My husband began working for his company in 1993. Since then, I have visited the Sandestin Hilton over 25 times for conferences and conventions. My next trip will be 8-8-08 through 8-12-08 and here are some preparations I will make:

* I will bring Tilex Mildew Remover Spray and I will spray the entire bathroom as soon as I hit the room. The caulking in the tub will be mildewed and there will be a general appearance of "not really clean" that I will take care of myself before putting my naked feet on the tile floor or my naked bum on the potty.
* I will bring two scented candles to enjoy during my stay. I know that if I get a room in "the old section" (the tallest building of guest rooms) it will smell like mildew because there has been hurricane damage (minor, but wet) over the years and once the carpet gets wet, there is absolutely nothing anybody can do to really get it dry.
* A reservation has been made for one of the corner rooms with the wrap-around balcony. If something happens and I am downgraded to a Jr. Suite, I will INSIST that I get a room as far away from the elevator as possible to avoid all-night noise from partiers who do not sleep. If I am offered a room above the third floor, I will refuse because I will only hoof three flights of stairs, knowing that the elevators take forever if you get on an upper floor. Also, I will NOT open the curtains during mid-day in a corner room since, with the added windows in the corner room, it is impossible to cool the room. Continuing to crank down the air conditioning until it is set on 60 will only freeze up the unit.
* I will remove the top bedspread immediately and make sure the little card is in place to tell the maid I want my bedsheets changed every day instead of their usual routine of every third day (to conserve water).
* I will plan to take the shuttle on my one excursion to shop because parking spaces - well, there won't be one. Ever. I could Valet, but who needs the hassle?
* When someone is using the suite directly below mine as a Hospitality Suite and has "Sweet Home Alabama" cranked up beyong the endurance of his speakers, I will call management - not once, but every fifteen minutes. Like clockwork.

I will avoid a certain bartendress at the poolside bar who has been an employee there since at least 1993. Three years ago, she served my friend a beverage with a long, curly, dark hair floating on the top. I happen to have short, curly, dark hair and happened to be standing on the other side of my friend. When said friend asked for "One without the hair," bartendress screwed up her face, gestured to me, and said, "Well, its HER hair."
Excuse me? It jumped off my head, grew 6 inches, floated horizontally three feet across my friend and into her glass?!?! I wrote this incident up on a comment card. No response from management.

All in all, if you must go to the SDH, be prepared and take it with a grain of salt. If you add a little tequilla and lime juice, you'd have one of their $9.00 margaritas.

TRAVELERS, PLEASE BEWARE! The stardards at the Hilton have dropped to far below par. I have stayed in this hotel several times before and prior to this visit, had been my first choice of places to stay in Destin. The hotel is great if you are looking for a beach hotel with great pools, super spa, beautiful beach, Kid's Day Club, and a close proximity to everything. However, the inside of the hotel is in need of renovation, a thorough cleaning from top to bottom and most importantly, a more efficient cleaning staff with managers/supervisiors who take pride in making sure that the cleaning staff is doing a proficient job. The hallways are dark and dingy. The paint is peeling in hallways and rooms. The carpet throughout is well worn and stained. The tables in the lobby and on each hall as you get out of the elevator are caked with dust. The chrome on the elevators have not been cleaned thoroughly in years it would appear. It looks like no one takes pride in making sure the hotel is clean! The sheets and comforters are stained. Even when they change the sheets and the comforters, they are stained too!

We arrived on Friday, August 1 and witnessed several guests discussing their issues with management at the front desk. We shopped all day and went to the room assigned in the tower building around 8:30 p.m. Upon entering the room, there was a smell of mildew. The pillow cases were stained and appeared to have mascara on several of them. The sheets were also stained. It looked like the maid service had not changed the sheets from the prior guests and instead just made up the bed. After going to the front desk to complain(again witnessing guests loudly expressing their displeasure with management or clerks), we were given a room in the Spa Building. The room smelled better and had a perfect view. Couldn't ask for anything better right? The sheets in this room had human hair on them. YUK! The pillows had even more stains than the first room. The comforters were nasty and the throw that went across the bed had stains we couldn't idenfiy. We called the front desk to complain again and the clerk said that she would send someone up to change the linen. These sheets and comforters were clean but dingy. The towels were so dingy that they looked more faded gray than white. W

If you are picky as I am about hotels, then I'd suggest staying at the Couryyard, Residence Inn or a place in the Wharf with beach access. You might also try renting a condo through VRBO. I love Destin but I'll be renting through Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort for one of their beach properties, VRBO or choosing to stay at a Marriott property with beach access. Unfortunately, no more Hilton Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort for me.

P.S. Kudos to Taylor at the front desk and Kevin in the Spa for delivering superb customer service.

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.

This place is great! The resort is huge and there are numerous places to stay at. We actually stayed at Beachside I, which is on the beach. It appeared to be a private rental, but it was laid out like a hotel, which hotel-like phones and maids. Yet, our unit was around 1700sqf over looking the pool and beach. My wife and 10 year old loved it!

There was a lot to do, including free bike rentals, but most things were a little pricey. The 3 of us could easily spend $100+ a meal in the village. So probably not the best place to go if you are on a budget. However, that's not to say that you had to do things at the resort.

The only negative thing we found was that the free tram didn't seem to like coming to our resort often. We would call and see a bunch pass by, going to other resorts, but sometimes they would never come.

We will definitely go back soon, but we plan to reserve a golf-cart for the week next time and avoid the tram all together.