Marina Inn at Grande Dunes — Hotel in Myrtle Beach

My experience at the Marina was quite surprising. My first impressions upon arrival was pure excitement. The resort is beautiful, and the lobby is breathtaking. I arrived at 10AM. Check-in was not until 4PM, so we changed clothes, grabbed the shuttle, and headed to the beach.

The private beach is unlike any other in Myrtle Beach. The beach service provides clean towels for use at the beach. Additionally, they offer chairs and umbrellas. They also provide a snack and concession area that has drinks and light foods for purchase. There is a portable restroom facility that is air conditioned as well. The shuttle service was fantastic. The driver was professional, friendly, and accommodating.

At 1:30PM, I received the text message informing me that my room was ready. We stayed at the beach until 3PM, checked in, and headed to Barefoot Landing for the evening. At 5:30PM I received a call from the resort letting me know they made a mistake and checked me in to the wrong room. They apologized for the inconvenience and even offered to move all our luggage for us. This was minimal to no inconvenience because we hadn’t really unpacked yet, so we went ahead and just moved it ourselves.

The next day at the beach was great. The shuttle driver informed us on the way back that afternoon that this was the last day for the seasonal staff at the resort, however the bellhop would take us to the beach on the shuttle for the remainder of the trip. So the next morning, we headed down to the front of the resort and asked the bellhop to take us to the beach. With a look of confusion, he responded that the last day for beach service was yesterday. He informed us that he would not be taking anyone to the beach today. He informed us that we could drive ourselves to their beach access, however we could not park in the parking lot as it was reserved for the ocean club.

When we arrived at the beach, there were no chairs or umbrellas set up. This is the point at which it became a major inconvenience, because we did not travel with chairs or umbrellas. We drove back to the resort and went to the front desk to talk with the staff. The staff explained the dates for the chairs and umbrellas were posted on their website and that we should have checked that before staying with them. I informed the front desk that I did check their website, and I wanted to verify the availability, so I sent an email to the resort and received a written response from the resort advising that the shuttle, chairs, and umbrellas would be available for the specific dates that we were staying with them (email attached to this review). They responded saying they were not sure who sent me the email, but re assured that the chairs and umbrellas would not be available to us, regardless of what the email said. So at this point, we were overwhelmed with a sense of surprise and disappointment. At this time, it became very apparent to me that I was not going to be able to relax on the beach while staying at the Marina Inn, so informed them that I wanted to check out now (2 days early).

The Marina Inn did not ruin my trip to Myrtle Beach, however, I had my trip very organized and planned. After reviewing my master schedule, the issue of changing rooms cost us around 1 hour of shopping time. This really was not a big deal, so I consider it to have no bearing on the rating I’ve chosen. However the beach chair issue, resulting in us switching resorts, cost us 4 hours of beach time. Of my planned 22 hours of beach time, I spent 18 hours on the beach. I would normally consider a misunderstanding like this to be minor, however this misunderstanding cost us 18% of our beach time. If I had known up front that the beach service would not be available for the last two days of my trip, I wouldn’t have made the reservation. However, based on their email response, I trusted that the information they delivered was true...

My family and I are repeat guests and I've always recommended staying here to everyone as it's always been above other Myrtle Beach Resorts. HOWEVER, Marina Inn at Grand Dunes really needs to maintain their resort as they have in the past. I will list current pros and cons. Pros: The lobby is beautiful and so are the grounds. Location is fabulous and across from The Carolina Opry and Pirates Voyage and next to Ruth Chris. There is a bar, restaurant, room service, small indoor pool and gym. Beautiful outdoor pool and 2 outdoor hot tubs. Bathrobes in the room make it convenient to wear of swim suits when walking through resort to pool. Fireplaces in rooms are nice and working. The rooms are very nice and clean with a few exceptions I will list in the cons. Cons: Marina must have either partially or entirely changed mattresses to low quality stiff and somewhat bouncy mattresses. They used to have very nice mattresses that made you feel relaxed and good when you laid down. We stayed a total of 5 nights (2 adults and 4 kids) in a 2 bedroom. Our first room was up to par as usual, until it wasn't. On our 3rd night there was an extensive water leak in the kids room all over the floor. Unfortunately water from the room next door leaked through into our suite and got on our kids stuff that they had on the floor but there is a washer and dryer. I called and someone came up to inspect. They offered me $100 off our stay but we had to pack and switch rooms. Highly inconvenient when you have packed for so many people, shoes, clothes, stuffed animals, kids special blankets, souvenirs and food we brought because there is a kitchen. Luckily we didn't have reservations for a venue that day so we spent about 3 hours packing, moving and unpacking again. I asked for them to comp us a night instead of a $100 off because $100 is nothing these days. They sent a bellhop up and in my opinion they should have told him to not hint for gratuity since this was a hassle for us. Bellhop told my husband he accepted Venmo and Paypal. My husband and I don't use those apps and he said he got off work in 20 minutes. So my husband rushed downstairs to the cash machine and have him $20 (fine). The "new" room was completely SUB PAR.

