Name: La Internacional Condominiums - by Island Services
Address: 5008 Gulf Boulevard, Padre Island National Seashore, Padre Island National Seashore, Padre Island National Seashore, TX 78597, United States of America
Rating: 7

Air conditioning

Smoke-free property

Heating

All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)

General

Family room

Rooms

Laundry

Services and amenities

Spanish

English

Languages Spoken

Free Parking on Premises

Parking

Swimming pool

Next to the beach

Pool and beach

Family/Kid Friendly

Kids

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

At the hotel

South Padre Island International Airport

Valley International Airport

Matamoros Airport

La Internacional Condominiums - by Island Services

Padre Island National Seashore

This place is absolute crap besides the pool and beach access...  wifi sucked, the beds sucked horribly, nothing upgraded, nothing taken care of.  No staff to help.. cant get toilet paper or trash bags, towel exchange is only between 930 and 1230 so you have to be there during that time.  All the staff are illegals, so make sure you speak spanish!!!!  

BY ALL MEANS FIND SOMEWHERE BETTER!!!!  There are hidden fees everywhere!!!  Spend $200 a night somewhere else!!!

RUN, RUN AWAY

We stayed at Room 301. We enjoyed our stay. This is a smaller older complex that is right next to the beach with beach access. facility has a heated pool and hot tub as well. the weather was a bit chilly when we went so we were happy with the heated pool and tub. 

The unit we rented had a complete kitchen and was clean over all when we arrived. Towel exchanges at 9:30-12 in the mornings.

The place made us feel safe with the security guard on duty in the evening. he did a good job making rounds throughout the facility and the parking lot, very friendly to the people.

Ocean View

Whatever you do, do NOT rent from these people or through SPI Tentals. I booked (and fully paid) one of these units before the virus situation. Due to travel restrictions I was forced to cancel. I requested a full refund and was denied! This is a time a crisis for all of us. I have issued FULL refunds to several renters of properties I do vacation rentals at. Not these folks. This is un-American, unethical and unacceptable for people in the hospitality business! We are all struggling to get by. I recommend everybody to avoid these owners and their rental representatives!!!! Shame on both of you!

Unethical owners!!

Condo complex is a smaller complex but right on the beach. We rented a privately owned condo from “Regina.” Condo was a small 1/1 with a small living room, dining room and kitchen. 

Upon our arrival there was a language barrier with our party and the nice security guard so we were having a little bit of a tough time learning where to obtain our parking pass and gate code. About 20 min later (after emailing and calling the host) we got into the complex. 

When we walked into the condo there were visible crumbs all along the floor and couch.  We cleaned and swept it up. We notified Regina and she said she would refund us with a $75 check. It’s been 3 weeks and we are still waiting on the refund check. We appreciate the refund option and hope to have that soon!

Outside of the start of our vacation the rest was awesome! Our glass balcony door allowed us to open the curtains and view the ocean from our living room. So beautiful to see the ocean the whole duration of our stay. The decor in the condo was nice and the host had the condo stocked with just about anything one would need while on Vacation at the beach. Towels, blankets (although they smelled weird so we didn’t use), floaties and beach chairs, paper towels and all cookware. 

The pool at the condos was hardly used during the day so we even enjoyed the pool a couple hours a day once leaving the beach area (very packed). 

We highly recommend staying at these condos as we felt safe and taken care of!

