Villas by the Sea Resort & Conference Center, Jekyll Island

NOthing good to say about the place. Disgusting antiseptic smell permeates the place, so bad you can taste the smell! One of the better rooms the deskclerk told me. Vintage 1975

Villas by the Sea did appear to be family friendly judging by the cliental. This is what I would term a buyers beware case, we gambled and lost: I have stayed at nicer Best Western and Comfort Inns. This was our first vacation in two years and we were excited about Villas by the Sea. We went down on Mother’s Day weekend and were disappointed, virtually no beach, accommodations did appear to be clean, but were very dated. Staff was pleasant but “best rates” are non-refundable, regardless (sure glad I didn’t book the whole week as originally planned). We walked away the same day and lost two nights of “best rate” pricing and went down to Amelia Island. If your expectations are not too high this may be the place for you. If you are used to Hampton/Hilton style you may be disappointed.

We made reservations for a 3 bedroom 2 bath room, when we go there at 2:30 they said we would have to wait until 4 to enter our room so my husband and my 2 kids waited when my father and mother arrived they had us in a 2 bedroom 1 bath. well that would be fine if there was not 3 kids and 4 adults. Then when we got to our room it was nasty then it started raining and rained to rest of the weekend so go figure stuck in a nasty room all weekend. The rooms look so nice online but in real life it is not worth the money we will pay to not have a kitchen next time.

My husband and I rented 3 nights in a mini studio villa.. We arrived late to the villas and the front desk manager was slightly rude especially to two guests that had driven 8 hrs.. When we got in the villa it was not what we had in mind.. The Days in would have been nicer .. very poorly decorated but we decided to stay anyway ..before we layed down we decided to check the bed for bed bugs and thank God we did because theyre were a bunch of bed bugs right under the sheets! We were freaked out so we called the front desk and again he was rude sayin g he was glad we could see them..so my husband took a picture of the bug and took it down to the front desk.. Thankfully the manager apologized and he upgraded our villa to a one bedroom .Other than these problems though the scenery was gorgeous and the resort was very quiet and secluded.. a great place for romance!

This was a fabulous resort to hold our family reunion. The villas are scattered throughout the beautiful maritime forests of the island. Ryan, the group director was great in making sure the entire family was as close to one another as possible and not scattered out through the "very large" grounds. I cannot say enough about the personal care that were given to our family group of 54. The restaurant, "The Driftwood Bistro" was fabulous and we had our main family (group) meal there. Merideth and Dan pulled it all together and continued to check on us to make sure that all was going well through our stay or to see if we needed anything - or maybe just to say hello! I just cannot say enough about all the "special care" that we received from this resort. Some of us came in a few days early before the main group arrived and the Driftwood Bistro was such a nice place, the food and service was wonderful, that we decided to have our meals there instead of going elsewhere on the island, and no matter how many people in our group showed up, there was Merideth, pulling tables together so that all of us could have a meal together. The convenience of the restaurant on site is wonderful. The front counter staff could really learn alot from these three people, Ryan, Merideth and Dan as to how to greet and treat people as they encounter people at the front desk. - Seems that was the only problems anyone in our group had on a consistent basis. With that said, ~ THANKS Ryan, Merideth and Dan for ALL of your hard work in making the SUMMERLIN REUNION a great success!!! Before leaving, we all voted on having it again next year at the Villas by the Sea..... Don and Cookie

We checked in on Monday. A prior guest checked out on Sunday. We paid $75 for each of our Dogs so the rug could be shampooed. Well the carpet was not cleaned before we moved in. The attendant didn't think there was anything wrong. Didn't have time! The $150 we paid would buy a new carpet. However, I do not feel the carpets get that shampoo every time a person moves out. Our original stay was for three nights. We asked to check out in two days. She insisted we would still have to pay for the third night. This is not a 3 1/2 Star hotel!!!! We did not have fun, nor would I highly recommend to others.

We really liked the condo we stayed in. We loved the pool although some trees should be trimmed as it was 60 percent in the shade. Also the squirrel population tended to be a bit of a nuisance if you had food around. The hotel restaurant food and service was really good as its under new management and not as pricey as other restaurants on the island. The beach view was beautiful and great for moonlit nights but not ever dry enough to lay out during the day, even at low tide. But the public beach just up the road was great! If you have kids or aren't looking for lots of evening entertainment this is the place for you!

I chose this villa because I thought it was located on the water. The truth is you are in walking distance from the beach. The pictures on the internet are very decieving. If you don't want a oceanview and just want to enjoy views of beautifully landscaped trees and nature then this is the place for you. It was clean and that's only thing I can say about the 1 bedroom villa we rented. It was poorly decorated. Felt like I was in decorated with children in mind. I was very disappointed because my husband and I went there for an overnight stay for our anniversary. I'm so glad I only booked 1 night. We will not never return!!!!

It was our first and will be our last visit. When we arrived we were told they had to move us to another villa because the owners had decided to come in and stay in the poolside villa we had reserved and they had first rights. That was fine but they should have told us in advance. The villa we stayed in was still very nice. That was probably the nicest thing about the whole trip. The basketball court and game room that was suppose to be there didn't exist. The pool was nice but you had to be first inline for the one spot that had sun. When there was a beach you had to fight the crawling bugs that came out from the rocks and empty out your beach bag so you didn't take them back to the villa. The only store on the island is like a convenience store so we had to drive off the island about 20 minutes to find an actual grocery store. Every time you drive off the island you pay $5.00 to get back on. The only good restaurant on the island was the Red Bug Pizza. I would not recommend this place to people that have children unless they are small toddlers. There is nothing to do for them except swim and they get bored of that doing it every day. Jekyll Island is a pretty island but that's all. We can say we have been there but have no desire to go back.

I really appreciated the individuality of each villa because no two are the same. The information given regarding the accommodations on the website were spot on, I couldn't find anything that was terrible. It was a safe, clean, welcoming place. I couldn't have asked for a better place to stay in my opinion. At first I was wary, by reading the reviews before... I'm definitely glad that my family and I stayed here.