BOTH bathtubs had deep chipping and sharp peeled edges with rust around the drain, the toilet did not work in the master. We had someone come up to fix it and the handle barely pushed after that. The master shower had black mold on the bottom (I'm allergic) there was no broom or coat rack and multiple kitchen cabinets had a lot of old food crumbs.

We had spent the first 3 days in Myrtle before the room flood, going to shows and events and planned on the rest of our trip to be leisurely which was ruined.

I took pics of the rust and the manager appeared concerned but not apologetic which really put me off.

Everything is more expensive nowadays and our time, just like yours, is valuable. The memories we make with our families are precious. The time we spend planning our vacations and the time we get to go on them cannot be brought back. I would have felt better of there was genuine care about the shabby status of the room they put us in. There was not. Sadly, I'm not sure if I will come back to this location and may look for a...

Please note this was our families 2nd time staying at the Marina. This review is based off a 4day3night stay in one of the 2BR 2B Villas

During our recent stay at the Marina, we were not completely pleased this time around. Upon entering our room, we were met w/a couple of insects. We were able to take care of the issue without having any more problems the duration of our stay. So, I did my inspection of the beds which is where we found dirty bedding. Hair was on the bed spreads, and quite a few on the sheets along w/some stains. All 3 beds had to be changed w/new bedding. Next, we found leftover food in the refrigerator which we discarded, crumbs were on the countertops all of this was a clear indicator that the kitchen had not been cleaned properly. The chandelier light hanging over the breakfast table had dust and webs, I'm unsure of when was the last time the light fixtures had been cleaned. Obviously, the villa we stayed in had not been updated w/the laminate flooring because we had carpet. Which could use a thorough cleaning or replacement. We found trash on the floor and under the couch, I'm not going to say the room had not been vacuumed, however, it wasn't thoroughly done. So, on Thursday night our 1st night, a sewer smell was coming from the hot water heater in the guest bathroom. I called down stairs to inform them of the smell, do you know the lady sent a housekeeper w/Lysol spray for the smell (smh). Anyway, I sent the housekeeper away because at this time the smell had gone away. On Saturday morning, I woke up around 7ish to the Hot water heater making a strange noise, and leaking water. I called downstairs spoke to Irene, who sent Maintenance (Steve) to confirm the hot water heater had stopped working. It was confirmed also, that the smell from Thursday night was an indicator that the Hot water heater was going out. Unfortunately, we could not be moved to another room because the hotel was completely booked, and I had to wait until 9am to speak w/the manager in regards to possibly checking out early. In the midst of all of this, a miracle happened, the hotel had the exact Hot water heater on site, and was able to get it replaced in a hr. (Thank you Steve and Randy!!) So, there was no need to leave the hotel. There was a nice size water spot outside of the guest bathroom door from where the water had leaked. I was offered a fan, to help speed up the drying process. However, I declined because of the loud noise. We opted to just use towels for the spot. I did speak w/the manager about the inconveniences we had experienced w/our visit. Moreover, the staff was polite and accommodating, always ready to assist w/any inquiries or request (other than the lady I spoke to about the smell on that Thursday night). The room we stayed in definitely felt outdated, and the furniture showed signs of wear and tear. All in all, we are unsure if we will stay here in the future. After paying over $1500 to stay somewhere you would expect better. All in all, if you decide to stay at the Marina, it's worth inquiring about the room's conditions before making a reservation/ selection...