Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa — Hotel in Miramar Beach

I booked this hotel because it was an oceanfront hotel with high reviews. I was traveling with small children and just was looking for a nice Hilton property. Check in was fast but not very personable, just basically here is your keys and move along. No information on the resort, where things are located, and my food and beverage credit. After walking around trying to get to our room I noticed how much we didn’t fit in. It was just me and my small biracial children. The guest made it very uncomfortable for my children and I. A few children at the pool made some inappropriate comments towards my children about their race that I wasn’t aware of until we left. This wasn’t any fault of the hotel but I do think it’s important for people who don’t fit into the wealthy white-collar wife and husband category to know what they’re stepping into. The hotel was nice, the pool was nice, the outside bartender wasn’t very friendly at all. The room we received was oceanfront kinda side view with two double beds and bunk beds. The room was very roomy, the decor was outdated but not extremely unpleasing just reminded me of the 90’s. The bathroom was extremely ran down, rust in the tub, stained blackened spots on the tub. Drain wouldn’t drain just extremely ran down. The view was pretty, fridge worked great. We ordered food to go and it wasn’t very good. Beach access was super easy and very clean, it’s a private beach. During the day they do block off a bunch of the beach for their chairs they want to rent to you, so space is extremely limited and it’s super annoying. Passing by many staff in the hotel wasn’t very welcoming at all, a room service lady was extremely rude when the elevator opened and she couldn’t get on. I had an issue at breakfast, part of the resort fee includes breakfast free for children under 12. I was informed it was one child per adult. It’s not listed that one the resort information. After arguing with the breaks host I walked up to the front desk. The people working there were extremely kind and caring. They told me they never heard of that and it’s not one child per adult. They insured me that if they gave me any hassle when paying for breakfast to let them know. Breakfast wasn’t very well but it wasn’t horrible. Our server never came back to refill drinks for check on us. I’m assuming because I was solo with children. Once I was paying and he realized I was diamond his attitude changed real fast. Checking out was the biggest issue that I ran into. I called down and asked for an extra 15-20 minutes to check out about 30 minutes before check out. The person informed me that they wouldn’t allow any late check outs. I simply asked again for 15 minutes I was just needed to wash my kids and self off from the beach sand. She again said we can not give you any extra time to check out. You need to be out of the room by check out. As a HH Diamond I have never been denied a late checkout. Let alone 15 minutes, I was so upset that after spending as much money as I did for a room and being diamond that the hotel couldn’t budge on 15-20 minutes tops extra. I bathed my children and I was out on time after not showering myself and I had to drive the next 9 hours with uncomfortable beach sand on me. I asked for a manager at the front desk who apologized and was very kind. She did offer for me to go back up to the room and shower however we already packed up all the luggage and my children were waiting. When leaving our room I didn’t notice one house keeper on our floor so the chance of them cleaning that room during the 15 minutes extra I requested was extremely slim. I absolutely would not stay at this hotel at all again. Very unwelcoming and not customer friendly. If you are looking for a great Hilton beachfront the Hampton Inn beachfront in Panama has always been super welcoming to us and is super clean and updated. It unfortunately was sold out the night we were passing through. Giving any guest let alone a Diamond member 15 extra minutes to check out wouldn’t of cost you anything could of saved you a one...

DO NOT STAY HERE! In short detail, this hotel is way overpriced for the poor customer service, ROACH found in our room, and low quality of amenities. We are paying thousands of $$ for our 4 night stay and the only pro here is the beach access, but I’m sure there’s other hotels with a better price point with beach access. At this point we are hoping Hilton corporate can help us since none of the staff here want to. This place operates as a 2 or 3 star hotel, not sure how it got to 4 stars.

