Golden Sands Oceanfront Hotel — Hotel in Carolina Beach

One thing learned from my most recent stay, and it will never be admitted by management of the property, is that those of us using third party travel providers and electing to “pay at the property”, opposed to paying the advance deposit or paying the stay in full before arriving, are most likely to be placed in rooms that are not that favorable. Several reviews prior to my stay mentioned issues with rooms on the 2nd floor of the main tower ranging from obscured views because of the indoor pool building being directly outside the 2nd floor balconies, through inoperable safes to place your valuables. Several of the reviews also mentioned issues with inadequate supplies of towels.

Upon check-in, I inspected my room as I always do and immediately went to the balcony because I remembered what the reviews said about the second floor. As explained in the reviews, the 2nd floor balcony looks directly at the roof of the indoor pool building where all the seagulls hang out, which makes trying to enjoy your balcony a challenge because the seagulls are pooping and flying all around the roof of that building. I went to the front desk to ask if that was my only option and was informed, they were sold out so nothing else was available until the next day, which was useless to me at that point since my concern was with my overall stay, including day 1. After returning to the room (heated at that time) I continued inspecting the room to find 1) the safe did not work, 2) the shower was missing part of its fixture which left a hole in the shower wall (see picture I have included), and 3) there were no towels in the room outside of the two towel floormats (see picture), where I ended up using one of those during my stay to dry off. I chalked it up as there being a towel shortage until I learned from other guests, they too had to ask the front desk for towels. All of this was in addition to the discolored water that I made sure I always drank bottled water that I brought with me.

Aside from the things mentioned, the overall stay was okay, but not enough that I would consider staying there again. I will opt to either stay at the Hampton or the Courtyard by Marriott on the Boardwalk. I messaged the front desk about the shower issue on day 1 and when I checked out on day 3 of my trip, there was no mention of anything possibly being done to address the shower issue aside from the message received on day 2 that someone would check it out. I cannot believe that other guests or even housekeeping have not mentioned the missing shower fixture and hole in the wall because it was very noticeable considering the room appeared to be ADA Compliant, which was something else that was not even mentioned to me about the room during check-in and I had to notice everything was lower, including the bed.

There are some great things about this hotel that I will mention. The staff that greeted me upon arrival were great, the renovations in the lobby look good and the hotel restaurant, the Ocean Grill was wonderful. The parking lot, not so great because from my observation the hotel lot was often full because of people coming to the restaurant, which is understandable but also speaks to how great the restaurant is. And finally, something was going on with the elevators because the two worked on my day 1 but on day 2 and 3, I never saw the second one open again but there were no signs of it being out of service.

This stay was a lesson learned for me; not totally bad but the terrible balcony view, the inoperable safe, the absence of towels, and the hole in the shower wall with the missing fixture collectively did a number on me, which did not totally ruin my stay, but did put a damper on it, thus being the reason I have mixed feelings about my overall stay because of the good elements that allowed it to balance out but I wanted to make sure management was made aware of my concerns so that someone could truly review the issue and not just satisfy the reviews with “thank you for the information, we will...

Not sure I want to share our favorite place and run the risk of not being able to get a reservation, however, I feel the need to defend this wonderful retreat...

It seems there are a couple sour grapes reviewing this wonderful home away from home. This hotel is smack in the center of EVERYTHING CB has to offer You can walk to restaurants, GREAT restaurants, you can visit the one of a kind Tiki Bar, steps away from your room! I suppose the disgruntled reviewer who said there is nothing here mistakenly made reservations at the Golden Sands but intended to go to Disney. The staff is extremely accommodating as well. I am a clean freak and will not stay in a room that seems dirty. The last time we stayed I commented to my husband how comfortable the bed was, so I'm not sure how concrete could be more comfortable! We have stayed here for the past few years, and are quite disappointed when we cannot get a room. The staff working in the restaurant and Tiki Bar are top notch, phenomenal, food and drinks are on point!

