I am horrible with keeping up with this. I promise to do better!! Expect more house (Brad and I got it all fixed up last weekend!!) and Banjo pictures this week. Also, I promise to take more around town and on my weekends. Here is some news for today though. Pretty big deal around here!!! We received our fifth star, in addition to our current 5-diamond rating!! This means that we are one of 31 hotels in all of North America and Mexico with both distinctions. Our spa also received its fifth star. We are the ONLY hotel in North America to have 5 stars and a 5 star golf course. Read below for more details. Guess I have to get ready to push higher on the rates, huh!?!?? Yikes!!!
Mobil Travel Guide honors The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort with coveted Five Star Award for first timeSouth Carolina oceanfront hotel’s spa also gains top rating
KIAWAH ISLAND, SC – For the first time, the
Mobil Travel Guide today bestowed upon
The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort the coveted Mobil Five Star Award. According to Mobil, it is one of only four new properties on the list of 41 North American and Mexican hotels, resorts and inns that will hold the Five Star distinction for 2008.
Mobil also recognized
The Sanctuary’s spa with its separate Five Star rating for hotel spas, making it only the third spa to achieve this designation. The Sanctuary is now one of only two properties with separate hotel and spa Five Star ratings; the Mandarin Oriental in New York is the other.
“It is an honor to receive these distinguished and coveted awards,” said Roger Warren, president of Kiawah Island Golf Resort. “They are a tremendous credit to our staff who have worked hard to make The Sanctuary one of the finest destinations in the world in a very short space of time.”
With the new hotel designation,
Kiawah Island Golf Resort becomes the first property in North America to have a Mobil Five Star hotel (The Sanctuary), and a golf course rated five stars by Golf Digest (The Ocean Course).
The Sanctuary, which features 255 rooms and suites and opened in 2004, also joins its sister properties
The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, VA, and
The Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, TN, in achieving the coveted Mobil Five Star rating, creating an unrivalled portfolio of independent hotels. All three properties also hold the AAA Five Diamond rating, placing them on an elite list of 31 hotels, resorts and inns in North America and Mexico to hold AAA’s and Mobil’s highest awards.
The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort is an oceanfront hotel and spa and is part of Kiawah Island Golf Resort, which features five championship golf courses, two tennis centers, nine restaurants and a variety of recreation and nature programs. Travel authority Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report ranks The Sanctuary as top resort hotel in America, while readers of Travel + Leisure currently rate it as the top family resort, second best golf resort, second best hotel spa and fifth best hotel respectively. It is a member of Preferred Hotels and Resorts Worldwide.
Since its inception in 1958, the Mobil Travel Guide has used an objective set of criteria, unique among leading travel books, that sets national standards yet allows for regional and individual preferences. A carefully selected team of hospitality experts anonymously evaluates the establishments listed in the Guide. Properties must offer a level of experience appropriate to the cost, based on the quality of such items as décor, comfort, amenities, and services.
We were at Brittlebank Park downtown. 70 and sunny, right on the water. Nice!!
This guy laid out for his bumper...
Most of my pictures looked like this. My timing was way off!
Just a tad too late!
He wasn't getting wet for anything. Too funny!!
On his way...
He's thinking about it...
There he goes...
I know I am biased but of all the dogs we saw, chocolate labs were by far the best!!
Some random had a brand new beagle pup. Isn't she adorable?!?!!? I almost stole her...
Retreiver demos...
See all the dogs!? Too bad Banjo is too wild to tag along. Maybe after some Benadryl!
This was my attempt to get a picture of Kevin Costner! I missed. Oh well.... He was not happy he was recognized!
After he got done, we checked into The Sanctuary. Here is a shot of the front through the live oaks as you drive up. 
We went out to the Ocean Course Clubhouse for cocktails and to watch the sunset. AMAZING!!! That is all I can say. I took more than 50 pictures for sure. Obsessed...
The 18th green of The Ocean Course - home of the 2007 Senior PGA Championships and the 2012 PGA Championships!
On the balcony.
Seagulls looking for food on the beach!
I love this guy! If the sun is out, he's on the banks of this pond across from my office. The biggest one I have seen here - probably at least 10 feet. Check out the turtle behind him as a reference. There are supposedly bigger ones too. Yikes!!
