Sonesta Resort Hilton Head Island

First off, everyone we encountered in person was lovely. Our experience in this aspect reminded me of the type of customer service we had 20 years ago. The front desk, the pool staff, the bell hop, the employee at the little store by the pool were all lovely. Well done, especially on a crazy holiday weekend. The grounds are gorgeous. We were happy to lounge by the pool for hours, which isn’t something we typically do. It was very clean. They have an AI assistant, but it was actually pretty helpful! There is an absence of a book in the room that explains checkout procedures, etc. I think I would have still liked the old school physical book, but the AI is a good bot. We had a whole conversation about the (spoiler alert) bathroom fan issue. My only complaint is the room. This is my first experience renting such an expensive room (~$700/night for 4th of July weekend). Room 3115 is as far as I can tell the most expensive room type. It’s the Signature Sonesta King Room. After we unpacked, someone in my party took a shower and noticed how muggy it got and how moldy the grout was. Right after, someone else then used the restroom. Our room filled with muggy bathroom smell. We realized the bathroom fan wasn’t working properly. I called guest services and the young girl who answered was very sweet but didn’t really seem to know how to remedy the situation. She said she could bring a box fan up. I re-explained the problem and how a box fan wouldn’t help the situation. I asked if we could be moved and she said no as the hotel was full. I wasn’t offered any compensation, but she did apologize. She did end up offering to send the engineer up. I told her they could come in while we’re at dinner. We went out and came back a few hours later and no one had been in our room. My husband looked at the fan a bit more and you can see it spinning but almost no air is being sucked in. It’s not broken. It’s just terrible and given the mold, this is probably a known issue without an easy fix. Therefore it’s unlikely to be remedied while we were staying there without great disruption. With that information, he called guest services back and asked them to cancel the engineer request as we were going to bed. During our 3 night stay, we needed to close the bathroom door in between use, which made the hot box miserable to reenter. That led to the “mommy says you can’t go #2 in this bathroom unless it’s an emergency” rule. (We used the pool bathroom when possible. Up and down 3 flights of stairs). We all skipped one day of showering too. We did open the bathroom door when we would leave the room periodically. Shout out to the room A/C. It worked HARD at cooling and dehumidifying. This bathroom appears to have been updated somewhat recently, but as mentioned the tile grout is molding significantly at the bottom (probably due to the trapped moisture issue). I wouldn’t count this against housekeeping as I know how difficult that was to clean in my own shower at home that needed to be retiled. It’s not reasonable for a housekeeper to address that in a same day turnover of a room. The bed was not comfortable. Felt like a cheap box spring or base. Every centimeter my husband moved woke me up. Every night for 3 nights. Cheaping out on that was definitely a choice for a $700/night room. I’m so conflicted about this stay. The room experience was terrible. But the resort is amazing and has a rare, hardworking, amazing staff (who probably take some grief from hotel guests about issues like this outside of their control). All in all, it was not worth the very high cost. We probably won’t be back.

If you want dogs barking all day and night in other guest rooms then this is the place for you. Seems to be that the hotel staff doesn't care enough for non pet guest.

One thing that really stood out, aside from the amazing property, was the great service. Upon my arrival, Dianne was one of the employees that left a mark with how she handles her guests. Interactions with her really shows the type of service you get when booking resorts like Sonesta! Hoping to come back again soon!

It was our first time staying at Hilton Head and a warm welcome from Dianne at the front desk was totally amazing which made our stay incredible.

We spent 4 nights at the Sonesta while attending a family event in Hilton Head and had a great time. The staff was professional and courteous. The atmosphere at the resort was very relaxing, we had direct beach access and there were several food options available on-site. When we experienced an issue with our room, Jermaine promptly brought it to the attention of Michael Insua, who went over and beyond to ensure we had an enjoyable stay. I highly recommend this resort.