Rainbow Bend Resort

BED BUGS! After checking into room 5 we should have walked right back out, but thought we’d give it a chance. It looked to be in renovations after the hurricane, so we felt bad for the what looked to be a small older resort. Never again will I not go with my gut instinct. We were visiting for our honeymoon and just wanted to check in and get out and explore what the keys have to offer. After returning to the room and realizing how filthy it was: hair that was not ours in the shower, a small cockroach we killed, grimy stove, and the stench. My husband and I decided we would stick it out until the morning and leave. I woke up at 3 am to use the bathroom and looked at the bed (we slept on top of the comforter because we were too afraid to sleep in it). I saw too many little red bugs crawling all over the bed. We immediately pack packed our car and left to check into another hotel. (Side note we left our luggage in the trunk so we will not infect anywhere else) This was at 4 am. After returning, the girl at the front desk repeatedly tried calling the manager who was too busy to talk to us and told us there were no bed bugs and that the room was fine. Even though I had photos.. I guess people make a habit of sharing fake pictures of bed bugs to get out of staying in a disgusting hotel. No refund and nothing could be done. One hard lesson was learned and I hope no one else pays $219 a night to be bitten up, loose 2 days of vacation because we have to do laundry and debug our luggage and to be called a liar.

After reading the previous reviews, I was expecting the worst when we checked in to this property. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised. Our room was bright, comfortable and recently remodeled. The property has a nice pool area and hot tub which we enjoyed every evening after spending the day touring the area.

There were two king suite options on Booking.com to choose from at this location. They were $60 difference in price. The only difference between the two rooms was the fact that one had an ocean view and one did not. So, I opted to pay the extra $60 for the ocean view. When we got there, we got a room FACING THE ROAD (US1). We were in the FARTHEST building from the ocean and the only things you can hear in the room we stayed in was the traffic moving by just feet away and the people in the rooms next to us (every word they said we could hear). We brought the issue (not ocean view) to the attention of more than one employee while we were there, sent proof of the "ocean view" option on our booking papers, and emailed and called a number of times to get at least refunded the $60 extra we PAID FOR NOTHING. They are not willing to remedy the mistake and have blamed the whole thing on Booking.com instead of manning up and making the customer happy. Every place in The Keys is beautiful...it's The Keys. I'll find a place that actually cares about their customers next time. We paid $350+ to stay two nights for a view of a freaking road. By the way, we took this trip to celebrate getting engaged and specifically picked this room so we'd be able to view the ocean we came to see. What a disappointment that we can't remember this occasion with a better taste in our mouths. We stayed at Captain Pips last year, spent about the same amount of money, and got a beautiful room located right on the beach. They also have already fixed all of their hurricane damage, rent out boats to guests, and have a much better-attached restaurant than this place. I'd suggest booking there for anyone reading this wanting to stay on Marathon.

I reserved this property through one of the major online travel services and the reviews were not that bad. I made a mistake not checking through Tripadvisor prior to booking. This property is very old, but they are slowly repainting, installing newer sinks and flooring with inexpensive lower grade materials. The room I assigned was less than 100 feet from the major road in the Keys and was approximately 150 ft2. The noise from the room next door was even louder than the road noise. Staff was morose at best. Begrudgingly gave me paper coffee cups when I asked because there were none in the room. The adjoining area next to the property wall is littered with debris consisting of plastic containers, broken branches, glass bottles, rope, and more. It all could be cleaned up by a couple of workers in less than a day. The room rate was outrageous for the quality of the accommodation. Beware!

I'll start off by saying, we are Floridians so we do understand that there was a pretty major hurricane recently. We did get a remodeled room, which was surprisingly, and I mean very surprisingly nice. We got to the hotel after spending the day down in Key West since we didn't realize how bad the hurricane had impacted Marathon. The check in was, to say it politely... so unprofessional!!! This resort needs a better front desk person, or people! There were 2 people working when we got there. The lady sitting at the front computer didn't say anything so we had to tell her who we were, she then instructed the other girl to get our keys and had her hop on and over a desk to grab a paper off the printer. Proceeded to not say anything while we sat there not knowing what to do since the other girl gave us our key. The girl who gave us our key answered the hotel's main phone and hung up on a guy and proceeded to call him an idiot while we were standing there. When we were finally told where to go, one of the girls did show us where to go since the floorplan of the resort is very weird. Standing in front of the room before opening the door we were extremely worried as the wooden blinds on the door were broken. Opening into the room wasn't bad. It was actually really nice except it smelled kind of funny. Like a weird chemical, but overall was nice. The rooms were clean. We were shocked at how nice it was from our check in experience. The one downfall to the room is that it's not stocked with pots and pans for cooking. And there wasn't really any dishes. We only stayed a night but if you had chosen this as a week getaway you would have had to eat out every night even though they offer it as a full kitchen. The towels in the bathroom weren't of hotel quality (seemed like some cheap ones from the Dollar Tree) and the shower didn't have shelves in it but had the holters like it should. This resort has sooooo much potential! If they would lose the unprofessional girls at the front desk and cleaned up the outside property (especially by the beach). I am sure they could be very successful.

The property was damaged by the hurricane approximately 18 months ago and has not repaired damage even though it represents itself to be fully functional. The beach is not maintained, several rooms are not open and shutters are falling off buildings. The room was clean however, the window room air conditioner was so loud you could not hear the TV. The shower hardware was rusty and the entrance door had been glued back together. Shades on the door were broken. There were two staff members present - one was helpful the other viewed customers as an intrusion on her cell phone use. We were never told about the availability of "resort" amenities even though we were charged for them. We did not stay but left after about 20 minutes. DO NOT VISIT THIS PROPERTY. I will be reporting this property to the Florida Division of Consumer Protection. Also, do not book through "Hotels.com". Their staff is is not empowered to actually assist and was not at all helpful to us.

My friend reserved what she thought would be a two bedroom suite for our girls trip of 4 older ladies. We could tell it was a “50s” type place from the photos, but this place was just a NO! The room had been renovated but the king sized bed was in the kitchen/living area. WHAT? And ONE bathroom for 4 women. The tv barely worked, the toilet seat was broken upon arrival, the coffee pot was tiny, the French doors to the outside had broken blinds, the room air conditioners were almost loud enough to drown out the road noise. We should have moved on, but our friends card had already been charged and we weren’t sure if we could have found another place at the last minute. The only plus was office worker, Laura who helped us endure our time there.

This place may have "good bones" but it is in bad shape. It was not worth the amount we paid! The towels we were given had huge holes in them. Requested a king bed and got a queen. Dirty room. Spa broken.

Was okay in 2015. Not as pet friendly as we would have liked, but the boats were great. The hurricane destroyed a lot and now I would not recommend it at all. We saw it on our trip in the spring. It was still closed and a real mess.