Carolina Retreats

“BEWARE … BEWARE…..BEWARE Came to the beach with a certified, registered, and trained service animal. Due to the condo having a faulty sliding glass door. The dog was able to open it while we were gone and got on the balcony and was barking this happened five hours within our stay. This is where the bullying, threatening and disrespect started. I was receiving text messages and phone calls from two different numbers neither of them identifying themselves. They called the police out and had them call me all while I was telling them I was on my way to get the dog and I actually called my cousin who lives close and could get there before me to go get her, but they still threatened to call animal control, and have my dog removed. This was all before 8pm. To make a long story short, we were told that we were evicted. I had ask if I left with my service animal could the rest of the party stay because this was my daughter‘s graduation family get together they would not allow that either.”

“The guest bathroom shower did not work at first. A tech came but did not repair it. Said owner was to replace and did not. I feel some rebate should be offered. $150 or so”

“We loved having a newer place with ocean views and beach access across the street. We especially liked having an elevator as there are 3 flights of stairs in the home so this was a blessing. The communication was good and the rental company even called to make sure all was going good. Thank you!”

“Great location, but Loony Dunes needs maintenance and updates. Carolina Retreats seems to be an average rental company. You don’t get personal service, and they didn’t follow through well on our requests. The coffee pots were dirty and moldy. They sent a maintenance man and he simply picked them up. When we asked two different people on three different occasions to bring us a coffee pot, they never did. We ended up going to a local coffee shop the whole rest of the trip. The whole coffee pot situation is a microcosm of the entire place. Broken drain on a bathtub, dangerous pipe sticking out on the deck, and everything old and outdated, made this rental a place where we will not return. I would really love to help the owners update the place…it could be so easy. Paint, fixtures & with a better rental company managing it, it could be a wonderful place. As it is now, with so many other amazing rentals on Topsail, we’ll go elsewhere.”

“Yard needs significant work couldn’t even let our dog out during the stay.”

“This was a terrible experience. We were told prior to booking unit had elevator and it was on the 2nd floor. I have my 84 year old mom and she can’t do stairs. We arrived late and it was unclear where we were to pick up keys. We went back and forth to main office and to condo. Called and kept getting message to call during regular business hours. Finally dialed the emergency line because it was nearly 11:00pm. The guy answering was trying to give me a 6 digit code, lockbox only had 4 digits. Stayed on hold for a long time. Long story short, we ended up having to get a hotel at midnight. This is not a good rental company!! They close up at 5:00 pm and then you are stuck. Not to mention having to go to a different location to get the keys at midnight. On a good note, I was able to get my week refunded due to their misrepresentation. Just not fun after you drive 10 hours and you have to deal with all this and having to find accommodations after midnight.”

“Overall, our stay was fine but there are disappointing aspects that made it less enjoyable than expected. The front and back decks were covered in pollen and leaves, giving the impression they hadn’t been cleaned or power washed after pollen season. The grill was also not cleaned from the previous use, which was inconvenient. Additionally, we were informed that the pool and beach access passes would be left in the black box at the office since we were arriving after hours, but unfortunately, they were not there when we arrived. I had to do another trip to office and we were not able to access beach that evening.”

“We had a hard time getting into the Room. The Code given didnt work. On top of that the phone number to call didn't work, it was actually number that didn't ring. User Busy!! When i tried to message through the Air BNB app. they didn't message me back for 12 hours. I luckily found a number on the Carolina Resorts website and was able to reach a real person that was able to finally get me into the room. Overall it took me 2 plus hours to get in. the person that helped me said that they dont use the App to message customers. That would have been fine if they gave me a good phone number.... On top of that they didnt offer anything to make things right. i would have thought a few dollars or percent off. They did promise me that this will not happen again though... I would not book with Carolina Resorts through the Air BnB app.”

“The location and layout of the home are nice, but unfortunately our stay was impacted by multiple issues. Cleanliness was not up to standard, with mold and mildew in bathrooms, a dirty refrigerator water dispenser, and kitchen areas that needed to be re-cleaned. I had to spend time during our vacation cleaning parts of the home myself, which was frustrating and unexpected. We were also locked out one morning and reached out for help at 7:15 AM, but did not receive a response until 11:09 AM—after we had already gotten back in. The lack of timely support in that situation was concerning. While the host acknowledged the feedback afterward, there was no resolution offered. Based on our experience, I would recommend confirming cleaning standards and response expectations before booking.”

“This rental was beautiful and up to most of our expectations. We were disappointed though that the clubhouse with the indoor pool and hot tub were closed as that was why we specifically chose this place and we were never notified prior to check in or even after we checked in that this was not working and only found out once we were on our way to use this amenity. Another thing is the back sliding door to the porch did not lock at all so we were unable to secure the property when we left or when we were sleeping and it was very unsettling. We reached out and management reached back out over a day later and at that point we were close to checking out. This is a major safety concern, especially if you have children at this rental.”