Avista Resort — Hotel in North Myrtle Beach

This popular resort is OK but could be better. I believe they are managed by several hotels in the area and might be relying on past good reviews and performance. Yes, the hotel is in a good location and has lots of pools for the family. However, it seems they're slipping in overall value. For example, for a 2 bedroom family unit there was no ice cream scoop, pizza cutter, rubber spoon for stirring, small child friendly glasses, etc. How can a family hotel advertising full kitchens not have ice cream scoops and pizza cutters? We bent a cheap spoon or two while trying to dish up ice cream. There was a higher end coffee maker in the room but instructions how to use it. You do receive a text reminding you it's a full cleaning day in advance.| Housekeeping was very uneven. Yes, your room is cleaned every 4th night and trash is taken out daily. Every housekeeper we had for the clean omitted at least one item such as replacing dishwasher packets, shampoo and even the towels. One day our cover sheet/blanket disappeared (not dirty) from our bed and didn't appear until the next full cleaning. | The pools are OK considering the amount of people that use them. It's very inconvenient to have to use your key to go into the pool area. Yes, I realize the hotel is trying to keep our non-guests but I think that's a non-issue. The pool attendants can be really good about keeping up the towel supply but that's uneven. It seems like no one sweeps the pool areas when closed as candy wrappers, etc tend to be in the same place they were the day before. Pool area trash is sometimes overlooked and overflowing. One of the 2 spray hoses for guests to wash sand off their feet was broken the entire time we were there significantly slowing down the traffic over the dune bridge from the beach. | Parking is interesting as the parking garage is very tight, especially for larger SUVs. The corners are blind (yes there are mirrors) and the traffic areas are very narrow. Sometimes you have to back up or park to allow movement of cars. It's better to park on the upper floors.| The Avista advertises a good children's activity program. It's sadly lacking! For example: Mondays is sand or shell painting, both $5. Tuesday is a self-guided scavenger hunt, Wednesday is rock painting $5 and Thursday is a duck race. Friday offers tie dye for $15 on hotel poster but at sign up is $20. When I think of a children's program I think of a dedicated employee or two running several activities throughout the day such as story time, relay races (pool or recreation area which by the way is very small and usually has smokers), crafts (not charging $5 for a cheap $2 craft), dance party, puzzles, etc. The first week of our 2 week stay they did a good job passing out bubble making supplies to kids but the next week that Thursday they didn't offer any. The S.U.R.F. program advertising free activities wasn't useful We were not handed our key in the appropriate packet explaining the program at check in and only found out about it the 2nd week. We reserved in advance for priority seating for the Pirate Voyage so the discount didn't help. (Sometimes was one free adult or other times $2 off admission)| The good? The beach is nice and there's a chair rental service (not sponsored by hotel) along with a life guard. The location is good as it's near a variety of grocery stores. The walls in the rooms are thick so we couldn't hear our neighbors. The balcony had a decent amount of space and two small tables for drinks/food. Our two bedroom suite had plenty of room for our family of 2 grandchildren 8 and 4 years of age. There were TVs and DVD players in each bedroom and one in the living area. You could borrow one DVD movie at a time. The pool D.J. was very good on Thursdays and Saturdays from 12-4. | Would we stay here again? Maybe. We've stayed at several condos throughout the years and wanted to have access to a children's program and several pools. Depending on when we go back to the area and age of the...

