Shell Island Beach Resort, Wrightsville Beach

First, this hotel is way overpriced for the money. We had 5 people in two rooms, one for 2 nights and one for 3. We could have rented a nice 3 bedroom house on the beach for less than we payed. As far as the rooms go, they are decently sized with a kitchen and living area and a bedroom. But the rooms aren't very nice. The beds are hard, linens are not soft, and the furniture is very old and outdated. The refrigerator had 2 settings; off and freezing. Anything I put in there froze in hours with the temperature all the way down. My biggest complaint though was the service and safety of the hotel. The first night we were headed down to the shore to do some fishing. A large gentleman came up to us looking for a fight. He punched me in the chest and kept running his mouth, but not wanting to ruin our vacation we returned inside to report the gentleman. The security called the police go informed me I could go to th courthouse and get a warrant, but without knowin who he was that wouldn't do any good. The next morning, security informed me that they knew who the gentleman was and called the police again. Apparently there was no local magistrate and I would have spent all of saturday in the courthouse getting the warrant, so the police officer recommended that I not pursue this route and just allow the hotel to kick him out. But the hotel never did anything. The manager was completely unhelpful and without even speaking with the gentleman to get his side of the story assumed that he would lie an said that she wouldn't do anything since it was my word against his. I spent the rest of the day and night away from the hotel because I was intimidated by this guy. management could not have been ruder to me. All in all, I would recommend that no one stay here because they do not value customer safety at all, as well as being overpriced.

It's peak season and the hot tub wasn't working, outside bar was not open in the evenings, the poor bartender tended bar, waited tables and delivered room service! We found a hair in a burger and in a drink, How about hair nets? The dvd player in our bedroom didn't work and was never fixed. Dust on the tv that I kept thinking someone would use a swiffer or something, but no. Often found hair in the pool, and a bandaid. I will say the view of the ocean from our room was very nice and most people we came across were very nice. I suggest management does an overhaul of this so called resort. Do not waste you money.

This hotel was disgusting, there was blood and what seemed to be fecal matter on the toilet when we checked into our room. I spoke to the front desk, who immediatly sent someone up to our suit to clean it but when we came back from eating it was still there, just swirled around a bit. Eventially they had to switch us to another room, but still, for the amount of money you're paying to stay there you should get a nicer room, not something this small, and unapealing. I have to say the only good thing about this resturant was the service. It seems that most of the employees in the resturant and front desk were college students from town and were as nice as could be. One girl actually brought me a room service coffee to my room, and stayed and talked with me awhile. All and all it was a bad trip, mostly because the hotel itself was in poor condition.

The condo is end of the road, so beach is not crowded at all times. The room was clean and big enough with a ocean view which was really great. The staff was very friendly and kind too. Why do you pay more than $200.00 for tiny room when instead, you can have a beautiful 1 bed room suite from Shell Island?

Shell Island is a very reasonably priced and comfortable condo hotel, located at the far north end of Wrightsville Beach. We enjoyed the wide and clean beach and the walk north up around the tip of the island at Mason's Inlet. Fun to watch the changes from high to low tide. Our family of four was very comfortable in the one-bedroom, bath and a half unit. We "ate in" most days for breakfast and lunch, shopping at the convenient Harris-Teater across the causeway. Excellent restaurants in the area for evenings out, and downtown Wilmington's historic district is not to be missed. We enjoyed Dockside on Airlie Rd. in W.B., just over the causeway, and Elijah's, 2 Ann St., Wilmington, right on the river waterfront. Also found barbeque and Mexican restaurants that were superb. The hotel is very clean, staff was very courteous, and housekeeping cleaned our breakfast dishes every day! (No dishwasher in our unit.) Renovations are almost done, so temporary parking and some work on the north balconies are a minor inconvenience. Lumina Ave. can get crowded on nice days, but remember it is a two-lane residential road in a popular beach area with limited public parking. Wi-fi was perfect in the room and everything else worked just fine. Tap water has some sulfur odor but is drinkable. We'd return without hesitation.

Booked room to take daughter and her roommate for some early-May, post-college beach time. Room had great view and laid out nicely with access to a half-bath. Renovations to hotel have made a huge improvemen from what may have been a dated interior; lobby and common rooms nicely done and contemporary. Staff was great. Experience very different from many of the negative reviews; staff were polite and tried to be accommodating, WiFi was free and worked fine, water had very little taste/scent, room and common areas very clean, location on end of beach fantastic for lower traffic. We wanted to go into Wilmington for dinner, so modest restaurant on-site was adequate for occasional lunch. Good value for price.

The hotel has great location, wonderful staff, but the water was AWEFUL. I dont know what the hotel can do but they need to either hound Wrightsville Beach Utilities to improve water quality or install a water treatment device. it was so bad when my wife was running a shower, the stinch permiated the entire place. I couldnt wait to get home and take a shower, also if you are going in the next couple of weeks be aware of renovations taking place. other than that, its a good place to stay, a bit pricey for the current situations there though.

The room was not very good. The hideabed was over 20 years old and the spring mattress was terrible. My kids had to sleep on the floor. There was no marsh view from our room. Just the parking garage. Horns honking from 6 AM on. Unable to sleep in. The water had a funky smell. The room had not been updated in a long time. I was told the rooms are owned by individuals and each room is maintained differently. The beach was great and the restaurant was not over priced.

This place was the most disgusting "hotel" I have ever stayed in. The rooms were sticky - the furniture, carpet, bed- all seemed to be covered in mysterious stains and a sticky glaze. The towels in the bathroom had what I can only hope were make-up stains on them. The tub backed up when we took a shower. If I didn't have to stay there for a wedding I was attending, I would have walked right out. Do yourself a favor and stay at the Holiday Inn right down the street. Several people from the wedding party moved over there and reported that it was 100 times better than Shell Island.

The service was great, BUT, for $400+ for two nights, the room didn't really warrant that. It was pretty much your basic quality room, not the "luxury" they describe online, just bigger. The bathroom door didn't lock, toilet plumbing quality varied, the water had a very odd scent, the walls had scuffs/scratches, the room was not very up-to-date in terms of decor (minor detail I guess), I killed spiders and roaches within my 36hr stay, the wi-fi is pretty inconvenient, as you need to go get a box at the front desk and be plugged into it. The WORST part was having a non-smoking room right next to a smoking room, with, apparently, really thin walls... So our room stunk to high heaven of smoke. Plus, because the walls were thin, you could hear the neighbors (who weren't all that loud) anytime they were in their room. The location is good for a more private end of the beach and still within 10-15mins of decent retail/restaraunts, but the room itself was a big disappointment to me.