Carolina Winds — Hotel in Myrtle Beach

I am never one to leave bad reviews but this place has shocked me as of today and not in a good way! I have been staying at Carolina Winds for 7 years now, every year we come to this same hotel due to how much we previously loved it. I will no longer be returning.

What I have learned this time around : Pictures posted online are misleading. The images listed are NOT what you are booking at all. I have posted images of where I thought I was staying and the room I ended up in. As you can see in the pictures, it is a very clean, up to date place with beautiful views from both the Master and the Main Living. False. My view is of motels and these HORRIBLE bright white lights in every direction just beaming into my unit. I went down to the front office to ask why the difference and was explained that "if they had to picture every single unit exactly as it was that it would be too much to do" CRAZY. When I book something, I plan to be exactly where I booked. Anytime in the past, the room has been exactly as pictured, but this time it was completely opposite. Would you pay $1800 for a motel view on a 4 night stay? Also to mention, my first day here, the door wouldn't shut. Maintenance couldn't get it fixed until the next day. Keep in mind I booked a 2 bedroom unit and listed all 3 children will be staying in this unit. Would you not think to check the room out prior? There was a 1 inch gap below my door as well. Have had to keep towels under the door. The air doesn't control regularly. You can set it to 69 as we did and it still is very hot in there. Could also have something to do with the 1 inch gap below the entry. Posted in pictures below. Very last 2 pictures are the views listed for the exact listing I booked. This place has gone completely downhill. Everything in here is disgusting. Sand all over the floors, smells like mold, beds are hard as a rock, the place is completely tiled which makes it very slippery. As you see where I booked, it has hardwood flooring, much easier to maintain during a stay. Also unit pictured is a leather couch - much easier to clean up with! (Again something I depended on when booking due to having children) The unit has no cleaning supplies or even a broom. The couch in here smells like mold, the rug is filthy - as you can see in the pictures. No room service here either! I am just walking in sand all day. This place feels gross & falsely advertised. Hopefully this review will help someone else enjoy their vacation by not booking here. What you see is NOT at all what you get. I come on vacation to VACATION. I would much rather just be...

This review is for the Two Bedroom Ocean View Condos--ALL of these rooms are in a separate dilapidated facility, across the road, behind two additional buildings and not, in fact, in the tall main building pictured on their website. Anything below the 8th floor of this 9-story building will not have ocean views. This was very deceiving and we were less than thrilled to discover this when we arrived at 8 pm with our three kids (queue tired toddler), especially considering our original room on the 7th floor overlooked an ugly rooftop and little to no ocean. An hour later, we were able to move to the middle room on the 8th floor, which had great ocean views over ugly rooftops, BUT the condition of the room was very poor. No other rooms were available unless we wanted to spend another $250 upgrade fee. The misleading pictures on their website do NOT represent the state of the two rooms we experienced during our stay. Mildew/mold literally covered all 3 of the fabric lamp shades in the living room, the ceiling near all the vents, and around the vents themselves. We didn't use the air because of this issue. I had to dose up on allergy meds the entire 4-night stay. The bathroom fan in the master bath was broken and falling off the ceiling. The washer and dryer were rusted and looked like they came from a salvage yard. The furnishings were dated and in disarray. The beds were uncomfortable, from hard mattresses, to scratchy blankets and sheets resembling butcher paper. The fridge had a broken shelf. The dated kitchen wasn't equipped with basic utensils, nor did the unit provide extra trash bags, dish soap, dishwasher, or washing machine detergent. As for the amenities, the jacuzzi located at the two bedroom condo facility contained so much chlorine that it physically made me ill and I lost sleep that entire night, so there's that. I understand these are individually owned units, so I hope the owners take note and update/fix/clean their condos in order to avoid ruining someone else's much-needed vacation. This was not how I wanted to spend my birthday. Honestly, the only enjoyable aspect about this room was the double balcony view. The beach at that location was peaceful and quiet and restorative, but I recommend finding another place to stay...

I had requested a more renovated/updated one bedroom to sleep 5 that had a good view of the pool and beach, and we were given a room on the third floor right above the outdoor pool, in the angled section closest to the ocean (307). The room and furnishings showed a little wear, typical and expected for a well loved and highly used condo, but it was mostly updated, clean, and most everything worked. (For example, the door to the bedroom didn't shut, couch had some small tears, and the shower head was like one at a public gym, but the couch, pull out bed, and queen beds were all comfortable, room nicely decorated, bathroom not too small, no bugs, and pretty clean, so we were happy). The inside and outside big pools, lazy river, and hot tubs were great, as well as all of the seating. My only complaint is that the toddler pools were freezing cold so I couldn't use them for my 3 year old. The indoor pool water was warmer on the cooler days than the outside pool. We also saw them clean the pool every morning. The walk to the beach was closer than I thought and it was really clean, people were nice, and there was plenty of beach area for everyone (might be different during "in season"). On the last day, the city (I assume because the front desk wasn't aware) tore out the bridge access to the beach, but opened the access back up later that day and it was just sand. Probably rebuilding it at some point? Since we had 5 people and went to the pool daily, we needed clean towels often. The front desk answered quickly and was fast to deliver the towels and pick up the used ones each time. At the end of our trip, there was a sign that their monthly pest spraying was there and to let them know if you didn't want them to come in to spray. We were fine that they did (as we didn't want any bugs to escape to our room and the spray is scent free). We were thankful to not see any bugs during our stay! I had friends who stayed in a 3 bedroom in the fall and they were happy with their room as well (which is who referred me). I would stay here in the future with the request of a more...