At the end of June, my three daughters and I went on an East Coast road trip to visit their 34th U.S. state and three East Coast National Parks. After our first two days of driving, we made it to Isle of Palms, South Carolina to stay at the Boardwalk Inn at Wild Dunes Resort, a Destination by Hyatt Hotel.

There are not many beach resorts along the East Coast that can be booked on points, so I was eager to try this one, as it is within a few days’ driving distance from our home in Upstate New York. 

 

How to Get to Isle of Palms, South Carolina

Isle of Palms, South Carolina, is about 30 minutes from the city of Charleston. The closest airport is Charleston International Airport, airport code CHS. You could fly into CHS and be at Wild Dunes Resort in about 40 minutes. Or, if you are like us, you live on the East Coast and can easily make a road trip to spend a few days here. 

 

 

About Wild Dunes Resort

Wild Dunes Resort is a Destination by Hyatt resort in Isle of Palms, South Carolina. The resort consists of two hotels, Boardwalk Inn and Sweetgrass Inn, and several beach rental properties. Some of these rental properties can be booked through Vacasa Vacation Rentals with Wyndham points.

 

 

Wild Dunes Resort Pools

Sweetgrass Inn has three pools, plus a hot tub and splash pad. At the Boardwalk Inn, there are two pools at the Grand Pavilion, one at the Swim Center, and one adult-only pool closer to the hotel.

There were plenty of lounge chairs available at all of the pools. They also have towels and vending machines, where you can scan your room key and take as many pool/beach towels as you need. When you are done using them, you return them to the same location. 

 

 

 

Guests staying at either Boardwalk Inn or Sweetgrass Inn can use the pools at both resorts. We spent most of our time on the beach and didn’t make it over to Sweetgrass Inn to use their pool, but it looked fun! It might be a better option if you have littles, as it has a beach entry and a splash pad. The pools at Boardwalk Inn were 3-4 feet in depth and more traditional style pools.

 

 

Wild Dunes Boardwalk

Between the two hotels is a strip with restaurants, fire pits, lounge chairs, and Turtle Cove, a family activity center. Turtle Cove is not a drop-off kids’ club, but we looked in, and a few teenagers were working there to help kids and parents set up to play games and make crafts. 

 

 

Other Amenities

There is a spa at Sweetgrass Inn. You can also rent beach chairs and umbrellas for a fee. You can reserve them ahead of time online or ask at the beach entrance on the morning of, though the fee is slightly higher.

 

The Boardwalk Inn

Both the Boardwalk Inn and Sweetgrass Inn are Hyatt Category 5 hotels. However, at the time of writing this, you can only book the Boardwalk Inn with Hyatt points. I’ve seen some mention that the Sweetgrass Inn is occasionally available on points, but I checked several dates and couldn’t find any availability. 

A Hyatt Category 5 hotel’s standard award rate is 20K points per night, 17K off-peak, and 23K peak rate. We stayed a Sunday-Wednesday. Both Sunday and Monday had off-peak rates of 17k points, and Tuesday had a standard of 20k points. Our three nights at The Boardwalk Inn were only 54k points.

The cash rate for our nights was $632 per night. After taxes and fees, each night would have been over $700! I think the Boardwalk Inn was a good value for the number of points we used, especially since two of our nights were off-peak rates; however, I would not pay that amount in cash to stay here. I do not think it’s worth $600+ per night. 

Note: Surprisingly, there are many summer dates, especially in August, that have off-peak rates. 

 

Lobby and Check-In

We arrived on Sunday around 1:30 p.m. After pulling up to the front of the hotel, we went inside to check in for our room. Luckily for us, our room was already ready, so we could collect our things from the car and head straight up to our room. 

 

 

Parking at Boardwalk Inn

At the Boardwalk Inn, valet parking is $35 per night. There is no self-parking at the hotel. There are public parking options nearby. The valet is available open 24-7. Even when we left at 6 am on our final morning, the valet quickly retrieved our car as we checked out. 

 

Our Room

For our three nights at the Boardwalk Inn, we stayed in a King Deluxe room. Our room was rather spacious for the four of us, and we had enough room as you walked in to keep the sand off the carpet. 

Our room had a king-size bed, a double fold-out couch, a table with two chairs, and a full bathroom with a shower (no tub). The room was worn in spots, but it was very clean and well-maintained. The bed was comfortable. There was an extra pillow, sheet, and blanket in the closet for the fold-out couch; however, we asked for two extra blankets as the girls complained about being cold the first night. 

 

 

 

Wild Dunes Resort Restaurants

Wild Dunes Resort offers over 10 dining options, ranging from sit-down restaurants to a burger bar, a taco food truck, and a small market with grab-and-go options. 

• Coastal Provisions
• Huey’s on the Links Course
• Beachside Burgers & Bar – Seasonal: March-October
• Woody’s Eatery
• Hudson’s Market & Café 
• Duney’s on the Boardwalk – Seasonal: Spring Break, Memorial Day-Labor Day
• Oystercatcher Restaurant & Bar
• Laughing Gull Restaurant & Bar – Seasonal: March -October
• The Nest Rooftop Bar – Seasonal
• Coastal Crust Wild Dunes
• The Sweet Shoppe (this was temporarily closed during our stay)

The main restaurant at the Boardwalk Inn is Coastal Provisions. We ate breakfast here one morning and an early dinner another. Everything we ate was really good.

The main lobby, this restaurant, and its patio were recently renovated. So, they are very nice and modern. The girls’ favorite part was that our waiter gave each of them a shark tooth that he had found on the beach. That was such a nice touch. 

 

 

Also at The Boardwalk Inn is Beachside Burger & Bar. As the name suggests, it primarily serves burgers and fried food. It is located in the Grand Gazebo next to the beach and has two family pools. 

We ate here after checking in on our first night. The girls had chicken tenders, and I had popcorn shrimp. Our bill was about $80, which is a lot for some chicken tenders and shrimp. I did appreciate that they had a big water dispenser with free ice water. 

 

 

What to do near Wild Dunes Resort?

The Wild Dunes Resort area has a golf course, tennis and pickleball courts, a small playground, bike rentals, a fitness center, and basketball courts.

Outside of the resort, there is a ton to do and see within about 1-hour drive. We spent one morning at the Boone Hall Plantation. This was such an interesting visit. You pay an entrance fee as you come in, and all of the tours are included with that fee. They also recently added a beautiful visitor center and the highlight was meeting a 3-week-old newborn foal named Ballerina. 

 

 

Bottom Line

The Boardwalk Inn at Wild Dunes Resort is a nice option for an East Coast beach vacation. While there are a few things I would suggest to improve it, I still think Wild Dunes Resort makes a nice place for a few nights. It is especially worth it if you can get those off-peak rates for only 17k points per night.

For comparison, we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Maui last year, which is only 1 category higher than a category 6 Hyatt hotel. My kids very much preferred the Hyatt Regency Maui over The Boardwalk Inn. Alas, we cannot take a road trip to Hawaii. 🙃

 

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