Panama City Beach, Florida / Long Beach Resort and area info

November - December 2015, 1-week, Unit 1-902, VRBO #394399

More photos and detail about this resort, the condo unit, and the area can be found in the Panama City Beach Facebook album.

sunrise from the bedroom

Pre-trip research

I started investigating condos and resorts in Panama City Beach February 2015 for our fall trip. This was quite a bit in advance of our trip; however, since we had never done this kind of vacation before, there were a lot of things to consider. Which property? Room type? Which manager or owner to go with? 

By March we had made our decision of where we wanted to stay. We chose Long Beach Resort for several reasons: we liked the floor plan with the large private balcony, we liked the pools and hot tubs, and all the units we considered said non-smoking, and no pets allowed (more detail about this later). We studied several condo photos and reviews, and eventually decided we wanted to rent with Bill Pedersen. He had two units we were interested in: #457462 and #394399. We initially chose 457462; however, repeat guests had priority for that unit, and Bill told us he would let us rent 394399 for the same price (at the time of our research, the weekly rate for 457462 was $100 less than the current price). We accepted the offer, and he marked the unit as rented for the week of our stay.

screen shot of the unit we chose during our research

After this, the reservation process did not continue as I expected.  Bill said he had the unit reserved for us, and he would get the paperwork out to us when summer activity slowed down. It was about the end of April at that time. I had not heard from him by the end of August, so I contacted him again then, and then again in September. Apparently, we had slipped through the cracks (just the paperwork; the condo was still reserved for us), and we completed the paperwork in September. 

This was our first experience with VRBO and with renting a condo. My main disappointment with the reservation process was that we had to send a check for the payment and deposit. We were receiving a discounted rate because the rates had increased since our initial contact, and Bill said that VRBO charges a 2.5% credit card fee. Our credit cards have included vacation/travel coverage, so we do not need to buy travel insurance for our trips. This time, we took a chance with no coverage.

photo taken 11/2015

Long Beach Resort Unit 1-902

This is a one bedroom unit in tower one (the SW end of the property) on the 9th floor. We loved the floor plan. We also liked being on the 9th floor, as we thought this was a good height for beach and water viewing - we saw dolphins swim by a couple of days! Overall, we were happy with this resort and the specific condo, although we experienced a few minor imperfections. Keep in mind, that I am probably pickier than most people!