Sonesta Resort Hilton Head Island — Hotel in Hilton Head Island

UNSAFE, UNSANITARY, OVERPRICED, NOT 4 STARS. I’m so incredibly disheartened writing this review. My hope was to resolve this directly with the hotel however they fell short on their end. I am hoping my review saves other families from experiencing what we experienced. I booked a 3-night, 4 day stay for my family in the “King Executive Suite” which was $629/ night for reference ($2322 for our total trip stay). We were so excited to stay here for our annual family vacation. The pictures looked amazing! I drove 5 hours with my husband and two young children. As I was in line to check into the resort, there was an unhappy guest in front of me who was very dissatisfied with her room and the construction. As I approached the desk for check-in, I mentioned that hearing her complaints made me nervous. I was assured “you are on a different wing there won’t be any problems for you”. When we arrived in our suite, there was wooden trim falling off the wall which exposed tacks/ nails making it an obvious safety hazard for a room with young children. The linens on the sofa bed where my 4-year-old daughter would be sleeping was soiled with a large brown stain. My husband and I voiced our concerns with the manager. He said we would not be able to change rooms due unavailability & he would send housekeeping for the stain and engineering for the loose trim falling off the walls. Housekeeping came and assured us “it’s not poop, it’s only rust” and “look see there is rust all over the bed so don’t worry it’s not actual feces”. This was shocking to hear. My expectations from a 4-star resort were at minimum a clean and safe room. The engineering team never came to repair the broken trim with nails/ tacks sticking out. Furthermore, the pool area & only bathroom for the pool was under construction and a hazard zone for families with small children. Loose boards were laid as a walkway from the resort pool to the bathroom. Tools, electrical wires, construction equipment were left unattended on the pool deck and pool bathroom easily within reach of children. Ladders were abandoned and buckets blocked walkways. I was on edge the entire weekend hoping my children didn’t stumble on tools and debris. I took my daughter to use the women’s bathroom during our second day at the pool and a maintenance man was in there “trying to prevent a mirror from falling off the wall”. The bathroom remained in service but the men stayed in there while women and children used the facility. It was inappropriate. Aside from the unsanitary and unsafe conditions, the actual resort itself was not worth the price. I do think it will be lovely once all of the renovations are completed, but I am shocked they are still open with the exposed construction and hazards everywhere let alone still charging a resort fee. Their hot tub doesn’t work, their pool bar is closed and food is prepared on foldable tables out in the open. The pool deck smells like literal hot garbage and there is a bug problem. There are absolutely no attempts made in maintaining a resort aesthetic. The views consist of trash, debris, and construction zones. My recommendation would be for the hotel to shut down until they can provide a safe, clean, and appropriately priced resort. I am sorry for the poor review. I attempted to have a conversation at the resort, at check out, and once home. We were only offered breakfast vouchers for 1 day and the resort fee of $125 was waived which was nothing compared to the $2300 price tag. I contacted the booking vendor I booked through. They were appalled and reached out to the resort requesting a refund. The resort denied any wrongdoing and denied the refund. I do not recommend this place for stay. I will be vocal regarding my dissatisfaction with the resort and their inability to make things right to a family who feels robbed monetarily of a memorable, relaxing, 4-star resort vacation. Please see attached photos for the Executive King Suite poop-rust linens, trim falling off walls, poolside exposed electrical wires, boards, hazardous abandoned work...

