Holiday Inn Resort Lumina on Wrightsville Beach by IHG — Hotel in Wrightsville Beach

This June I had a wonderful stay at the Lumina on Wrightsville

Beach. Though I will always think of it as the Holiday Inn Resort

or the Sunspree, it truly has come into its own now and seems

like it is finally finished. Fully the Lumina. Little by little, over

the last three years they have made major changes and then

smaller tweaks to make it feel like a special place.

I love my stays here. I love my room. I love the staff. I love the

pool, the restaurant, the fact that I can walk right out onto the

Beach and the biggest decision I have to make is whether to

turn right to walk toward the Blockade Runner part of the island

or to the left toward the Shell Island part of the island. Both

are wonderful, long beach walks.

Thanks to Brian and Alex and Kathleen for all they did to make

things even more special. Thanks to Katie, keeper of the teapot,

for always involving me in the activities. I don't think I will ever

do yoga on Sunday morning but who knows, maybe I will try

the Scuba Lessons held at the indoor pool over the weekend.

Thanks also to Katie for saving me some popcorn on those

Wednesday Beach Movie nights.

Thanks to Kara and Marlin for those omelets they made me each

day for breakfast and to Jerome and Ronald for always keeping

things stocked – yummy fruits, bacon, sausage, pancakes, French

toast, pastries and even Fruit Loops for the kids (and some adults

too).

So nice to see Wendy, Tammy and Sarah, whom I have gotten to

know over the years coming here. Lovely to meet Jinny, Gabreal

and the other great servers and hostesses that helped me with

my breakfasts, lunches and dinners. I do love that wonderful

spinach salad with blueberries!

It was so nice to see Chef William again and to chat awhile. Now

that things are more back to normal he and his staff are pretty

busy with making gorgeous dinners and keeping the banquets

stocked with yummy food.

Thanks to the guys in maintenance, especially Roger for keeping

that pool amazing. I love to swim laps. I did them for an hour

this time on that last day. Thanks for having the umbrellas so

that I can sit and read and not be too hot or get too burned.

Thanks to Robert, Alex and Billy for always being there if something needs to be fixed or if I needed a little extra help moving an umbrella. Special Thanks to Billy for the chair! Edgar and Davon - you are wonderful. Thanks for your help during my stay!

The Front Desk staff were amazingly helpful from the moment that

Alex checked me in to the minute Alex checked me out, and every

interaction in between. Nice to see Kat as Front Desk Supervisor.

Great to meet all the new Front Desk staff this year.

I love the Trolley Stop staffed by Kathy, Oksana and Lauryn who have been at the hotel for many years, and so nice to meet the newer staff who popped in for the day or a few days to help making those fancy coffees and ringing up those gift shop items. I love a nice warm milk before heading up to the room for the night. Thanks!

Although I didn't need service every day, Mery kept me in clean towels and sundries and did an excellent job when I had the room cleaned. Mery, Delores, Shae and the very sweet housekeepers always had a smile and "Hello / Hola" each morning. Thanks to Izzie who kept us in towels at the pool and to Olympia who kept the pool area so nice and clean.

I loved the bands on Fridays, especially Dos Eddies (get it?) and

Catatonic. Katie, don't record me dancing! Ha! I think my favorite

music was the one man band for one of the outside banquets who did great 80s songs and wonderful Billy Joel songs. We were all standing by the railing swaying to the music - Sing us a song you're the Piano Man! Love it!

It was interesting to see the connections between the staff. Gabreal in the restaurant and at the coffee shop (thanks for the flip flops!) is the daughter of Lisa in the front office and the sister of Jackson, who works setting up the chairs and beach umbrellas. Luke, also in Beach Services, is the son of Wes, the Food and Beverage Manager. Henry with the beach services returned again this year and brought his brother and his best friend to join the beach services staff. Cool.

The Lumina is a special place for me. I can't wait to come again...

Room Type: 1 Bedroom King Suite (Oceanfront)

Duration: 2 weeks

Pros:

-Location, location, location. It's right on the beach and the views are to die for. The suites have a double balcony which are amazing.

-Staff. Everyone from front desk to those in the restaurant were great. Standouts would go to Alex, Front Desk Manager as well as Kathleen the Supervisor. Both went above and beyond in making my stay amazing and are a huge reason I will definitely book this property again in the future.

-The suites are tastefully decorated.

-Omelette Station at breakfast. The breakfast has much of what other HI properties offer but the omelette station certainly sets them apart.

-2 pools (one indoors that's great if it's cold outside)

-Fire pit and Jacuzzi. Both are usually busy but nice to have them available.

-Hammocks and other places to relax right on the edge of the property beside the beach.

-Bar downstairs is a big plus. Great local selection of craft beers.

-The gym has an amazing view of the ocean.

-Ping Pong tables downstairs.

-Parking was convenient and I felt safe leaving my car in the lot over night

-Live music certain nights. I didn't get to experience this because I was here for the Christmas/NYE holidays.

-Special holiday menus

Cons:

-Fire alarm went off a couple of times during my stay. I travel a lot and this happens all the time so it's not a mark against the property. If it's due to the system it's just worth having it looked at and tweaked to prevent false alarms.

-Just an opinion, but when walking through either of the 2 doors that connect to the parking lot there are 2 large white stone(?) benches. These kind of blend into the wall and floor so if you make a quick turn when walking straight to the elevator it's easy to run right into these and possibly even trip and fall. I did hit my shin on them on more than one occasion.

Final Thoughts:

I have relatives in Wilmington and have stayed at all the IHG properties in the area. This is by far the nicest. Honestly it could probably be rebranded as an Indigo, however, it's always been a HI and many of the locals still refer to it as Seaspray(?) vs. Lumina. The decor, furnishing, and the views from just about anywhere on the property make it worth a visit if you're...

I hoped to pay for rooms in person in advance, but the front desk wouldn't LET ME, because on my stay in Jan, I had booked 2 more rooms for April for family. The front desk didn't even KNOW what time the restaurant opens in the morning or the closing time at night (it's right there, don't they have any access this information at check in?) I tried again to pay for the rooms for my family a week prior to their arrival to be told, no...we have to do it online, we'll send you confirmations and payment options to yoru email. The ORIGINAL quote was $616.08 each room for the 2 nights on my ORIGINAL confirmation notice, and of course I expected the fees and taxes to be about $40, not to be 223.68 PER ROOM on my credit card after their stay. Huge difference from the BILL I got after their stay as well which was 763.42 and has charded 839.76 on the card I used...why? It is a BIG difference from the original cost or the cost stated on the secure sign documents the day of their arrival. GETTING someone to make sure the correct names were on the room reservations was IMPOSSIBLE! Front desk was confused on the phone for the HOURS I had to deal with this on the phone to GET these rooms taken care of so my guests didn't have ANY hold ups when they arrived after a 11 hour flight. Arriving late at night and having to deal with confused people at the front desk was NOT something I wanted for them so I Tried to make sure they were on the rooms as guests and even though I made the reservations in Late Jan for Early April stays it was a hassle to get anyone to LISTEN TO ME when I attempted to make sure they'd be ABLE to check in, as the rooms were paid for by me, but the guests would not be me at all...and that was the most annoying thing! Truly, if you can't get someone with competence at the front desk (in person or on the phone) then it's a big annoyance, and that's what happened to me. Granted the guests did get their rooms (one person per room, on a reservation for 2 guests per room...that wasn't able to be changed on the computer or on the phone) so I left it..but is that why there's almost a DOUBLE COST to the stay on my bill?

Great restaurant, great pools, nice hot tub, terrific oceanfront rooms, but the CSR and BILLING IS...