|
A special thanks to Karen (kish73) who gave me great advice back in January when we decided to book Monterey Bay Suites. We just got back from another great week at Myrtle Beach, and here's my review of the hotel.
We’ve been to Myrtle Beach more than 40 times, but this was our first stay at Monterey Bay Suites. It is located in the northern end of Myrtle (68th Ave North), which is in a quieter section of the beach. It is a large resort with 16 floors. The grounds are beautiful, and we really enjoyed our stay. The price was unbelievable, and we'll definitely be back. We paid a TOTAL of $1,046.15 for 7 nights in August. That's after taxes. I still can't believe it was that affordable!
Every morning, they offer a free hot breakfast. Eggs, bacon, waffles, biscuits & gravy, cereals, fresh fruit, etc. each day. They also serve burgers and sandwiches at lunch time, but that isn’t free. There is a workout room on the 3rd floor, and a laundry room on the 3rd floor. There is entertainment for the kids. While we were there, they had a magic show on the main lawn, and then a talking parrot one day in the lobby. They also have a room with a TV where you can rent the X-box for free and play games. There is no arcade at this hotel.
The main pool on the lower level stretches both inside and outside, and while much of the pool is 3 to 4 feet deep, there are sections that are 5 feet deep, which made it much more enjoyable for us adults (and our 17 year old son). There is a lazy river and hottub inside, and an additional hottub outside. There is also a kids activity pool, but we didn’t have any little ones with us, so I cannot comment on that. The front lawn area has the bean-bag toss game (some call it cornhole), and plenty of chairs for sunbathing. They also have a poolside snack bar that has hotdogs and nachos, along with sodas, beer, and wine coolers. There is also ping-pong, restrooms, and pool towels down there.
There is an additional pool on the 10th floor which is smaller and quieter. It’s a great place for sunbathing, reading a book, or talking. There is also a hottub by this pool. There aren’t as many kids at this pool, so it is relaxing. Plus, if you have a room on one of the upper floors (10th through 16th), you can walk up and down the stairs to get to the pool and back to your room. There’s no public restroom at the 10th floor pool, so being able to walk up a flight of stairs to your room is helpful!
Our suite was great, and was actually bigger than the ones in the pictures on their webpage. Two double beds, two closets, two TV’s, a full kitchen, and a living room with a Murphy bed (wall bed). We had our 17 year old son and 11 year old daughter on this trip, and the suite was certainly big enough for our teen and pre-teen, which was one of our concerns before we arrived. Our balcony was facing south, so we could see the beach all of the time, and could see the lights from downtown every night and the fireworks from the 2nd Ave pier on Wednesday. I spoke with housekeeping, and each of their housekeepers has 11 rooms to take care of. They were at our room early every day, and were done and gone when we came back to our room for lunch. Our room was very clean, and so were the hallways. The elevators got dirty every day, but housekeeping/ maintenance kept cleaning them when someone would spill a drink or get sand in there.
There are two complaints about the Monterey Bay Suites… the parking and the elevators. I feel that if you know about the negatives in advance and plan for them, then you can turn those negatives into positives. YES, the parking garage is tough to negotiate. We knew that going in, so we planned our parking by taking a spot on the top floor every night (8th floor) to make our exit easier the next day. And we knew to plan an extra 10 minutes to get out of the parking building each night when we went to dinner. YES, the elevators can be slow and crowded in the morning when EVERYONE in the hotel is trying to get down to the lobby for breakfast, or back up to the room after breakfast. They aren’t that bad the rest of the day. We parked our car on the 8th floor, and walked the 4 flights of stairs to our room every day to avoid the elevator. It was an easy walk, saved time and frustration from waiting for the elevators, and was good exercise. We also took the stairs to the 10th floor pool and back to our room every day. The only time we took the elevator was to go all the way to the Lobby for breakfast, or the ground floor for the main pool and the beach.
In conclusion, we would definitely stay here again… especially for the price! The room was perfect for our family, the location was great, the pools were fun, and the free breakfast was very helpful. Everyone that we met that worked there was very friendly. The two women who served breakfast every morning have a very tough job, but they were both as friendly as can be, and spoke to everyone each day. The front desk folk were helpful, and as I said above, housekeeping was great. I would definitely recommend Monterey Bay Suites, and again I would like to thank Karen for her advice!
Scott
Last edited by WVParkfan on Thu Aug 16, 2012 1:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
|
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
I really enjoyed reading your review and you brought out a lot of good points that I had never thought about posting! Isn't it nice to see it through someone else's eyes? We have always found it to be as clean as any other place we have stayed at in Myrtle Beach and this comes from a lifetime (for both of us) of traveling with our families as children and of course all our married life together! 
We, like you and your family, have always tried to make the best out of the negatives and are grateful for the things that are wonderful about it. If you know in advance what they are, you can make the best of things and enjoy your stay there! 
This was our sixth year staying at Monterey Bay Suites and it did not disappoint us! 
The front desk staff was pleasant when we checked in & really made us feel welcomed. They thanked us for returning. I thought that was a nice touch. We stayed on the 16th (top) floor facing north in their “B” unit, the king end suite (which is what we always stay in). Our view was lovely! Our room was clean & well maintained by our housekeeper all week. We did have a problem with reception on both our TVs 
but hotel maintenance was prompt & worked diligently to resolve our problem as best as they could with the tools they had! 
The breakfast staff was pleasant to us all week. The FREE hot breakfast was good but I did get tired of the endless ways they served sausage! 
This was the first time in the 6 years we have been staying there that there was no bacon served and that some form of sausage was served 4 out of the 6 breakfasts we were served!!! (The other two days were country style steak & ham respectively). The grounds and pool areas were well kept. The wi-fi worked well & I had no problem connecting to the network. The front desk staff at check-out was equally as friendly and wished us a safe and pleasant trip home. Also a nice touch! 
Nothing we can do about that but we knew that when we booked our reservations. Sometimes knowing ahead of time makes it easier. Since we’ve had 6 years of practice, we are used to it. We do drive a full-sized truck (Ford F-150) and therefore park on the bottom level. It is a tight fit but we manage. The elevators and hallways do get messy & wet during the day but that is also to be expected during peak times. 
