We stayed at the Sandestin Hilton from July 6-12, 2008. The first thing you want to avoid is the front desk clerk. Her name is Ariel. There are several other clerks. But I got so lucky **not**. She was rude. She erased the notes that Hilton Honors had put in our reservation about a free upgrade. She told me we would have to pay $50 a day to upgrade from a partial view to a beachview room. She told me that upgrades were based on availability. Well apparently they had them or else she wouldn't have offered me one for a price. Hilton Honors read me the notes in my file when I was getting ready to check out. She called me a liar. She said I told her two different stories. I was really pissed when I went down to the lobby. I asked for a manager. After about 5 minutes one appeared. She spent 15 minutes listening to me about what happened. She assured me that "Ariel" would be disciplined. (yeah right) She even called us later to tell me that they sat her down for retraining. I am not sure that happened either. I am still going to report them to Hilton Honors.

On to the room, which should have had a beachview and only had a partial if you stood on the end of the balcony and looked around the building beach view. I am by no means the world's greatest housekeeper. I expect more when I stay at a Hilton. We have stayed at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah. Now that place is a hotel with cleaning standards and beautiful rooms. I digress. The room was dusty. At every wall and corner of the carpet there was a pile of dust. I found several dead bugs in the same area and a couple live ones. The ceiling by what I would consider the return air vent was black. I like to wash my hair before I go to the beach. I don't like going out with it standing straight up. I was washing my hair leaning over the tub. The ledge that ran down the length of the tub, you know where you put your shampoo and soap, etc. Don't look under that ledge. OMG!!!! It was black with mold. It was disgusting. My husband is a pacifist. I wanted to call the front desk and have someone come clean it up. He said no, we wouldn't be there that much. But when I was at the front desk at check out, I let the manager know all of it. We used Hilton Honors points to book our room. At check-in you would have thought we came from a homeless shelter and were asking for a free meal. Ariel was rude. She acted like we had no business staying there. After everything that happened we would have been better off at a Holiday Inn. We have been going to Destin for over 10 years. We have only skipped 2 years. We will take a condo on Holiday Isle any day over the Hilton.

Now for the housekeeping staff. They were very pleasant. They came quickly when we asked for towels or blankets. They knocked on our door to clean it. When I informed them that we would be awhile she asked if there was anything they could do for us. She changed the sheets on our bed, the kids were laying in it with sunscreen on. eewww. She also brought us towels. I told her no need to come back today we were good. I washed some swimsuits and underclothes in the guest laundry. I was surprised the guest laundry was very clean. While I was doing laundry, housekeeping came through and thoroughly cleaned each washer and dryer. You don't see that everyday. I wish they were as thorough with the rooms.

Now the pool staff were nice. Because we needed 6 towels we had to sign them out. Geez like I would want their towels. My kids only remember one thing. One day while swimming at the pool, a guy from the hotel came out carrying a large bag. He sat it down next to the pool area. He looked around hollered "Free Ice Cream!!!" The kids swarmed him. He gave everyone a free container of ice cream including adults. He had chocolate and vanilla. He even gave out a few seconds. The kids thought that he was the best.

I would not recommend this hotel to anyone. When I think Hilton, I think of something beautiful. I think of large spacious clean beautiful rooms. I think of being treated politely by every person you come in contact with from the hotel. I don't think of dirt and rudeness. Especially by the first person you meet when you walk in.

The manager informed us that there was a fireworks display that night again on the beach. I told her we weren't interested. We would watch it from our clean comfy surroundings of the condo we rented for the next week on Holiday Isle. By the way, we had a wonderful time the next week.

Hope this helps someone. I also told her that we would not be staying there again. I expected more from a Hilton. Don't get me wrong the common areas of the hotel were beautiful. I was left with a sour taste in my mouth from front desk. The manager asked me why I didn't ask for her at check-in. I told her the clerk pretty much pissed me off royally and I was afraid of what I would say or do. I was so pissed, I was ready to come across the desk at Ariel. But I was good and maintained self control. Needless to say I will drop a couple grand down on Holiday Isle. Apparently the Hilton doesn't need my money. I did get my own dig in about Ariel. I told the manager that Ariel would be better suited to a job in the hotel laundry dept. She didn't need to have direct contact with guests, especially not the first person they meet.