Ocean View Vibes

Great views and beach access!  I went here because I had never been to South Padre and the rate was good at the time I planned to be there.  I stayed in room 206 which I booked through another site.  The main reason I chose this condo was price and the view of the gulf side with waves and the sunrise.  As far as the property itself, it was obviously an older facility in need of some updates and cosmetic fixes.  The pool and whirlpool looked recently updated, but I did not use it so I can't comment on chlorine levels or temperature, but the pool water and area looked well managed and clean.  The condo was clean and recently painted with a small outdated kitchen that could almost be classified a kitchenette.  It had decent cupboard space, but was a little in disrepair.  It had some doors off and the cupboard under lights were not functional.  It had all the essential appliances and utensils and dishes that I needed, but the dishwasher was not exactly ideal.  I did most of my dishes by hand since I was the only occupant.  The bedroom had two double beds with a large dresser and good sized closet.  The bathroom had a large shower and vanity, but not tub.  The living room and informal dining area were small, but expected in a small footprint condo.  Overall, the condo was in decent shape with some nit picky items such as some disrepair due to cable routing to bedroom, questionable WIFI function (which I got to work, but it required some technical knowledge to achieve so I can see why some people couldn't get it to work.), the TV in the bedroom did not work, but I took a look and found that the HDMI cable was disconnected to the cable box(set TV input to HDMI input) and voila it worked just fine.  As guests, it shouldn't be something you should have to manage and these little nagging things keep me from rating the GREAT VIEWS AND BEACH ACCESS condo a 5 star rating.  You won't be dissatisfied with the place if you can get past some small nagging issues.  Note and I would agree your own washer and dryer would be nice, but I didn't use the outside facilities because of a short stay.  Also note that contacting the property through texting was much more effective than calling her.  Once I realized this was more effective she was quick to respond to my questions and requests.

Great Views and Beach Access

We have been staying at the condos for years.  They are not luxury by any means but you will not find somewhere closer to the beach.  Small one bedroom and one bathroom.  Usually not tastefully decorated as so many people are in and out who would put nice furniture.  Upper floors have gorgeous views with small balcony.  There is an elevator to make it easier to haul your beach gear.  Ground floors have small patio and St. Augustine  grass but view is not as dramatic as the dunes may block your view.  We are only inside to shower and sleep so we love this place due to location.  It is also right next door to the Wanna Wanna Beach Bar and Grill so if you don't want to drive just go next door for some good food and/or drinks.

Closet the beach!

We stayed in room 202. This place has an Awesome air conditioning. Only thing is the air smells old! Vent looks rusted! No daily cleaning. You have to go exchange your towels for new ones. Pay to wash clothes. Room was ok. Beds had black hairs and stuff in them. Had to call to get the beds changed. The furniture looks to be from a garage sale. Buttons missing off the recliner. It doesn’t appear they put much money into this place. Noisy as hell from the people above us! You hear walking, running, showers and everything. It’s decent but not for the price they charge. It’s on the low end of places to stay. Bathroom vent hanging down and noisy when the light is on. You won’t be paying for the room and I wouldn’t stay here again. You pay for the view. T.V. doesn’t work in the bedroom. They said they’d come look at it and never did. No cable in the bedroom is the issue here. Three different times, random people that work here came into our room. Like they don’t pay attention to who’s checking in or out. There is no staff on hand through the night. The elevator looks like a box that is going to break down. There is a number you can call. The POOL is what disappointed me the most! It feels like really warm bath water even at night! They need to run cold water in it every day. You come back from a hot beach, your all salty...so it would be nice to have a nice cold pool to chill out. You won’t find that here! They did give us an extra day for free because of some of the issues but really, I just want to go home at this point. This place doesn’t have a home feeling to it what so ever and I’m not impressed!

The Beach access and view is the nice! I wouldn’t want to say here again!

After reading other reviews I decided to give a review of this specific unit 212 on the second floor of La Internacional which was booked on a different site. During January, rates are lower than summer rates for units all over South Padre Island. Unit 212 is a remodeled unit. I will post photos. I booked for several days. I had no issues that other guests had. 

Cleanliness - Unit 212 was immaculately clean and tidy. 

Insects - I arrived at night and saw no bugs at all day or night. 

Bedding - The bed was memory foam. I worried about it because I sank down so quickly, but fell asleep only to awake to go to the restroom. The bed did not have a top sheet but had nice pillows and a lightweight comforter. More linen was in the closet. I recommend bringing your own sheets or buying some if that’s important to you.

