Athena Aquatic Retreat at Lake Mission Viejo - large pool home

The Athena Aquatic Retreat proved to be a great stay. With such close proximity to Lake Mission Viejo and the Marguerite Aquatic Complex, public trails that are easily accessed from the street, and a great property, my group was extremely pleased. There was enough space for all eight guests. The kitchen was massive and the pool was clean. Both check-in and check-out were extremely easy.

Absolutely loved our stay! The house is perfect in size and location! We cooked a Thanksgiving meal and they had everything needed in the kitchen, plus great ovens and appliances! The bedrooms were spacious with wonderful bedding and towels! Easy to get to places and get back! We loved loved loved it! Thank you!

This was an amazing place to stay! The bedrooms were beautiful and the views on the balconies at sunrise are amazing. The pool was huge so it never felt crowded and the hot tub was key for us after coming back from our games. The only small item was that the floors were dirty when we came. My socks were black the first day abe anyone barefoot had to clean their feet before bed. Everything else was wonderful!

PROS - The property manager was responsive and friendly. The location was great for our needs. The neighborhood is very nice with walking trails. The home is spacious and comfortable. The mattresses are on the harder side, which we enjoy.CONS - The house lacked many standard items and comforts to make a vacation enjoyable. Kitchen items were substandard or nonexistent, for example, there was not even a corkscrew and the everyday utensils were very old and dingy. Some kitchen outlets weren't working and the warming drawer did not work (which we wanted for our Thanksgiving food.) The closets had barely any hangers, and what they did have were old, plastic store-style or wire and and many were small children sizes. This rendered the main bedroom closet (which is beautiful and the size of a small room) basically useless.The pool, which was the main draw to this house, was basically never used because it would not heat up to an acceptable temperature. We paid an extra 500 to heat the pool which was never warm enough. The hot tub, although very small, did work, but it was controlled with an app that did not work while away from the home. We could not have it ready after an evening away.There is an alarm in the house which alerts every time an outside door is open or closed - it's loud and not necessary, and we could not turn it off.