This post is a continuation of our summer series on “Vacations for Nurses.” In these posts I have detailed some vacation tips, including my review of Myrtle Beach, Vacation packing checklist, and also my tips on how to save money in Myrtle Beach.
Now its time to talk hotels. For this review, I will talk about the Sandy Beach Oceanfront Resort in Myrtle Beach South Carolina (SC). This is a very nice hotel (which coincidentally, also sells condo units). So was this a good hotel? Was it worth it staying at the Sandy Beach Resort? Would I stay there again? How much did it cost? Those are all great questions I will address in this post.
Sandy Beach Resort Review
Sandy Beach Resort Location Review
The Sandy Beach Oceanfront Resort is located at 201 South Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach, SC. In my opinion, South Ocean boulevard is a wonderful place to stay within Myrtle Beach because there are so many family-friendly attractions.
And when it comes to location, the Sandy Beach Resort didn’t disappoint us.
It was located just feet away from the Family Kingdom Amusement Park, many local stores, and within walking distance of some of the most popular attractions (including Ripley’s Believe it or Not, the Pier, Boardwalk, and countless restaurants and stores). It’s busy enough to be fascinating, but not so busy that it is overwhelming.
Overall, we were very pleased with the location of this hotel. Also, because it is quite a tall building, there were plenty of breathtaking views of the ocean, as well as city attractions (see pictures below).
Our Impression of the Room and Overview
When we first arrived, we weren’t sure where to park. The front of the hotel has a small drive in section. There was a hotel security guard directing traffic in this section. This section is for loading and unloading and also the check-in. The actual parking lot was across the street. The security guard was very friendly and even cracked a joke about us being in Florida.
We then made our way to the second floor which was very nice. This is where the lobby is located in this hotel. The front staff workers were very friendly. We actually arrived at about 3:00 pm which is an hour earlier than their stated check-in (4:00 pm is check-in time; 11:00 am is check-out time). Even though we were early, it was no problem and our room was ready to go. We just simply showed our drivers license, filled out a form, and paid the balance with the credit card.
After that we got a loading cart, loaded up our luggage, and made our way to our room. We stayed on the 5th floor, which had a nice view. We really like our room. We were surprised by the space available (more than enough). It had 2 double beds, a fold away bed, a living room, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom.
The room was clean and stocked with fresh toiletries. I was surprised that the offered brand name shampoo and detergent (Palmolive and Pantene shampoo). There were also towels and washcloths that all looked bright white and clean.
They offer daily room service, and also a “privacy please” tag that you can use if you’d rather not be bothered by it.
Sandy Beach Hotel Price
The total price for a 3 night stay in this room was $709.66 (including all taxes and fees). This was a pretty decent price compared to other hotels. It would have been cheaper if we could have stayed during weekdays, but we stayed throughout the weekend, which pushed up the price a bit. Also, if you get extra adults with you, you can cut this figure in half (or thirds) depending on the number of people you have. The room could have easily accommodated up to 6 people comfortably, possibly 8 (although you’ll want to check their policy on how many people they allow).
Other hotels in a similar price range didn’t seem quite as nice, or didn’t offer as many amenities. For example, the Westgate hotel didn’t offer free Wi-fi, nor did it offer a kitchen in regular rooms (which was important to us since we wanted to mostly cook and eat food in our room). Yet the Westgate was priced only a couple dollars cheaper. We felt very happy with the price, and the quality of the hotel slightly exceeded the cost. This was a deal where we felt like we got a little more bang for the buck.
Of course, there are hotels across the street in Myrtle Beach for $50 a night, but they look very low quality. I almost felt I’d probably get a bed bug or roach infestation staying at any other place.
Overall, we were happy with our stay and will probably stay at this same hotel again in the future. It was very nice. Here is a view from the hotel overlooking the Family Kingdom Amusement Park:
At night it would be beautiful with all of the lights.
Sandy Beach Resort Pictures
The Sandy Beach Resort offers Oceanfront views with a balcony, as well as wonderful city views (not as many balconies on city side). The views are quite amazing, and the building itself has a sleek and modern design with some curved architecture. Here are some pictures of the front and back of the Sandy Beach Hotel.
Back of Sandy Beach Resort (Oceanfront):
Front of Sandy Beach Resort (City View):
Sandy Beach Oceanfront Resort Amenities
Here are some of the great amenities offered by this hotel:
General Amenities:
- Nice Exercise Facility On-site (but who really exercises on a vacation?)
- Concierge Lounge on 2nd Floor
- Outdoor Pools (3 outdoor pools, with 2 outdoor hot tub/mini pools)
- Indoor Pool, Lazy River, and Hot Tub
- Free High Speed Internet Access (Both Wi-Fi and Ethernet Port)
- Balconies on Ocean Front Rooms, some balconies on City View (even with no balconies, there are amazing views from the city view)
- Conveniently located to many attractions, stores, and restaurants.
