for guests to close open food bags (we have had those available in other condos). They had 3 beach chairs and towels for our use.
We didn't give this a 5-star because of the lack of communication. We have rented from 4 different owners the last 4 years and every owner has provided detailed instructions and directions for the condo/home, along with instructions for entering the property, check in/check out times, what to do when checking out of the property, even going as far to offer restaurant recommendations. And those were provided the week of our stay.
The day before we left I had to reach out to the property manager to ask for instructions. I was told we would receive them later that night - we didn't get any of the above information. We got a message stating the unit number and combination to the lock, along with a WiFi password to a different unit from what we booked on this site. He thought we might like it better. However, it was not a townhome and not the one we booked, so we waited for someone to come let us in to the townhome. Not exactly how you want to start your vacation! All in all, it's Aruba and we always enjoy our time on the island itself, but there's certainly room for improvement with the things we noted above.
