Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort — Hotel in Miramar Beach

The location of the resort is beautiful but the resort itself is a dump. Save yourself the headache.

We stayed in the Grand Sandestin, which REAKED with the smell of marijuana everywhere. It was literally so bad there were no smoking signs with pictures of vapes, cigarettes and now marijuana leaves on them. This spoke volumes as to the type of people who came here and the classless environment it was. The residents all complained as the signs went up about a month ago.

Plus the toilet cleaner in our room had feces on it from a previous guest. You have no idea the horror we had seeing that. Spare yourself.

The sheets and blankets all felt like sand paper and the beds were hard as rocks.

There was event after event in the first 24 hours we were there, which was fine except the place was screaming with people in crowds and management catering to their events, not the guests.. which shouldn’t be a problem- except when the water goes out in the building and no one can shower or bathe for the day. Don’t make any plans because they will sure to be delayed with this kind of disruption. I felt bad for those who got married there and couldn’t even shower before the wedding. Guests were FURIOUS. It was so mismanaged and unorganised.

The staff also treated us with disdain. They hate their jobs and acted like the guests were an inconvenience. I spoke to many of the other guests we met at the hotel and they all said the same- the staff do not want to be there.

There’s no coffee or food in the hotel or on site which means nothing is quick and easy. I would have thought in the hotel there would be SOMETHING, compared to the rest of their apartment like locations on site.

If you manage to walk down to the Wharf, it’s literally the same restaurant over and over with the same menu. At night it becomes a place for drunks, not families.

It’s a completely racket that the Carousel for kids is $5 for 90 seconds.

There’s ONE place open early for breakfast so don’t expect to eat in the morning unless you’re prepared for an early rise or a LONG wait.

We went to the sushi and noodles restaurant to get something non fried and it was just awful. Probably the worst sushi I’ve had in a long time- and the noodles tasted like burnt rubber.

They tell you, everyone can use the tennis courts for an hour but good luck getting a good time except mid day when the sun is at its highest. They clearly run their own club inside the resort and do not like the guests. You could tell the staff didn’t like the guests.

We booked the courts to play, one of the biggest reasons we came to the resort and My husband tried to play with his shirt off since it was so hot but then their minion Benjamin comes out and bark at him across the courts because “there’s a dress code”. He was anything but professional with zero discretion. Who yells at the guests for not having a shirt on? We understand and respect the code but there no signs. So we didn’t know?!

Later when my husband came in to say “I don’t like the way I was treated” and Benjamin was combative argumentative and extremely defensive. Not a good look at all.

This is a resort and people coming are spending money for fun on holiday.

Besides, spare us the Pretention of your tennis club in such a trashy resort. The place smells like weed everywhere you go but the tennis courts want to lecture you on dress codes?!

The pools were not heated except the ONE over crowded aquatic center whose water smelled like body fluids. It was not pleasant. Prepare to bring your own towels because none are provided and the ones in the hotel are a joke. Again, not a four star resort experience.

In fact,

There is NOTHING four star about this place.

You’re better off renting your own home on the beach if you love the area.

We...

UPDATE: I’ve been waiting for 48 hours for Robin the Director of Rooms to call me after reaching out 3 times. I can honestly understand why the staff gets away with being rude and acting the way they do. No repercussions because no one cares. They say this is a resort but with Motel 6 services. False advertisement, rude employees, stealing for $250+ a night! This is pure nonsense and unacceptable.