- Outdoor sprays to clean sand off your feet when walking to your room from the beach.
Room Amenities:
- Rooms have lots of space. Ours had a nice large bedroom with 2 double beds, as well as a full kitchen equipped with a full-sized oven and refrigerator, sink, and pots, pans, plates, and glasses stocked. There was also a spare room with a couch and TV (which also led to the balcony).
- Our room had 2 TVs, a flat screen LCD TV and a regular TV in the bedroom. There were many channels, but we didn’t watch TV too much. Mostly just FoxNews at night.
- Free Wi-fi and an Ethernet port was available
- Rooms were very nice quality. Not perfect, but nice. There was carpeting in the rooms, with ceramic tile in the kitchen/bathroom area.
- Our bathroom had a jacuzzi tub, which is offered in some rooms (not all).
- They have many rooms and suites to choose from
- Our room was very clean, with no bedbugs, no roaches, no insect infestations, etc.
- Rooms were stocked with dish detergent, soap, Pantene shampoo, tissue paper, toilet paper, towels, washcloths, a Bible, phone book, telephone, lamps, air conditioners, etc.
- Rooms had a toaster, ironing board, iron, hair dryer, full kitchen, etc.
- The rooms were very well insulated (ie, I couldn’t hear neighbors at all). I could occasionally hear someone’s sliding glass door shut, but it wasn’t bothersome. You can also hear people if they walk in front of your door outside, but again, this was rare.
- Also, the hotel has a strict policy on allowing children. It says children or people under 25 years old MUST be accompanied by an adult at all times. This helps prevent a bunch of kids from running around crazy (which we didn’t experience at all).
Was Anything Bad About the Sandy Beach Hotel? Would I Change Anything?
While I would absolutely recommend this hotel to anyone, and will likely stay there if/when I go back, there are some cons (nothing’s perfect!). These things weren’t major problems, but the hotel could possibly be improved with these things:
- No Free Breakfast–some places offered a free continental breakfast, but this one didn’t. It would have been nice, but we packed our own food anyway.
- No in-house restaurant–again, I probably wouldn’t have used it, but I can see that some people maybe would have liked an in-house bar or restaurant.
- High speed was slightly sluggish during busy hours. Again, this isn’t a big deal, but if you run a big business or something and have to have high speed, you may want to realize it won’t be blazing fast at all hours.
- Elevators would sometimes get busy, and it would be very crowded. Of course, we went on a weekend during a very busy time, but still, we would sometimes have to wait a couple of minutes for the elevator. We sometimes took the stairs, and we eventually found a side elevator that wasn’t as frequently used.
- Basic rooms were very nice, but not exceptional. The carpet wasn’t the best design, and it had cheap counter-tops in our particular room (although higher-priced rooms offer very nice granite counter-tops). Let me make it clear that we were happy with the rooms and they were nice, but not luxury nice. Again, you “get what you pay for” here, and you can upgrade to nicer more luxurious rooms for a price. Also, one of the tiles had a small crack in it, but hey, stuff happens and I understand that.
- No alarm clock. In their defense, they do offer wake up calls, and also the time is on the television local programs. But an alarm clock would have been nice.
- No safe in room. Of course we didn’t experience any theft or problems, but it would have been nice if I could have placed my wallet in a safe for added peace of mind. Instead I just hid it in my bag and placed the “privacy please” tag when I left the room.
Conclusion: Sandy Beach Oceanfront Hotel Was Great
All in all, we had a wonderful time and I would highly recommend this hotel. It was reasonably priced, very nice (and you can upgrade to even more luxurious). It had a full kitchen (which is great for cooking or making meals in the hotel), it had beautiful views, the hotel’s outside appearance was clean and modern, and it was in a convenient location.
Pools were clean and well-kept. Towels were stocked at the pool area. The lobby was very nice looking. The staff was friendly and professional. There were no problems whatsoever. We had such a great time that we’ve already talked about going back some day. We even briefly entertained the idea of selling our house and buying a condo in that very hotel (they have both condos you can buy as well as regular hotel rentals). But for now we won’t be doing that, as it is a little too expensive.
If you decide to go to Myrtle Beach, I’d stick with this one. If you can’t get this one, then I’d try to stay along South Ocean Boulevard. Other comparable hotels were the Ocean’s one (right beside this one, and it looked nice). Also, the Westgate is decent. Holiday Inn at the Pavilion is a little higher up, but it was okay. Those are the best locations, and there are nicer hotels but they get further away from the attractions.