The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort

Exceptional service with friendly staff, convenient location near the beach, excellent amenities like bike rentals and full spa, spacious rooms with amazing views, and self-parking available. Ideal for relaxation and exploration.

Hotel itself is dated and showing. Security around the island are complete ass wipes...yelling if you ride bikes in the road...everything flooded. Shops closed 5 mins early and the teenagers working here delighted in slamming the door and flipping the closed signs. Pitiful TV in the lobby bar.

We took our first trip to Kiawah Island this summer for our son's birthday and absolutely loved our stay at The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort. While a couple restaurants that were not in The Sanctuary proper were not up to snuff, everything within The Sanctuary itself was five-star! We chose to pay extra for a Club Lounge room - 100% worth it and we'd do it again. We certainly felt we got our money's worth for the extra cost of $150/night - it included a nice breakfast buffet, a "light fare" lunch buffet, an evening spread of hors d'ouvres and pretty great desserts, plus unlimited beverages (including a cool wine tasting machine of sorts, with a wide selection of wines to sample at your leisure). But it also meant having access to the quiet, friendly Club Lounge itself and the impeccable services of its staff. You do your private check-in with the Club directly, they book appointments and services for you, they assist if any issues arrive, and they bring you specialty coffee bevs, a little cooler for the beach, an extra to-go box, and so forth. Our room itself (#457) was roomy even with two queen beds and we had a terrific ocean view (on the far side of the hotel, so we weren't looking at other rooms - an added bonus). We actually only had the room serviced once the entire stay, but you could usually track down someone in the hall if you needed extra towels or bath bubbles. The beds were comfy, everything was very clean - though there were some wasps on the balcony. The beach itself is soft, powdery white sand - so not great for shell collecting, but perfect for long walks at sunrise and sunset (which we did every morning & night we were there). And honestly, very few people on the beach early in the morning - so we often felt like we were at a private beach all to ourselves. Just us and the seagulls. I did notice that the beach lounges with umbrellas filled up during the day. Overall, a strong five-star hotel stay and wish I could go back tomorrow. Thank you also for helping our son feel very celebrated!! I'll review the fabulous spa separately, as well as the not so fabulous golf course restaurants.