Sanderling Resort

Very disappointing in all regards with the exception of the Life Saving restaurant. Half the hotel is closed for renovation which we were not notified about. Hallways and common areas were freezing cold. Rooms are colorless and bleak. The hotel is almost empty, but our view of the parking lot was a great joy.

I will try to categorize this review to make it easier to read: Property of the Sanderling Resort Pros: Beautiful. The beach is amazing. Love the chairs all around. Love that they add plantings to the dunes to protect them. Love that they have fire pits. They have tesla parking chargers. Cons: Please make sure your staff is informed of what is really available & what isn't. Updates and construction are in progress. The subfloor next to the elevator in North is rotten & sinks when you step on it. The fireplace didn't work in North. The gym was closed due to the construction work on the doors. Please send Confirmation emails upon booking. I had to call to confirm my booking was completed as I received nothing but a hit to my credit card. Future ideas: It would be helpful if the front desk had a list of open restaurants in town & their hours. It would be even more helpful if that list was updated from the on-season to the off-season. Most resorts give a packet upon check-in that shows what events/spa treatments of which you are already signed up, we didn't get anything other than a map at check-in. Consider adding solar panels as parking coverage roofing, preferably setup in a way that would be okay during hurricane season. Please recycle & provide cans for such. Please create an app for your resort; mimic the cruise apps. It would be helpful if there were a few features in the app such as a room key, resort calendar, guest calendar, map, property details, restaurants/menus, rentals, tours/excursions, and account. The room key could be in the app like most hotels, so then they do not have to keep up with the key card. That room key would be used for the building doors and gym doors. The guest calendar could show all the spa appts, rental appts, as well as letting guests add events from the resort calendar to their in-app calendar. Connect the in-app map to google & give walking directions in real time; for example, location of chairs to watch sunrise, adult-only pool, bocce ball court, spa, etc. Currently, all instructions given were verbal along with printed map. You could have each of the restaurant menus published in the app, including dietary restriction information. The app could have a spa menu listed that allows you to add to the guest calendar and charges the card saved. The spa check-in document could be in the app so then guests do not have to write the same exact information on paper each day they visit the spa. You could have an after-visit spa summary that shows the products used during the treatment(s) with a link to "buy now" so then your spa guest can buy what was used. Property details could include fire pit hours and number of seats, pool hours and age limits, animals found on the property with pictures, etc. There could even be a bingo games that lets guests mark off things done and things seen while at the Sanderling Resort. For example: Saw seagull, sat in dune chair, swam in pool, made smores at fire pit, received spa treatment, tried yummy food at restaurant, practiced yoga, etc. The app could have a rental section where the guests could book bike rentals, kayak rentals, etc. That rental section could include a receipt of the rental with the expected hours begin and end, maybe even an alarm that reminds them they are running out of time. Guests might want to book tours of Duck or the Atlantic, it would be helpful to have this booking available in the app. They may want to have a hiking excursion with a guide, it would be helpful if they could book those excursions. Each of these bookings could show in the guest calendar. The account section would show each purchase made, so then the guest could review receipts. When you check out at the spa, you do not actually see what items were charged you only get the total and tip amount. Also, it could be nice if the spa retail and spa product items for sale were listed in the app, then guests could order those, and it could feed into the inventory software in the spa. For example, a guest may be in their room at 9pm and realize they forgot their sunglasses and sunscreen, they could see that the spa has these items and make the purchase then pick them up at 9am when the spa opens so they can get going with their day. Then the guest knows they do not need to drive to town first thing in the morning. Make the app able to connect each guest on the reservation (if desired) so then guardians can keep track of items for children and see a big picture with their own items. We were told that the spa at Sanderling has sister locations, so if the account information were saved in the digital application, then “members” of Sanderling spa could carry over their information when visiting those sister spas. Hotel Room at the Sanderling resort Pros: The bed is comfortable. The curtains overlap. The mini refrigerator is large enough to have several people put their leftovers and medications inside with space to not overlap. The balcony chairs were nice! There is a coffee maker in the room. There is a small table and 2 chairs to use. Cons: The barn door for the bathroom would NOT stay shut. It did not block light, sounds, smells, water, or humidity. Not really sure what the point of the barn door was since it slid open immediately after pulling closed. The shower should have a door, the half wall allows water to splash all over the bathroom & it is very slippery/hazardous, as well as