Wow, what a disappointment looked at all the reviews and they we're so wrong!! The restaurant was not good at all false advertising in the elevator. The dining room was so dated and the menu was beyond sad! Vary limited, not at all what they market it to be! No steak or shrimp, just one sea food dish and one smash burger on the menu! Got dressed up and went down there. Only 2 people in there at 730 pm! Not worth the time an effort! The room was worn out furniture was water damaged, bathroom door dirty beyond believe. Hand prints all along the door and jam dirty! No room service unless 5 days or more so bed always had sand in it! Floor was sandy towels were brought in the first day. Trash was taken the first day then not at all for the rest of the stay! So we had trashcan full for the rest of our stay! We ordered out and had it delivered but had to take out our own trash so the room would not smell! The in house bar, what a joke! No A/C in there. The coke was flat for 3 days. Told them about it never got changed. Still charged $ 12 for a stale Crown and coke, no food after 9 pm in the bar or anywhere on property, bar stays open till 1130 only! Empty and hot! Vary disappointed in bar service! The room flooded we were on the 15th floor! The first night we stayed there and mold and mildew smell from soaked carpet! Stepped out of bed to squish and water filled my sox's! The smell woke me up! Called down stairs, they sent someone up! He called for a water extraction and a fan! We went to the pool area! Came back 5 hrs latter no one came back or showed up! Entire room smelled so bad! Went down to front desk. The staff the came to our room in the morning was there at the time and said they never came! I said NO so he called someone again. They came in with an old shop vac and vary loud old fan! With no switch missing on top with exposed wires! Left it in our room for 3 days! Worth less, the floor was so wet when you walked on it it would puddle around your shoe! We just used a blanket over the entire floor on the right side of the bed! Unpluged the fan at night could not sleep with it on bad barring ot something, vary loud with it on! On the 3rd day of our stay called back down stairs to see if someone check on our room no one has been back! So now the send someone and he says the need water extraction for real this time. Got over 2 gallons of water from beside the bed! Waste of time trip was ruined! Manager never called checked on situation or offered any resolution or anything! Called and texted office all o got was The rep will be in after 9 am and will call me! Never received a call or text! Texted help line 2 days no Response! Still paid full price for stay! No room change! Never fixed coke in bar! Just a Sad Stay at this Bad place! Stay away! DO NOT SPEND YOU'RE HARD EARNED MONEY HERE!!!! CUSTOMER SERVICE DOSE NOT...

We are locals and we go to the SC beaches every summer. We usually stay at the Hilton Enclave in Myrtle Beach, but this year we wanted to try something different. North Myrtle Beach is more family oriented (less drugs/ alcohol, less weirdos), so we chose the Avista Resort because it had good reviews. Well, the hotel is VERY dated. We stayed in the North tower and had carpet half way up the wall in the hallway leading up to our room (very 70s look). The pools were dirty and had yucky white stuff growing on the edges, like mold or fungi, but white. Both lazy rizers had that stuff, which made it look very unsanitary. The other pools had cloudy water, no matter what time of the day it was. There was a smell of sewage throughout the property, especially around the pool, in the car area under the building, and on the 4th floor close to the gym. The matresses in our room were very uncomfortable, the shower drain had rust and the water pressure in the shower was non-existant (we were on the 9th floor, out of 17 floors, I think). The furniture overall looked old and dingy, and the couch was stiff and uncomfortable. The a/c, while strong, was very loud. If you turned it down, the room would get hot quickly. If you made it colder, the cold air coming out of the vents would freeze you. For all these reasons, we just could not get comfortable in the room. The breakfast at the hotel restaurant was ok, Waffle House quality-like, but the lunch and dinner menu could use more options and better quality (they only have sandwiches, salad, and a hamburguer). Positive things: 1- The location of the hotel is great. Nice, wide beach where you can walk for miles, look for shells or shark teeth 2- The hotel workers were friendly 3- When maintenance was called to fix the shower drain and the light in the bathroom, they came promptly and fixed the issues 4- We got fresh towels every day, always a plus. 5- The fact that you can rent dvds for free is also great 6- The gym was very well equipped 7- They have music in the pool area, which was very nice Conclusion: while the location is great and the hotel workers are nice, I would not come back due to how dated and dirty-looking this hotel is. It is a real shame, because I really enjoyed the location of the hotel. If the owners invest money and renovate it, this could be a great resort, as it has a lot of potential. They could start by cleaning the edges of every pool and pulling the weeds off the flower beds around the front of the hotel! NOTE: after reading reviews about the tight hotel parking lot, we were worried because we drive a really large SUV. However, my husband was able to park our car in the corner spots (wider, away from columns) every day, so parking is not an issue if you can find a good spot (if you park in the middle, where the columns...