I really wanted to have amazing things to say about our stay but unfortunately I’m struggling to find anything positive. We booked our trip in advance and before booking I called the resort to make sure that things would be open due to their renovation notice on their website. I then called a few days prior to make sure everything was set to be open. The person I spoke with assured me everything would be ready by June 26th! I didn’t think another thing of it…however when we arrived the other pools were closed along with the outdoor spaces for music and outdoor bar. The pool was crowded and messy due to so many people. The drink option was a little pop up tent, nothing special. We tried to put on our best faces since we had convinced our family to meet us there for the 4th and spent a ton on flights! Despite our best efforts it was extremely hard to find the positives. We gave up on the pool area after over 2 hours of grinding and drilling on the other side of a chain fence where they were renovating. We decided to head to the beach and were met by a large cloud of debris that we were forced to walk through. The construction team were cutting tile or concrete and it blew all over our hot sticky skin. My husband being in construction was Not happy. There’s a reason they wear masks while cutting as the debris is toxic. Again we tried to make the most of our day but once we were finally able to get in our room we notice a major lack of attention. We had a baseboard missing with exposed glue and the door to the bathroom was chipping paint. The room that we “upgraded” to for pool view was nothing special. For the price to be over $500 per night it felt like a $150 night experience. We decided to try out the food and were yet again let down. My salad was literally floating in dressing and every option was unhealthy and or fried. I stopped by the front desk and made my disappointment known only to be told our “resort fees” will be waived. In my opinion that should have been the Bare Minimum offered. Why would we pay resort fees when the resort options weren’t available or desirable?! He then gave me two drink vouchers…like alcohol would put a bandaid on the major glaring errors of our stay. We tried to look into other places to stay but it was the 4th and everything was booked. At this point we did everything we could to try and stay off the resort premises because we were so disappointed and embarrassed that we would convince our families to fly out and stay there. By the last days the “adult pool” was opened which was nothing special. The pool was super small and the spa didn’t even work. I could honestly go on with more disappointing details but at this point I think it’s only causing me more anger. This was a trip that we planned and looked forward to for quite some time and not only did we waste our money, PTO from work, and time staying there..it was also our big once a year get together with family and we will never get that experience back. We have stayed at so many resorts in the past and this by far was the worst experience we’ve ever had. I even encountered a man in the elevator with a cane that claimed to be the construction manager and he shared his negative attitude with me and his disappointment in the project and the resort. There was a severe lack of accountability at this place and I found it highly inappropriate for him to share his frustrations with me as a guest! At this point I shared my frustrations via email with this resort, filled out a negative experience through their survey, and spoke with the manager during our stay and nothing was offered other than “waiving resort fees.” Save your money and visit another resort that values their guests experience, time, and money because this place clearly treats you like just a number and could care less about you and...

We come to Hilton Head every single summer for our families reunion and this was the second year in a row that we chose Sonesta. Although we tend to love our stay at Sonesta this past trip was in shambles from the very first day. It started at check in when we were given a room on the third floor facing the parking lot rather than the terrace level pool facing room that we paid for and specifically requested. Because it was booked through a third party website, both parties kept pointing the finger at the other. Nonetheless we ended up settling on the room on the 3rd floor because nothing was available, we had driven 4 hours and just needed to relax like we came to do. I was told to place a card on file for “incidentals” because the one used to pay for the room by the third party was never on file. This leads to another issue at checkout that I will touch bases on as well. The resort, amazing! We chose to come back because we love it so much. I love how close in proximity we are to the beach. I love the ambiance of the property at night. The fire pits and hammocks are our favorite. The only complaint about our room besides the location is that the bathroom door would not close. After reviewing, it appears the door isn’t flush to the frame. The staff 10/10 except one in particular. Everyone was super nice from pool staff (we had the same pool waiter as last year) to house keeping. Because we were traveling with kids we requested extra towels to satisfy my OCD since I like to keep a super clean space and received them in a timely manner. They were nice and warm fresh out of the dryer. At check out I went to return the keys and get an official copy of the charges. Julia who was the only rude staff that I encountered at this beautiful resort literally made me never want to come back again. Because I placed a separate card on file for incidentals like stated in the beginning of my review, she explained that it would be used for the pool side drinks that we ordered (which I knew) but they would also be withdrawing the resort fees for the stay off of this card. These aren’t incidentals, more so required fees so I contacted my father who booked it through the third party for us and asked him to come back into the resort to have clarity so that the proper card can be placed on file and mine removed. While I’m explaining to him the situation Julia saw fit to cut into my conversation while speaking with my father to say “well a card is on file”. Duh Julia it’s my card and it needs to be removed. Because she felt as though she was going to try to over talk me I simply walked away and allowed my father to finish out the transaction. My manners do not allow me to go back and forth with a total stranger in public. Julia can def learn a thing or two about customer service from her colleagues. All in all I prefer not to allow one apple to spoil the whole bunch because every one else was outstanding and I really want to give them a kudos. Hopefully next year if we choose to patronize Sonesta again we have the same experience that we had the first time that initially brought us back and we will not be booking through a...