cold from the air drafting into the shower. The bathrooms should have another row of hooks on the wall next to the toilet. There is NOT enough room to hang wet swim items in addition to the wet towels. The shower should have a way to hang a dry towel, a washcloth, & a loofah without having to put them on the floor. Sound does travel between rooms. The room we had in North had a connector door on each side of the room so that we could connect to the room to the right and the room to the left. Future Ideas: Please include seat cushions on each chair in the hotel room. Please add a channel guide to the TV so you don't need to request printed paper from the front desk. Please include laminated instructions for the dehumidifier so guests can know what to do when it alerts. Add instructions on where to find the ice maker and the water bottle fill-up station. Please have a tea tray in reception so you can make tea in the room; this would be in addition to the regular & decaf coffee that is accompanying the coffee maker in the room. Please get a QA tester to review your reconstruction plans as you work on the main building, preferably several mothers of multiple children as they will see what isn't intuitive/useful in each area. Restaurant: The Lifesaving Station Pros: The ingredients are fresh. The restaurant is beautiful. The other people in my party said their dishes were very delicious and the fish was cooked perfectly. Cons: The booking receptionist & front desk should not say there is a vegan menu when there isn't one; I was told on 3 different occasions that the chef creates a new menu per season & has a vegan dish. The restaurant should have a dietary limitation menu with ingredient identification for allergies; the wait staff should not have to return to the kitchen each time for an ingredient question & have the chance to forget & then not return with an answer. The wait staff in the restaurant haven’t tried the food & is unaware of dish details. For the price of the dishes, it is expected that the wait staff are knowledgeable about every item on every menu. Dietary restriction menus shouldn't be overlooked in a resort/spa complex. I wasn't expecting to leave the resort to get food. Having to adjust the schedule between sessions to leave the resort to drive to town to get food was frustrating to me & my party. The service in the restaurant shouldn't ignore patrons even if they are ordering less costly items. The hostess told me the kitchen can accommodate a vegan request, and we discussed the available vegetables and fruit. I am not sure if the hostess and the server did not have time to communicate, but by the time the server came to our table for the order, the veg/fruit list that I created with the hostess was not something she was able to offer. I could only pick from the sides, none of which I could have without modification. Future Ideas: Please have a chef tasting menu meeting with the wait staff each time the chef changes menus. Please publish the menus for the open resort restaurants. The Spa at Sanderling Pros: The staff are nice. The products used felt great. They had a vegan line of products. The resting rooms were lovely. The treatment rooms were comfortable. I liked that they provided sandals that are cleaned after each use. The locker room had easily accessible essentials. Cons: The spa should have privacy for the shower doors, not distorted clear doors. The spa should have hooks for towels & shower supplies. I wish that during the sugar scrub treatment we could have changed the sheets. The staff member did a great job rubbing in the exfoliation and then used a hot, wet towel to clean if off, but the product remained on the sheet under me. It would have been nice to have the sheet pulled off as one half of my body was cleaned, and then I roll onto the clean sheet, to have the other half of the body cleaned and the rest of the dirty sheet rolled off the bed. Getting up after the treatment was over, I was covered in the scrub. I did not feel comfortable showering with the clear shower doors, that had no way to cover me and nowhere to put my products. Future Ideas: Please have snacks for allergy/dietary restriction guests in the spa. Please have a sparkling juice/water in addition to champagne, that way those with allergies or restrictions can also enjoy the bubbly. Please add scalp cleansing treatments & hair moisturizing treatments to the menu. Please have a way to view the products used in treatments so then we know what we may want to purchase. Please include details on your payment receipts, I was trying to figure out exactly what was paid for and the receipt only says the total and tip.

Excellent inn that I have visited on 10 occasions over the last few decades. It is a casually elegant inn with a beautiful beach, very efficient and friendly staff members, and lovely rooms in three different buildings. The spa is lovely and offers a number of treatments; I have had several massages during my stays. There are 3-4 pool options, including one indoor pool) at the Sanderling - all are exceptional. The Life Saving Station restaurant serves very fine food and drink; we ate breakfast and dinner there.

If you need an elevator, request the north building.. the sunset view rooms have some road noise, but do have lovely sunsets. There are decks and patios everywhere, so you really don’t have to book for any view. The beds are very comfy! Will return next trip!

Our second year at Sanderling; we love the place. Great service and outstanding attitudes by staff members. We were fortunate to get a room upgrade which doubled our enjoyment. The only negative I can think of is the beach chairs should be replaced; the arms are difficult to adjust.