Outside of Disney, the Sandestin Golf Resort is the largest one in Florida, and this panhandle player gets a lot of attention from the mainstream media, but as the editors of Golf Odyssey report in their January issue, bigger (and well publicized) doesn’t necessarily mean better, at least with respect to the accommodations and service.
Traveling undercover as they always do, Golf Odyssey’s editors arrived at the Sandestin Golf Resort well after the official check-in time, yet they were forced to wait an hour before their room was ready. Inexplicably, their request for a different room was denied.
To make matters worse, once inside their condominium suite, they found that it was oddly configured — for example, it was impossible to watch television from the bed — and neither the furnishings nor the linens were of high quality.
Sampling another of the Sandestin Golf Resort’s accommodation options (there are hotel rooms, condos, townhouses, villas, and homes from $89-$773 per night), the editors stayed at the high-rise Hilton Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. While they called its beach, “the best in the area,” the hotel room itself garnered only a “satisfactory” rating.
The editors wrote: “Doubtless the economic downturn has impacted the resort and sparked staffing issues throughout the lodging operation. Overall, the lodging staff, such as it was, was plodding and poorly trained.”
Have you had a similar, or different, experience recently at the Sandestin Golf Resort? Share your comments below.
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As a member of the Southern Seniors Golf Group, we participated in a tournament at Sandestin. Our condo was filthy and we couldn’t get them to give us another. No complaints about the golf courses though.
I have been to Sandestin three times for convention type business conferences, all of which included golf, most recently in July, 2006. I can report that the plodding and poorly trained staff issue is not a recent phenomenon nor are poorly organized check-in processes. The so called hotel rooms are actually condo units that have been sold, and the hotel operation did not seem to take responsibility for the cleanliness or attractiveness of the decor. One unit we were assigned was so filthy – rug stains, frayed bedding etc. that my wife demanded we be moved. On another occassion, the fire alarm in the unit went off in the middle of the night. Worse, the staff really did not seem to care. The concierge desk had a stack of the previous days newspapers. When I pointed out that the papers were a day old, she thanked me but not only did not remove them, but also she placed teh copy I was returning back on the stack. The golf course we played was a decent track and fun to play, but not worth the hassles of service and accommodations. Sandestin looks nice on teh surface, but it’s just a facade. Next time my group holds its conference in Sandestin, I will stay and play golf elsewhere.
Guys, I was shocked when I this article knocking Sandestin until i reached the part where you said you stayed at the Hilton. The Hilton is not part of the Sandestin Beach & Golf Resort. The Hilton is a stand alone hotel property that is not up to the standards of the units that are part of the actual resort. The resort has 4 golf courses 3 of which are great. It has a village with exceptional restaurants and night spots. It also has a beautiful one mile stretch of white sand beach on the Gulf. If you are not emotionally attached to Mickey, Sandestin provides a much better experience than Disney! Try it again and this time stay at the resort.
Don, you forgot to disclose that you used to work for Intrawest and, specifically, on the expansion of the Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort. However, you’re absolutley right — we mistakenly included the Hilton as part of the Sandestin G&BR. But if you reread the tip, you’ll see that we actually preferred the rooms at the Hilton. The other reader comments would seem to support our low rating of the accommodations at Sandestin G&BR. As far as the golf, beach, and village, those are the “bright spots” mentioned and alluded to in the tip and further expanded upon in the full Golf Odyssey story.