Dreaming of a beautiful hotel on the beach like this?

...make sure you don't end up in the shack of the year!

Do not book your hotel through SoBeach Rentals and My South Beach Getaway! This is a total scam – they steal your money and leave you without a room.

Booking a room for the Winter Music Conference can be a laborous task. There are literally thousands of  rooms and tons of places to book them through; it can be confusing and sometimes things go awry, as they did for me when I booked my condo at The Shelborne through SoBeach Rentals, also known as My South Beach Getaway.

If anyone has booked a room or a condo through this company please  note: THEY ARE  A SCAM AND HAVE CHANGED NAMES, PRETENDING TO GO OUT OF BUSINESS and you have most likely lost your reservation and possibly your money!

Here’s my story, and if you think this has happened to you, the solution follows:

Being an organized person, back in July of last year I started pricing out my options for WMC because I knew I would be attending. I came across SoBeach Rentals website (which is no longer up) and discovered they were offering a 50% discount on their condos at The Shelborne if you paid the entire booking upfront- no problem! However soon after the booking, the problems began:

Problem #1: My first issue with them came when they re-charged my card the entire amount when they were ”changing over their credit card systems.” Okay- I can deal with that, they refunded me the money.

Problem #2: They disappeared for the entire month of  October, and when they finally got back to me they claimed they were “restructuring” the company but my reservation was safe and “not to worry.” Okay, I didn’t.

Problem #3: Major disaster. I called last week to see if they had any other rooms available for my friends, and their phone number disconnected- website down! I freaked out. I called the Shelborne Hotel in hopes they could point me in the right direction, they directed me to the condo association manager, as they have no ties to the condo rentals whatsoever. The manager quickly gave me the new contact information for the company which had changed names and was now My South Beach Getaway with owner Antoinette McRae still holding the reigns. HOWEVER when I called My South Beach Getaway, Ann claimed she was a totally NEW owner and that the change over had just happened overnight, and that was why I never even got a phone call or email letting me know! She ALSO said she had NO record of my reservation, and only an email for the “old” owner, which of course she wouldn’t give me. She was so nice at first I actually bought it, until I called the condo manager back and he assured me she was indeed the same owner and she was lying. I was still skeptical, UNTIL I received a call from the head of the Shelborne Hotel, telling me that he had heard so many horror stories about this company and he had actually reported them to the Mayor, as this was making the hotel also look bad, because people assume they are associated- which they are not, so please keep that in mind! I called Ann back and she pretended to not be herself and said she would have “Ann” call us back, and of course she never did! We have since pursued actions against them through the Better Business Bureau.

IF THIS HAS HAPPENED TO YOU:

First and foremost, CALL your credit card company or bank, depending on if you used a credit card or check card. File a claim to dispute IMMEDIATELY! Have your contract with them ready to send over and I am posting all of the new contact info below. Then go to the Better Business Bureau and file a claim against them. Hopefully if enough people do so we can shut them down so this will never happen again! Below is the contact info for Antoinette Mcrae. Please don’t be fooled by her when you call, she will try to be nice and pretend to help you but she is just saving her own ass!

Antoinette McRae

Office: 305-433-4365

Email: info@mysouthbeachgetaway.com

Stay tuned for my post about how to book a condo or hotel, and being sure you will have a room when you arrive!

We want this to be a great experience for you, so I hope sharing my story has helped others in situations like this!  xoxo