2nd sleeping option - A futon was also in the same master bedroom. The mattress on the futon was okay for kids. The sofa bed might be okay or a very lightweight person. 

3rd sleeping option - I sank down into the sofa which is not my style of comfort but okay. The mattress was very thin.

Eating area - 4 tall chairs and one chair at the small counter. The tall bar height table in the dining area was okay with padded seats.

Kitchen - The little full service kitchen with microwave, stove and oven was fully furnished to cook a meal and clean. 

The refrigerator was older but clean. I brought food to make breakfast and the refrigerator kept food cold and ice frozen. I brought my own ice. 

There were plates, cuts, and silverware - and a coffee pot. There were skillets. Look in all Cabot’s and drawers to see what is available.

TV - There were two “smart” Roku TVs - one large one in the living room and a smaller one in the bedroom. 

Bathroom - The bathroom was completely remodeled and had towels. 

Patio - The patio was small with 2 cute but uncomfortable metal chairs. 

View - Through a gap between buildings - I could see the Gulf of Mexico. The view is mostly the side of the building next door. 

The beach - The beach is right behind the building. Unfortunately it rained and was cold this trip so I did not go out there -but it’s supposed to have a rinse off station and laundry. 

Flooring - The floor was a ceramic tile floor. 

Decor - The decorations are minimalist. This not a high end condo. 

Ventilation- A ceiling fan was in the bedroom. A humidifier was in the living room. The air/ heat worked fine and was not loud. The sea air caused corrosion in the intake vent.

Lots of perfume smell was tracked down to a plug in air freshener in the kitchen. After unplugging the air freshener and opening the sliding door (newer model sliding door) - all was well with the air quality. 

Parking. - As for parking, there is only one parking space per vehicle. A parking pass was inside the unit. 

Entry - The entry is by using a gate code and a separate code for the unit. Use the same keypad on the side of the gate to exit. Keep the number of the host so you can call if you have issues. I had to call because I could not find the keypad to exit and was treated kindly. 

Interior paint - The walls were clean and appeared freshly painted. 

Public areas -The public walkways and halls were brightly lit and well manicured. 

Pool - I did not use the pool or hot tub but they were brightly lit and appeared clean.

Noise level - I was quite pleased with the low volume of noise at night but cannot say what the volume level will be like during the spring and summer months.

Would I stay in other units? Only if they were remodeled. 

Tips? 

1) Do not depend on the sofa to provide comfortable sleeping for anyone over the age of 10. If you need the sofa sleeper, pretend you are car camping and bring what you need to sleep comfortably for car camping.

2) The rates go up very high during the spring and summer. If you are paying those higher rates, please be aware that these are not luxury condos. You are on the beach and are paying for that benefit. You can walk to restaurants from here. 

3) If you have kids - prepare them for rules about the pool and hot tub. Call in advance to find out the rules regarding children and the hot tub and pool. The children who were guests seemed to be having a great time too.

4) Take your trash out when you leave. A little kindness goes a long way.

5) Accessibility- I almost forgot - once upstairs - it’s easy to navigate the unit - but not for a wheelchair. There is an elevator in the lobby but is a long walk from the elevator to the unit. When it’s cold, windy, and raining there is a roof for protection, but is still a long walk. Call the contact number if you require a wheelchair accessible unit. It’s a lot of walking even if the elevator is used.

Photos- the photos are only for unit 212.

Thank you to the owner, staff, and management for the clean unit and grounds.

I hope you found this review helpful in making your booking decision.

La Internacional unit #212 is okay

The La Internacional is an older place but well cared for.  The best feature is its easy beach access and the gulf view. We stayed for five nights and were not disappointed.   Our condo said it sleeps six with a pull out, and it did, but there wasn't  much space to get around with that many people.  I'd recommend no more than four.  

La Internacional Condominiums - by Island Services

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