To the disgruntled reviewer who mistakenly reviewed the Golden Sands, obviously confusing it with a Howard Johnson, I would like to address your ugly comments:

“The tv was really old, before flat screen.” – Every room we’ve stayed in had a flat screen TV. Are you SURE you weren’t reviewing Howard Johnson’s?

“The bathroom was gross. They fixtures are old cracking and nasty.” - Our bathrooms are always clean AND stocked with the usual soaps, shampoos, etc.

“The sliding glass door to balcony didn't shut properly, or shut completely.” – You need to remove the wooden door stop before you can shut the door. Duh.

“Not close enough to walk to anything”. – Again – This place is within walking distance of restaurants and shops, but you must enjoy a short walk to the Tiki Bar, or the adjacent restaurant, OR, you must enjoy walking about 3/10 mile north, allowing the sun to warm your face while the sea air washes away your cares and the sound of the waves crashing on the beach replace the need for an IPod.

“There is no real lobby it's more of an over priced gas station store.” – This is a dead giveaway. Yup. You intended to review a Howard Johnson’s.

“If you forget your toothbrush, conditioner, or comb”. – Nobody forced you to purchase these items in the quaint and beachy gift shop, and if you have ever stayed at an upscale hotel, you would quickly realize the prices were quite reasonable.

“In decent hotels you simply call the lobby.” – The last time we stayed, we needed extra bedding, which was brought to our room within five minutes, with a friendly smile and wishes for an enjoyable stay. Guess this is a decent hotel!

“The bedding is worn out.” – Our last stay I commented to my husband how comfortable the bed was!

So, to recap, these reviewers were obviously disgruntled about something. Probably complained about everything to receive some sort of discount, freebie, etc. T. T. is my guess.

Here’s some well intended advice for our unhappy reviewers – if you wish the amenities of a 5 star hotel, with a concierge, door man, and valet parking, please be sure to research the hotel where you are making your reservations, so you are not disappointed...

The location is great and there is a tiki bar and grill in the same parking lot. The front desk staff at the hotel were super friendly & helpful! ||However, the hotel is in the process of remodeling the taller building (which is not noted anywhere on their site) and honestly, they weren't quite ready to release rooms for people to stay in. Well the room we stayed in anyway.. especially at the nightly rate that it was. We were on the 5th floor, ocean view, king room. And come to find out, we were the very first guest to stay in the newly renovated room. Everything looks like modern 70's retro and when looking at pictures of the room on their website, there are some major differences!|Only one elevator was working. |We get up to our room, it was very clean.|The AC is supposed to be controlled by the thermostat on the wall. It would only work on the actual unit itself. It was also unplugged when we came in. There was no toilet paper. The phone didn't work. The right side outlet when facing the bed didn't work. The TV wasn't working. There was no remote control for the tv. The plastic was still on the TV and on the pull out couch mattress. There was no extra bedding for the pull out couch nor extra pillows. |I went back down to the office, they gave me extra bedding but had to go get pillows from another room as they did not have any. They gave me toilet paper. One of them came to our room and fixed the tv for us, gave us a remote to use for the tv.||The bathroom was missing tile (where a shower barrier would be), and there was no barrier for the walk-in shower. So when we took a shower, water made its way out of the shower onto the bathroom floor. We then we had to clean it up. After the first shower, we made our own barrier using extra towels we went down and got. There was not a sliding glass door to the shower like pictures show on their website. It was a cheap plastic shower curtain and no barrier to keep the water actually inside of the shower. So the shower was incomplete. Also, the water pressure in the shower isn't very strong.||Hanging clothes.. I had to hang them on a shelf as the clothes rod is VERY low and there is maybe 9 inches between the bottom shelf and the rod to hang your clothes. The rod needs to be way higher. You wouldn't even be able to hang kids clothes there. There is no space. (The pictures on their website show the correct way.)||I was very disappointed in the very much incomplete condition of our room at that nightly rate. Hopefully once they are actually done with the remodel, guest will not have the same...