This was a nice resort with friendly staff. The check-in was fairly quick. After checking in, you are steered towards timeshare salespeople who try to sign you up for a tour. I explained that we already owned two and couldn't use another and that was the end of it (no pressure). Our salesperson gave me a great deal on golf balls retrieved from course ponds by a diver he knows. For buying them, he also gave me some golf coupons which got my 12 year old son and I a round of golf with cart at an Arnold Palmer designed course (Crescent Pointe) for $54 (kids play their age - $12 for a 12 year old).
The units were well laid out, quite spacious, and clean. Ours was a three bedroom unit on the ground floor of one of the three story buildings. Generally, we didn't notice noise from other units, except for the footsteps of kids in the unit above us that we nicknamed "the thunder kids". The kitchen was well equipped, but lacked a kettle so we had to boil water for tea in a pot. The master bedroom ensuite bath was quite large with a big corner bath and large shower. We quickly bought all our own toiletries as there was no shampoo provided and the toilet paper and tissue were of poor quality. Bar soap was provided. The master bedroom did not have a window to the outside. It was attached to another bedroom by double doors which, if you left them open, would allow natural light from the adjacent bedroom. The sheets on all the beds were very thin or worn out. We raised this issue with staff, fully expecting that if all the sheets were like that, the problem would not be addressed. I guess that was the case because they only sent someone in to remake the bed, apparently with the same thin sheets. The beds were not very comfortable. One of our pet peeves was the lack of recycle facilities. They apparently expect people to take their recycle to an off-site recycle facility, should they chose to spend the time hunting for it on their vacation.
Each unit had wired and wireless internet access that seemed fast enough most of the time, but struggled with movie trailers. The signal strength is excellent as each room has its own wireless router and "network" (you join the network named after your room number). The main clubhouse also had a computer room, where I went once to print 4 pages of AAA maps on their black and white printer (complimentary). There were several terminals and I never noticed anyone waiting for one.
The pools at this resort were great, with excellent water quality. The smaller pool seemed a little warmer than the large pool, but both were very comfortable in the hot South Carolina July weather. Guests must supply their own pool towels. The nice thing about that is that you can tell if a chair is really taken, not just covered with pool towels by a group that has long since left the pool.
The grounds were nice, but not outstanding. The landscaping was nicer on the entrance driveway and around the clubhouse than around the units. Off our back patio, we had patchy grass and bare dirt that became a mud puddle when it rained. They should work on the gardening around the units. There seemed to be adequate numbers of BBQs, as they were never all in use at once.
The parking spaces in front of the units were unpaved and insufficient in number, especially around the three story buildings. We had to park in front of a two story building some distance away on a few occasions.
The resort seemed to have activities around the pool area, but we only attended the complimentary wine and cheese party, where they had door prize draws.
Apart from the pools, a small fitness room, and the computer room, this resort had few on-site amenities. Guests had access to the Westin indoor pool, fitness centre, and beach via a free shuttle; but these were off-site amenities, not exactly convenient. My wife and daughter took the shuttle to the beach once, but otherwise we went to public beaches. The resort is surrounded by a golf course, but it did not seem to be a part of the resort. The resort was convenient to the island's extensive cycling path system.
In summary, this was a nice resort with friendly staff, but did not have the level of quality and amenities we have come to expect from a RCI Gold Crown resort. We think a Silver Crown ranking would be more appropriate. This was a nice base for a visit to HHI and we would gladly return.
