Country Inn & Suites By Carlson Myrtle Beach At Waccamaw

This place is a dump, but before I talk about the hotel, I want to share the nightmarish customer service I received from [...] the hotel staff.[...] It started off poorly when there some error in transferring my reservation to the hotel. Apparently only part of my last name showed up in the computer and the front desk clerk couldn't find my reservation. She couldn't have been less concerned [...]. Once the reservation was straightened out, we got to the room and realized that it was not what I booked. The room was supposed to have two beds and a fold out couch; it only had the two beds. I had booked a two night stay, so with it already being late, we decided that we would stay the first night, and find a decent place for the second. So I took my proposition to front desk clerk[...] pleading with the apathetic front desk clerk to let me cancel the second night of our stay. This seemed like a very simple and reasonable request given that I had been given the wrong room [...].During my 3 hour battle, I was greeted with about as much concern and compassion as you would receive if you brought the wrong form to the DMV. It was so ridiculous that I wouldn't have been surprised if Ashton Kutcher jumped out from behind the counter to tell me I was being Punk'd. Finally by some miracle, the front desk begrudgingly agreed to refund the second night of our stay (probably just to shut me up) and I thought it was over. [...] I still have a couple of days until the refund is supposed to finally process, so I'll have to wait and see if that actually happens. [...]On to the hotel itself … as I mentioned, it is a dump. Scenic views include the bustling traffic of Hwy 501, a bum pushing a shopping cart around an abandoned shopping center and the neon lights of Fantails Adult Show Club. Parking becomes an issue at night due to overflow parking from the adjacent strip club and it was somewhat surprising that the rooms were not also offered at an hourly rate because of this convenient proximity. We had to park in a no parking area, because all of the acceptable parking was full. My initial feeling after the debacle with front desk was that we would wake up and the car would have been towed … it was not, this was most certainly the highlight of the stay. There was also constant muggy feeling, not just from the humidity in the hot July air, but from the very real feeling that you could be mugged or stabbed at any moment in the area surrounding the hotel's dimly lit parking lot. Honestly, a 1 star rating is far too high but unfortunately that is the lowest possible option. The customer service rating for the hotel [...] should definitely be a negative number.

[...] wrote on July 13, 2011