Sandcastle Oceanfront Resort South Beach — Hotel in Myrtle Beach

We were there from 6/27-6/30.

(For everyone mentioning the pools/hot tubs being closed from their stays the previous week, they still weren’t open by the 30th.) By the 28th, one of the hot tubs had been drained; it had had a used needle/syringe floating in it. From our balcony, overlooking the pool, we could see it was FULL of sand, like it hadn’t vacuumed in a while or maybe the filter hadn’t been working.

When we checked in, the lady said I had an outstanding balance of $286 that needed to be paid. I assured her I did not. (I had the screenshots to prove it.)

So, then they insisted I only had to pay a $1 hold, which was to be refunded to my card at check out. They insisted that HAD to be paid with a card. (The unofficial reason? So, that they’d have my card info to post additional charges, AFTER I left with a receipt from them saying that I had an outstanding balance of $0.) After the guy insisting the $1 had to be paid with a card (AFTER the girl tried to tell me I still owed $286) I told him that would be fine, as long as I got that information from them in writing. He said he emailed it to me… but that email never showed up…

Because the whole check-in process had been shady, I made sure I got a receipt when I checked out. The receipt they gave me shows I checked out on 6/30 with a $0 outstanding balance.

Later that day, they charged $150 to my credit card. (I know it was charged after check out, because that $150 is NOWHERE in my itemization of charges which I received when checking out.)

When I had tried to call back and discuss the charges with the hotel, before contacting Chase card services, I was repeatedly hung up on. The number on the receipt/website wouldn’t go through. So, we had to google several other numbers for this hotel.

When a lady finally did take my call, she hung up on me mid-sentence, as she was speaking, shortly after I identified myself and told her why I was calling.

I called yet a different number back; the lady who answered that time answered “yes” when I asked if she worked directly for the hotel (as opposed to just being some travel agent).

That lady hung up mid-conversation, so I called straight back & a guy answered. However, when I asked him the same question, he said he did NOT work for the hotel.… at the SAME PHONE NUMBER!

He told me I’d need to speak to someone who works for the hotel “directly”, & he gave me a different number to call.

And the guy who answered at that new number was entirely confused about the whole thing, as he was in OCEAN CITY, MARYLAND & wasn’t affiliated with this hotel, at all. But he said this hotel ROUTINELY gives his phone number to people who call them with complaints.

If you book here, screenshot all your booking info. When you check out, DEMAND the printed paper receipt & keep a close eye on your credit card charges in the following days. Dispute anything & everything that you did not authorize.

*Also, the lady at the front desk told me about one of their gimmicks- the $44/night dorm rooms. They have two 10-bed dorm rooms and they rent those by the bed. If you have 3 people- and you’ve only booked 1 bed, unless they have 2 free beds, you lose your money, because you have to book for each person. She said a lot of people don’t “read the fine print” when booking.

Just be cautious of their gimmicks. From her “fine print” comment, they KNOW they are doing...

WARNING!!!! DO NOT STAY AT THIS HOTEL.

We just checked out of the hotel and we could not be more disappointed. For starters, the hotel looks nothing like what the photos online show. The photos online are of their renovated condos, not the hotel rooms. So the hotel rooms are outdated and much smaller than shown.

Second, the room is covered in mold and grime. Photos attached. The ceiling, the curtains, even the pillows! Everything is covered in a layer of nasty and the room smelled like weed from Day 1 of our stay.

Third, this NOT A RESORT HOTEL. Nearly every amenity they advertised has been closed for the entire length of our stay. The tiki bar was closed and owned by a different company than the hotel. The indoor pool and two indoor kiddies pools have also been closed our entire stay. Both outdoor hot tubs were closed, and the ice cream stand in the lobby was closed.

Fourth, the amenities that WERE open were disgusting, or didn’t work, and their posted hours were never followed. Trash litters the pool deck, and outdoor pool was murky, and the lazy river never flowed. It was a still body of water that didn’t move in any direction. They also require you to be in an intertube to use the lazy river, but didn’t provide any. The pool towels were never stocked either, and the few sitting in the cabinet were balled up and dirty.

