Sanderling Resort

My husband and I really enjoyed our visit to the resort. We stayed in a third floor ocean view suite in the main guest house and found our room to be very comfortable and clean. The only downsides are that 1) we could hear the sandbar restaurant radio (and overly zealous day drinkers) from 11-6 and to a lesser extent the live music by the fire pit until 10pm and 2) limited use of the balcony due to the midges (not mosquitoes in contrast to some other recent reviews). If you are out enjoying the property and surrounding areas and don't go to bed before 10 pm as a light sleeper then 1) probably won't matter that much and with respect to 2), I'm not sure the resort can really do much other than attempt to destroy an entire ecosystem, which isn't ideal. There isn't a daily housekeeping service, however we had tons of extra supplies in our room and we don't typically want housekeeping in our room on a daily basis so this did not bother us at all. All of the restaurants at the resort appear to be open now with the only one needing a reservation being Kimball's kitchen (their fine dining option), which we were able to make a reservation for the day of. We made one dinner reservation in advance for a popular local place and relied on OpenTable to make other reservations within a few days of the trip (there wasn't a lot of variety so if you really care about where you are going to eat this may be something you want to take care of in advance). Another thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the local places appear to close down at least one day between Mon-Weds so it may be more difficult to eat out those days (especially if you want a breakfast that is not a donut). We also availed ourselves of the spa and had a great time, but we booked that in early April for a June stay as we anticipated there might be issues with staffing and/or social distancing. In general I think any vacations taken this year require a little more planning (as opposed to winging it) and realistic expectations as we are still in a pandemic and there are well known staffing issues going on throughout the country (there are help wanted signs in just about every hotel, restaurant, and shop in the area). This was our first trip to the resort and our expectations were honestly pretty low based on the most recent reviews, however our actual stay far exceeded those expectations. The beach area is amazing and not overcrowded in contrast to most of the popular east coast beaches (which is what we cared the most about). That being said, a lot of the overall satisfaction levels being reported on here appear to rely mainly on the quality of the room, and if I had been staying in some of the rooms I saw pictured on the reviews on here I would probably be upset too. So there appears to be some luck involved. If you want to feel pampered by the staff and have a five star resort experience this probably isn't the year for you to visit Sanderling (you can cancel up to two weeks out if you booked through them). If you care more about the location and consider the room/hotel as a secondary feature to that then you are probably going to enjoy your stay more. Another thing to keep in mind is that during our trip the resort was very full yet only a handful of reviews are posted (most of them negative). I usually don't bother posting reviews but I was really surprised by how different our experience was than what others were posting and thought it might be helpful to future travelers to show that not everyone is having a bad experience during their stay.

Our two rooms were booked and confirmed on March 4, 2021. We requested specific rooms in the South (adult) building, and were assured that they were available and reserved for us. The arrival began poorly when we were told that our rooms were in the North (family) building, and no attempt was made to rectify the error. The adjoining door in my room made the playful noises of the toddlers next door very audible. The linens and bathroom were clean; however, the windows to the outside were covered with dirty sticky fingerprints, and there were dead midges (bugs) everywhere. No attempt was made to vacuum or sweep them up. The hallways needed vacuuming, and their was NO daily maid service...not even for fresh towels or emptying the wastebaskets. A member of the housekeeping staff volunteered that she was the only person available to clean our building. Clearly, the Sanderling is short-staffed. The hotel needs to be upfront about their services (we not informed prior to arrival or during check-in that there would be no daily services), and make some adjustments to the rates. What was once an elegant hotel is now rundown and extremely poorly run. Where is the management? And, definitely not worth the $1700+ for three nights.

OMG! It was simply AWFUL! The room was extremely modest and unkept, furnished with cheap furniture, dead insects on top of bed frames, windows, etc, screen door that wouldn’t close, dirty balcony...all that for $900 a night! Disgusting! And the owner’s reply on my Google review was condescending! I bet he/ she wouldn’t be happy to spend almost $900 a night on that crappy room! Shame on them and please, stay away from Sanderling Resort, NC!!!!

This was our first trip to the outer banks and since it was just my husband and myself we thought we would pamper ourselves and stay at The Sanderling Resort. This stay was nothing close to resort amenities! We were there the last week of May and paid close to $500+ dollars per night. The pool was not heated and was freezing cold- only a few people ventured in to do some lap swimming. The resort pool was full of these bugs called midges which apparently are a local expected issue. I told someone at the front desk that it seemed like a health hazard that little children are playing in this pool with these issues. They said someone would vacuum them but it was never done while I was there. I was expecting to see someone out at the pools before they opened, cleaning, opening umbrellas, etc. but it never happened. No bar service to pool. No one to set up the chairs and umbrellas on the beach, it was basically a help yourself vacation. What did I pay all this money for? Beach bar closed at 6 some nights and 5:30 other nights depending on what they felt like and they had an indoor bar that sold much less alcoholic choices. It was ridiculous!! Then on top of that there was a resort fee!!! What was that for? There were no other amenities, there was someone sitting in an activity booth but all the activities were at other places, not that you could rent right on the premises. Spa was limited and I could not make reservations for any services. I see that you can take outside guests at the spa but you need to have room for services available to the guests. I understand that there is a labor shortage right now but then you need to charge much less so my expectations would not what they were. Rooms had cobwebs on the porch railings so they could not have been cleaned in a while. If they want any chance of having us back they should provide a credit for 50% of what we paid for a future visit!! Very disappointed although the staff working at resort were all nice, I felt bad that I could not provide more favorable review. :(

My first visit here. Sat in the lobby while waiting on a friend. First impression…there was a very dirty hassock/seat ….was not very happy with all of the stains. Beside my chair, in the corner by the hassock we’re dead flies! Bathroom by the bar was also dirty. Very disappointed. There was also a wet spot on the hard wood floor that I pointed out as a safety issue, I didn’t want anyone to fall. No one dryer the floor. Finally a guest went over and wiped up the water with napkins.