Night 1. We flew all day and finally got to the hotel at 9 pm exhausted and ready to rest. We were told our room was “upgraded” even though we had already booked a king bedroom with a sofa and ocean view. We were placed on the first floor which technically had partial ocean view, but we couldn’t even open the blinds because our room was next to a busy back entrance and everyone could see into our room. We went to the front desk to request a new room, and were told that absolutely nothing else was available unless we wanted a view of the parking lot. The night manager specifically said “we could just give your upgrade to someone else and let you look at the parking lot like you requested in your original reservation.” Couldn’t believe what I was hearing when we booked an ocean view! We decided to try and be optimistic and keep the room even though we literally did not feel comfortable opening our blinds to see the view. Day 1. We go to the breakfast buffet and we paid $70 for 2 people for very subpar food. The potatoes were cold, sausage was dry, fruit was bruised and wilted. Our server and host were nice but we definitely will not be going back to the buffet again. We then go to the beach, had to wait in the heat until 11 am for a walk in beach set up (we didn’t have a reservation). The rules were very confusing and it would’ve been nice if the front desk had explained to us how beach access and towel request processes worked. But we figured it out, and we lucked out and got placed in the very front row for our beach set up! But 5 feet in front of us was a family who wasn’t even staying at the Hilton sandestin, blasting music and directly obstructing our view of the beach that we waited and paid $50 for. But again, we didn’t know the rules of the beach so we didn’t report them and just tried to make the best of our beach day. EVENTUALLY, hours later someone with Hilton came and asked the family to move to a different area. They claimed they were told by Hilton staff that morning they were okay to set up their chairs there, so the staff here may be confused on what’s allowed. Night 2. We went to dinner at Sandcastles at the beach. We paid over $100 for 2 drinks, pasta, and a pizza which was pricey to me. We came back to our room after dinner which was hot and muggy despite having the air on 60 degrees high fan. We then found a GIANT ROACH in the bathroom!!! At this point we again requested a new room, and not only did the front desk staff laugh at our issue, but they again said nothing else was available and gave us another comment about how “we would be taking a room away from someone else”. I’m sorry, we’re paying literally THOUSANDSSSS even as Hilton members and we’re supposed to feel bad for wanting to stay in a clean, comfortable, bug free room? Don’t we deserve to have a good...

HOTEL SAFETY… CHECK BALCONY RAILINGS!!!

Preface: I never leave bad reviews or try to negatively impact any business. I usually just move on and choose to not patronize that establishment, but this situation is very different…

If you travel with little kids and stay in a hotel or any high rise building that has a balcony please take the time to make sure the railings are safe and secure before allowing your children on the balcony. I’m definitely not an “over protective safety father of the year” but thank God I trusted my gut on this one…

We just checked into Hilton Sandestin and my wife and sister in-law took the kids up to our 9th floor room while I unloaded the car. When I came up to the room (approx 15 mins later) I walked straight to the balcony to see the beautiful view. After taking in the view, I noticed some sort of plastic cap halfway down the baluster. Something told me I should take a closer look. When I attempted to slide the cap up in place, the entire baluster pole slid out of place and left a gap large enough for my 3 year old and 16 month old to fit through. I immediately started checking all the balusters and found another one completely dislodged. I was instantly fuming after finding that. How and why would this be allowed!? I asked my wife to talk the to the front desk bc I was too angry to logically resolve the situation. Wait until the end..

After being moved into our new room and letting my nerves settle a bit I sat on our new balcony and watched my kids grab the balusters and look out with their faces between them and I realized how devastating this could’ve been. I felt compelled to share in hopes maybe this may resonate and hopefully prevent any future tragedies and maybe (highly unlikely) hotels and high rises can put in a little more effort checking the safety of their railings.

Hilton Hotels...

I want to take a moment to acknowledge the room change that was made after we raised serious safety concerns. While we are thankful to now be in a safer space, it’s important to express how unsettling this entire situation has been—not just because of the hazard itself, but also because of how it was handled. We’re not looking for anything in return. Our priority has always been the safety of our children. But being moved to a downgraded room at the same price, paired with a free breakfast as the only gesture, felt dismissive and tone-deaf given the severity of what could have happened. Our children were endangered and you offer us breakfast!? This was supposed to be a memorable family vacation, and unfortunately, it now carries a very different tone. We’re grateful we caught the issue before it became something far worse—what could have been a major crisis for Hilton was narrowly avoided. What’s even more troubling is seeing another family placed in that same room the very next day, with a child visibly leaning on the same railing. It’s difficult to understand how that decision was made if the safety issue was truly acknowledged. We hope Hilton takes this seriously—not just for us, but for the safety and well-being of future guests. It deserves more than a passing gesture.

2 stars is because we would’ve loved this place and the location but our energy shifted. 5 days to...