Fifth, the elevators were never cleaned, so sand mucked up the floors in every elevator. The middle elevator rarely worked and on one occasion where it did work, the sensor for the doors delayed and smashed my mom’s fingers in the door.

Sixth, getting linens or room materials of any kind was like pulling teeth. Our first day after check-in, we requested two additional towels and wash cloths since there were 4 of us staying. They didn’t have anything. We came back that evening to see if more were ready. None were available. We came back the following morning and we finally got two, but by this point (Day 3), we’d already ran out of the original two. We asked for 4 of Day 4, and finally got one full bundle of towels, wash cloths, a hand towel, and a bath mat towel. Day 5, this morning, we asked for 4 more wash cloths and the girl at the counter said they didn’t have any. I told her we’d been fighting tooth and nail to get any and she said she’d have to go to the laundry room to get them. When she returned and gave us the wash cloths, I asked if we could’ve gone down to laundry ourselves to get them this whole time and she said no, visitors were not allowed in the laundry room. So the whole stay, we could’ve had more linens but the staff just didn’t want to walk downstairs to get more from the laundry room.

The staff were short with us every time we asked if pools would be reopening and we got a different answer every time. We complained about the mold and asked to change rooms and were were told they didn’t have any more available rooms. This whole stay was an absolute bust and I’m waiting to find out from a manager if I get a refund for AT LEAST the ridiculous, exorbinant “resort fee”, if not...

As someone who works in hospitality management, this place needs operational help. Housekeeping department as a priority. I saw the trash with furniture so it's clear they are trying to renovate when they can but the rooms are a gamble. We came with a large group and everyone's room was different. For the price I paid of 55/ night, I got what I paid for but would not be happy at the 199/ night BAR price it had. We requested our rooms to be near each other...nope. All on different floors so that was disappointing but whatever. Just tell us you wont do it when I know you can. Don't take all our names down and not follow through. Lack of staff communication. The front desk guys were great. Some of the women need an additude check. Dont work hospitality if you dont have customer service skills. As a good management company knows, your front desk staff will make it or break it. From the reviews, some of them nees to be let go. It's nice they allow early check in if room is available. Whats annoying is they preaasign ahead of time which yes i get if busy. However a seasoned front desk agent can easiler switch rooms around too accomodate early guests based on open rooms. But if this is normal for their market, fine. Make sure if your room not ready if trying to check in early, do all the paperwork so they can call you when room is and you can avoid long wait timrs. The rooms need major help. Again yes its old and outdated but the major downfall is the housekeeping manager not checking the rooms for all items. Our room was missing sheets and blanket for sofa bed. I went down earlier to request but guy said it should be on the sofa bed. No it wasnt when we pulled it later that night. So had to go back down again. No blankets just sheets. Where the towels in bathroom should be, it was only small floor towela. Not bath towels. Housekeeping clearly ran out and did it lazy. I read reviews ahead of time that said there was a lack of towels so i did bring a couple. I suggest you do as the next day i went down for pool towels and they only had 2 left. Or so the rude front desk chick said. The king bed was fine. The balcony was constantly wet from AC. Small kitchenette area was nice. No coffee cups. Bathroom floor needs to be redid. But for what i paid, it's worth the view and location. If you are bougie, go somewhere else. The other rooms in our group were missing numerous items and had broken stuff. Luckily pools were open but no restauant or tiki bar. They really should not be charging resort fees due to lack of ameneties. We did see them dump buckets of chlorine in the pools...which is not how its done. Luckily our kids skin was still there lol . Otherwise the pool area great for kids. Parking is great. Nice ramp. Maintence guy waa nice. Beach was great. Even though it rained most weekend, it was a nice cheap trip. So if you see cheap prices and just want the beach, just bring towels and you...