Overview
| Bedrooms: | 2 |
| Bathrooms: | 2 |
| Sleeps | 5 |
| Per night | $199 - $399 |
| Type: | Condo |
Lisa Layendecker
Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale, who was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort. However, development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict. Three forts named "Fort Lauderdale" were constructed; the first was at the fork of the New River, the second at Tarpon Bend on the New River between the Colee Hammock and Rio Vista neighborhoods, and the third near the site of the Bahia Mar Marina.
The area in which the city of Fort Lauderdale would later be founded was inhabited for more than a thousand years by the Tequesta Indians. Contact with Spanish explorers in the 16th century proved disastrous for the Tequesta, as the Europeans unwittingly brought with them diseases to which the native populations possessed no resistance, such as smallpox. For the Tequesta, disease, coupled with continuing conflict with their Calusa neighbors, contributed greatly to their decline over the next two centuries. By 1763, there were only a few Tequesta left in Florida, and most of them were evacuated to Cuba when the Spanish ceded Florida to the British in 1763, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the Seven Years' War. Although control of the area changed between Spain, United Kingdom, the United States, and the Confederate States of America, it remained largely undeveloped until the 20th century.
The Fort Lauderdale area was known as the "New River Settlement" before the 20th century. In the 1830s there were approximately 70 settlers living along the New River. William Cooley, the local Justice of the Peace, was a farmer and wrecker, who traded with the Seminole Indians. On January 6, 1836, while Cooley was leading an attempt to salvage a wrecked ship, a band of Seminoles attacked his farm, killing his wife and children, and the children's tutor. The other farms in the settlement were not attacked, but all the white residents in the area abandoned the settlement, fleeing first to the Cape Florida Lighthouse on Key Biscayne, and then to Key West.
| Begins | Ends | Week Night |
Weekend Night |
Weekly | Monthly | Min Stay |
| Aug 01 2012 | Aug 16 2014 | $199 | $399 | - | - | 3 nights |
| Check In: 3 p.m. Check Out: 11 a.m. | ||||||
| Payment Options: Visa, Money Order, Mastercard, Discover, Cashier's Check, American Express, Personal Check, PayPal | ||||||
Jennifer Griffin
NC
January 9, 2013
We booked the property mentioned in title of review...in Ft. Lauderdale, FL with an ocean view as this was close to family and friends. I booked online 2 months in advance with a group based in Miami, Florida called The Travel Group. We were to retrieve keys when we arrived , so we tried reaching someone at the group for 2 days prior to arriving to let them know we wouldn't be arriving until 10pm. No call back after multiple messages left with a live person. Two hours before our plane is to depart (2 small children coming along, packed and ready to go), I get an email from someone in the group (although they had my phone number) saying "the owner changed their mind". All they had available was a condo in a different part of Florida, with no ocean view, and honestly, a significant downgrade from what we had booked. They were willing to give it to us for the "discounted rate" of what we were already paying for the much nicer place. It was clearly an attempt on The Travel Group's behalf to make money from our loss. I confirmed this when speaking with the owner of the alternate place that the group was trying to rent to us. The Travel Group was attempting to make $750 from the transaction, as the owner told me she had accepted a rate that was $750 less than what the group was asking me to pay. I was furious, and when I called the group out on their attempt to capitalize on the situation, The Travel Group completely denied what was obvious. They were never apologetic, and tried to convince us that had we bought " travel insurance", we would have received a refun for plane tickets as well. For one, there was no travel insurance option, and two, insurance is for when I cancel, not them! Did they think we were completely obtuse? Turns out we went to Florida and stayed elsewhere, and The Travel Group, after an unapologetic email, agreed to refund our deposit in full, which was a hefty amount. We tried to pick up the deposit in person, but " they don't do transactions in person". So we had no choice but to wait, and hope we hadn't lost the $1000 + that we had given them in good faith. It is 3 weeks later, and we still don't have our full deposit refunded. They don't answer their phone, and are the most unprofessional , dishonest group I have ever dealt with. A warning to anyone booking online, DO NOT BOOK through the agency called The Travel Group.