Kiawah Island Golf Resort

Kiawah Golf Resort Windswept Villas are dirty, outdated, and infested with roaches. We had 4 villas; all were in varying degrees of disrepair and poor housekeeping. Villa 4347 was littered with trash up the steps leading to the villa’s front door even though housekeeping had been to the villa just before our arrival. Broken chairs and toys, styrofoam cups and trash were strewn under the house where the cars were to park. The inside of the villa was furnished with worn out old furniture; table lamps in some bedrooms that couldn’t be turned on because pieces of the stem were missing; mold and water damage in bathrooms; a broken bar stool and many other areas clearly neglected and overlooked by management & housekeeping for a long, long time. Kiawah Golf Resort charges 5-star fees for everything, yet the accommodations they put guests in are 1-star. We were very disappointed as we had stayed at this resort twenty years ago, and were expecting to return to that same level of quality and cleanliness.

I’ve been to this resort twice. The first time the villa was a little outdated but comfortable. This time my villa was updated but had a nasty infestation of bed bugs. I let the front desk know and a “manager” said he would ask housekeeping to take a look but let me know that there weren’t prior reports. (I would hope not.) The “manager” was less than accommodating and very dismissive of the idea that a villa on the property could have bed bugs. I know like things like this happen in such a transient industry however the dismissal attitude of the manager let me know that there aren’t protocols in place when these pest are reported and that the resort has no plans of doing any investigation or remediation. Please don’t bother to reply to my post with a pre-written response from the marketing department. I rather have received an adequate response in person and a follow up over the phone when I requested such from “the manager”.

We recently rented 3 villas in the West Beach section of the Kiawah Island Golf Resort and were appalled at the quality of the accommodations. The units were 30-40 years old and hadn't been updated at all. There was insufficient air conditioning and no hot water for showers. Much of the furniture was broken including some of the beds. There were obvious patches on the ceiling and walls from previous problems. The kitchenware was just a bunch of odds and ends rather than any matching set of dishes or glasses. Management responded to our concerns about the a/c with just a couple of fans rather than fixing the actual problem. The villa accommodations are just terrible and should not be confused with the quality of the Sanctuary Resort itself. The villas are privately owned with the KIGR just acting as the rental agent. KIGR should impose a standard on these villas before renting them to unsuspecting vacationers.

Beware some villas are beautifully maintained but most are disgusting. There is no incentive for villa owners to upgrade their units so customers renting a unit can arrive to an ok place or as most of my family experienced units with mold, stains, dirty, very used comforters, old old pillows and terrible customer service. Hotel, golf courses are beautiful.

We initially booked a 2BR villa because I was going to a conference & I booked through that. Big mistake. The villas have the smell & aesthetic of your cat-loving great aunt’s house circa 1990. Cockroaches, peeling linoleum, smelly rugs & truck stop motel bedding. We immediately left & they offered another unit that was marginally cleaner but you’d still have to pay me to stay there, not vice versa. Fortunately there was a nice 4BR home available (double the price but it was that or turn around & cancel our trip). Beaches are beautiful, can call & rent chairs & umbrellas & they’ll set up for you each day. Extremely windy. Only 2 pools for all the guests & they’re dated, crowded & waterslides are only appropriate for young kids (my 8-13yo thought they were lame). Worth coming once but unlikely to return