I don’t write reviews unless I have a horrible experience. I wanted to come to this location to relax and have a family time getaway. From the first day I arrived, which was 2 a.m. I called to say that I was going to be late so they won’t cancel me or issue late fees. Once I arrived no one at the front desk to check us in. We waited over 15 minutes and no one still showed up. We didn’t know where the elevators were. We needed the bell cart because we had all types of luggage. We didn’t have valet parking so that was a bit upsetting. It was dark and we really couldn’t see the ocean then, but I didn’t notice this big white wall to the left of us that gave a false advertisement of ocean view oceanfront, which they kind of trick you when you’re booking. This is more of a partial ocean view than the ocean view that I paid for and booked. I should be able to see the entire ocean not the side of the buildings. They charged me an additional $20 to upgrade my room to a higher floor. I ordered food and waited for the food to be done just to wait on cold food so they had to remake the food. Everyone that I have encountered especially Kyle (which you will see in the message attached) was incredibly rude! People were playing at the door, knocking and running, and security came up to the room with attitudes, then the front desk constantly harassed me about coming there so they could see my ID and sign some type of form because I booked an extra day. I didn’t have to do any of that the day I checked in or any other location because I have the Hilton Go app and they weren't too concerned about seeing my ID when I first arrived and me possibly standing there waiting to be checked in at 2 am driving 10 hours away. Kyle claim my card wasn't on file but you have to use a card to even book a room. The card was on file when nobody serviced me at 2am and I booked it the same way. The coffee pot was dirty. The resort itself is very nice. The room was spacious. It’s just the customer service was very unprofessional and the disinterested in what the problem was. Kyle said I basically should leave and that he would waive the early departure fee when I never mentioned anything about leaving! I’ve never had to call the front desk so many times in all the hundreds of days that I’ve been with the different Hilton locations. The worst part is they put me right beside the elevator which you can hear go up and down, up and down all day, all night. The servers put their own tip on food that’s to-go which most of them don’t deserve since they have rude behavior, but they still get rewarded for. Kyle wanted to argue with me the entire time instead of accommodating or addressing the issues that I had if you’re a director of the front desk you should have the simple customer service skills of the job qualifications. If I could give it zero stars I definitely would. I will not be coming to this location again to stay. There are other hotels along the beach strip to choose from. PLEASE DON'T PICK THIS ONE! You come to relax not to be frustrated for the full 3 days that you are on a mini vacation to get away from work....

Not normally one to leave reviews but this is by far the worst hotel experience I've ever had. I stayed in Luau 2. I want to stay that the staff are great save the Recovery manager, who never reached out despite assurances from the Front Desk.

I arrived just after 3 with expectation that the room wouldn't be ready until 4 but was hoping to at least be able to park on the resort and walk around. The front desk staff were great and actually said the room was almost ready and I completed the process. They said that I would receive a text with room assignment once it was ready. Cool. No problem.

I hadn't received any update at the listed check in time of 4pm so I called and was told the room was not ready yet but was almost done. Still no problems. 4:40 rolls around and because the hotel encourages you to text, I texted the number for an update and I'm told that the room is still not ready and they are unable to provide an ETA.

Long story short, I got my room assigned at 5:30, an hour and a half after check in. I was meeting people for dinner so I drop my stuff off and immediately head to dinner. It definitely wasn't what was shown in the pictures. The room itself was nice but a misleading with how the pictures reflect the view. What's worse is when I returned after dinner I discovered the power in the bedroom did not work. No lights. No fan. No TV. I checked the breaker and it looked fine so I'm not sure it was a fuse or what.

Because the front desk only open until 8pm, the only point of contact is the hotel operator or the text number. The hotel operator hung up on my partner twice while waiting for assistance. She also tried to transfer us to the front desk even though it was after business hours. The text number didn't respond to me at all.

There also is not enough parking for all the guests in Luau 1 and 2 so despite having private gate access, you're probably going to have to park somewhere across the street.

This hotel also makes you check out at 10am. The following morning I called the front desk in hopes of speaking to a manager in order to at least get a later check out because A) I paid for a room I didn't have access to for two hours after posted check-in time and B) one of the primary rooms was literally without power. I was told because the hotel was at full capacity, I couldn't do late check out.

The woman I spoke with, Christina, was great and very understanding. I'm not usually the sort to seek a partial refund but based on my experience, I at least wanted to speak to a manager and Christina left a note for them to call me once they were in. I never received a call back.

All and only, this place is a roll of the dice. The parts of the room that work are nice. The kitchen is great. It's clean and quiet. The staff I dealt with for the most part were super but without dedicated on site support after a certain time of day, if something goes wrong you're on your own. Because they're privately owned units, you can't just get a new room if there are any issues with the one you book. Parking is iffy.

I'm very hesitant to recommend this place if for no other reason than the perceived response to my issues is "Well that...