Stephanie Laurer Davis and her family have been looking forward to their Naples beach vacation for nearly a year.
That’s when the Massachusetts resident booked a vacation rental home near Vanderbilt Beach.
“I have family here from California, from Massachusetts, from Connecticut. We were looking forward to this trip,” Davis said.
But that trip, soon turned into a disaster.
Davis booked the home through an online service hosted by Haley Morad, the owner of Live Your Best Life Vacations, out of Naples.
Morad’s business practices have been the subject of multiple stories by Fox 4 Investigates.
Six different people, either homeowners or renters, claim Morad owes them, collectively, more than $100,000.
The Better Business Bureau of West Florida has an active consumer alert about her business.
“I think that’s terrible,” said Davis, who was unaware of the accusations made toward Morad.
When Davis and her eight other family members arrived to Southwest Florida this past weekend, she says Morad reached out to her with a litany of excuses as to why she couldn’t access the property.
“She said the A/C was broken. When I told her I was going to the house to pick up a package, she said ‘the owners are there, you can’t go unless I call them,’” said Davis.
“I caught her in multiple lies.”
Stuck in limbo, Davis went to the original rental house to pick up a package she had delivered.
Thankfully, for her, curiosity saved her vacation.
“I decided to knock on the door. A man came out to say he was also renting the property through the owner. I asked him to call the owner. (The owner) knew exactly what was going on and he came over,” Davis said.
That homeowner is Steve Buchalter, who was featured in a story from Fox 4 Investigates nearly two months ago.
Buchalter claims Morad owes him $26,000 in unpaid rental fees.
He was able to provide a rental home for Davis and her family.
“I booked this (vacation) over 8 months ago and we were really looking forward to it. The fact that she is side-swiping people’s vacations is wrong,” said Davis.
Morad has yet to refute a single claim from the people interviewed by Fox 4 Investigates.
