The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort

This is a rather interesting review to write. The Sanctuary Hotel was gorgeous. From the moment you arrive, you’ll notice how beautiful the hotel is and how amazing it actually smells! Once you walk through the doors, you are greeted with a gorgeous view across the property out over a verdant lawn to the ocean. There are several sitting rooms tastefully decorated that invite you to find a quiet spot to relax and enjoy the atmosphere. The hotel has an amazing location when staying on Kiawah Island. It’s incredibly convenient whether your day involves going to the beach, a lovely bike ride, a little tennis, or playing one of the amazing golf courses on the property. The restaurants were also terrific. We dined at the Ocean Room, the Atlantic Room, Jasmine Porch, and the Loggerhead restaurant by the pool. I won’t go into full details about the restaurants, but they all had wonderful selections, the service was impeccable, and the food really good. We also grabbed breakfast sandwiches from the coffee shop each morning, and the ladies there were terrific. Just a note, if you would like just an egg and cheese sandwich, make sure to order it the day before because they don’t have that option! The ladies always greeted us very warmly and were so friendly and left us with a good laugh. We found this to be such a delight when starting our day. This was like much of the service throughout the hotel. Everyone was really friendly and helpful. We loved all of the Jamaican staff. Our housekeeping staff we had were amazing! We did use the gym. With the exception of needing some updated towels, the gym was very good. It had plenty of treadmills so everyone’s not fighting over them! The gentleman working there was so friendly as well. Before I get to the big hiccup with our stay, I do want to say that we really did enjoy our time at The Sanctuary. In fact, if it weren’t for what I’m about to write, I would without hesitation stay here again. As glowing as our experience was, it was unfortunately hampered by something really big. We drove the quick 15 minutes from Charleston airport and arrived around 12:30 p.m. and were allowed to check in early, which was incredibly nice! We had booked an ocean view room for our anniversary. When we arrived in the room, we were in a rush to get to lunch and to the golf course, so we didn’t pay too much attention at the time. Once we got back to the room and were out on our patio enjoying a glass of wine, however, we realized we didn’t quite have an ocean view. So we called the operator and explained our discontent, and they said a manager would contact us right away. Well, no one ever contacted us, and we called two more times on different days after this. Two of the individuals we spoke to confirmed we were unfortunately put in a dunes view room, not an ocean view. Although we weren’t in our room terribly much, the times we were, we were very disappointed in what was provided to us. We had a couple of celebratory bottles of wine that we brought to enjoy the view, thus why we booked that category of room many months in advance. When we checked out, we assumed the discrepancy would’ve been taken care of with our bill, especially since we didn’t hear back from management. When it wasn’t, we requested to see a manager. That manager proceeded to tell us not only were we in an ocean view room , but we were in their premier ocean view room! Now, my wife and I travel quite a bit, and this statement was simply absurd. My wife, at 5 feet tall, could barely see any water from our view, and I could make out a fraction of the ocean in the far left corner only when I stood up. After explaining our discontent vehemently with the manager, she took 10% off of our room rate! To say we were disappointed is an understatement. This was an important anniversary for my wife and me, and we didn’t get the room we paid for. We understand mistakes do happen when you travel, but to not have a manager reach out to us at a luxury Five Star property after we requested one multiple times was simply unacceptable. We loved everything about Kiawah Island. We really enjoyed our time there. I dislike writing a review about a property we actually liked, but because of what transpired, my wife and I had an honest conversation as to whether or not we would ever come back to The Sanctuary. It’s not a cheap property, and we would have expected more from the management to address our issue. So if you do decide to stay there, I promise you you’ll really enjoy your time. Its a wonderful destination! Just make sure you get the room you paid for!

I truly never leave negative comments but our room was a disgrace in the condominiums. I've never experienced anything like it. Paint chipping everywhere; rust in the bathtub; huge stains on the rug; cockroaches. We were stunned. Obviously rooms need rennovations periodically - but under no circumstances should you, if you care about your brand, have let anyone stayed in thisroom. Room Joseph in Seascape was our room.

One of my favorite stays. Service is impeccable. Location and amenities simply cannot be beat. Rooms are spacious and comfortable (beds are so comfy!) It’s an amazing getaway we look forward to every time!

Very beautiful property! Service in restaurants is awkward and not first class. Every time we ate it was told we had to make reservations way in advance. Which didn’t make sense because they were about half full. Without exception even with reservation they mad us wait 5-10 minutes. It seems as if we were bothering them and making them work. There was no apparent need to make us wait other than they wanted you to. The food in each place we ate was extremely salty and not very good. The managers need to do some mystery dinning. The food was very disappointing and did not match with the classy resort. On vacation I want to be unscheduled and free. When we tried to book massages they told use people Make reservations 6 months in advance and there were no openings during our 5 Day stay. Which is incredible. Maybe they need more people so they can service their guest? Our room was nice and maid service.

This resort is very nice, and very beautiful, however it is immensely disappointing that 4 of their 6 car chargers have remained broken for over a year now. These are Tesla chargers, and are not free. The disrepair is putting guests at a deficit for the return home. A top-tier resort should be aware of this deficit it is presenting its customers.