Marriott Myrtle Beach Resort & Spa at Grande Dunes — Hotel in Myrtle Beach

Sorry for the VERY LONG REVIEW, but very much worth the read:

My now fiancé and I stayed at this resort for Labor Day weekend. My fiancé and I arrived at the hotel before our check-in time (around 5 am). We were graciously welcomed by the staff at the front desk, who let us know they would try their best to get us into a room by the afternoon due to the 11-12 hour drive we had. Since we had arrived so early, we were able to enjoy the hotel’s amenities such as their pool, their section of the beach, and their hotel restaurant (Ocean’s on 82nd). We were greeted at breakfast by our waiter, Richie, who was very attentive, personable, and had an amazingly positive attitude (one you would expect at Disney World). To our surprise, we were able to get into a room around 12 PM and were given a voucher for breakfast and a free drink at the bar. Our room exceeded our expectations; it was very clean, had everything we needed, and had an amazing view of the pool and beach. Once we were settled in our room, we hung out at the pool bar and were welcomed by the bartender, Daniel. Daniel gave us amazing recommendations on drinks we should try, and was extremely conversational. Every time we went to the poolside bar, he remembered us, making us feel seen and welcomed. I also had the opportunity to experience the Hibiscus Spa, which was absolutely gorgeous. The two young girls (I wish I knew their names) who were in charge of the front desk were very knowledgeable and helpful with any questions I had regarding their services. Despite already having an amazing experience at this resort, the staff all around the hotel were wonderful in helping organize and assist with my now fiancé’s engagement proposal. The staff was able to reserve a pavilion for him to set up and ask to marry me. The staff was overjoyed with the proposal and even wanted to watch, and cheered when I said yes, making it a memorable moment. Once we were finished with pictures, we enjoyed dinner at Ocean’s on 82nd and had Aloke as a waiter. Aloke was very attentive and was always making sure we were enjoying our meals and had everything we needed to continue enjoying our evening. We both had the Chilean sea bass, which cut like butter and was insanely mouthwatering. If I could eat something multiple times in a day, that would be the meal. Towards the end of our dinner, Aloke asked if we were celebrating anything. We let him know we had just gotten engaged 30 minutes before dinner. Aloke surprised us with the restaurant's molten lava cake with congratulations written on it. Throughout the rest of our stay, the entire staff, as well as guests, were congratulating us, recognizing us, and clapping for us when we walked into a room due to our recent engagement (there was an audience, which was adorable). Overall, this was an amazing stay at this hotel and made my first visit to Myrtle Beach that much more memorable. I cannot recommend this hotel enough. If you are going to Myrtle...

Like to start out by saying all the staff was very great!!! Just the rest left a lot to be desired.

My wife and I had not been on vacation in about 2 years and decided to find a Marriott property we can spend a long weekend at (Thursday-Monday). After doing some research this property ended up on lets of "Top Marriott Property" lists as well as having pretty good reviews for the most part. When booking it was hard to get into, which I also thought was a good sign for its popularity. Once we arrived and experienced it, we were not very impressed. The property was very dated and appeared dirty. Rooms, hallways, lounges, ect all seemed very dated.

The pictures of what looks like glamourous pools must be from when it was new. The pool chairs are extremely old and the fabric ones are very stretched out so when you sit or lay you have the support bars jamming into you. Also the hotel has no rules/programs, like we have seen at many other properties, to stop people from "saving" and not using chairs. Many people come down early and set towels out, and take up 90% of the chairs in all the pool areas by 9am. When people are done at the pool they tend to leave the towels for staff to pickup. But since there is no program to stop people from saving spots, people and staff don't know that the towels and chairs are no longer in use and assuming its a saved spot. The pool area and chairs throughout the entire day were all saved but capacity was less than half. Very irritating especially on days we spent all day at the pool and had to sit way far in the back corner far from the pool in the older stretched out chairs and saw all the chairs close to pool remain mostly unused but saved all day. Pool area cleaning crew also didn't start till 9 or 10 everyday and would clean the pool deck of trash and sand (from the day before) as well as vacuum the pool till 11 or 12 while people are there.

The onsite breakfast place was only functioning as a buffet. Which is your typical hotel buffet that is ok but not great and usually free. However it costed over $50 for 2 to have what I would consider should be a free breakfast that was mediocre.

Lastly and not a huge complaint just something to note, this property was mainly for young families and maybe not best for a couples get away. Families would also often come down and save a chair for every member of the family and then typically go to the beach all day, or only use 2 chairs.

Sorry for the very harsh but...

Was never thanked for my status from either check in staff/wait staff, I’m usually either titanium or platinum. No personal touches either, on my reservation I mentioned we were on our babymoon and that went unrecognized also.

Breakfast, I used as my welcome reward. It was simply pastries, oatmeal, and cereal. To “upgrade” to a hott breakfast was an additional 6 dollars per person. So more money being spent. The breakfast area had several wobbly tables we were sat at twice. We moved but then saw others sat at the tables and have the same reaction as us. The breakfast buffet seating room was also quite warm when going at busier times.

The pools had a sign you shouldn’t “save” chairs with towels, yet happened most days. There are “lounger” chairs you can pay to rent but pretty basic and not worth the price tag. The pool water, was super warm, in the heat you didn’t actually cool off when getting in! There were also children/teens swimming in the pools at midnight some nights, making a lot of noise, no one kicked them out. Walls are very thin in the rooms as well so we could hear/see the kids in the pool from the 10th floor.

The beach was great. With the constant advertisement of the blue beach chairs and umbrellas, you’d assume that was included. You have to rent those at a fee of near 50 dollars with the city or charge it to the room. So on top of the resort fee you pay, which has no resort feel after all the nickel and diming, you then have to pay for that or use a towel to lay on the sand.

Honestly we would have gotten more for the same price somewhere like Mexico at an all inclusive. I’ve read other reviews claiming the same so that’s disappointing there have been no changes to reflect these concerns. This didn’t give the resort experience I was looking for. The parking isn’t monitored, nor does it have a gate so really what does the resort fee go to? Anyone can park there from what I’m aware, no ticket to place on the dash. The biggest advertisement is parking is inclusive in the resort fee and location on the beach, but with charges for nearly every other resort amenity offered even beach chairs, there should not be a resort fee. Not the best place to utilize points or even status in my opinion. If you’ve got the money, can afford all the extras and none of these things bother you, it’s a good hotel but not great. We won’t be returning although we’re only in Gville, SC so we were hoping the experience would’ve become our new family...