Stay on Points: Westin Hilton Head Island

2023 was a year with a lot of travel for us. See here, here, here, or here for a sample. And for a lot of our trips, we had to board our beloved dogs. So when we were deciding on one final trip for the stretch between Christmas and New Year’s, we knew we wanted to find a place we could bring them. Since we’re cold-weather residents (Chicago), we also wanted to go someplace a bit warmer where we wouldn’t be dealing with snow.

We ultimately settled on Hilton Head Island. I’d been to Hilton Head a few times with my family growing up and had fond memories of the beach. It was a drive we could do in two days with our dogs and offered plenty for us to do outdoors.

With the destination established, we began searching for a hotel. Because we obtained Titanium status on Marriott in 2023, we focused our search on Marriott properties in the area. We also wanted to take advantage of the stay for five, pay for four promotion. We decided to stay at the Westin Hilton Head Island Resort & Spa.

The property

The resort is located on the east side of the island right on the beach in an area called Port Royal. There are more than 400 guest rooms, and the resort was recently renovated. All public spaces we saw were clean and staff was friendly & helpful. Parking is available on-site for $30 a day for valet and $20 a day for self-parking.

There is a pet fee of $50 a day (non-refundable) and up to two dogs are allowed per room. We saw a lot of dogs during our stay, so the resort is clearly as dog-friendly as advertised.

There are several pools on the property. Dogs are not allowed in the pools or on the pool deck. Because it was colder when we were there, there were always plenty of chairs available. It can get quite crowded in warmer months and getting chairs requires an early arrival.

The pool area leads directly to the beach. The proximity to the beach was perfect for us as we spent several hours walking along the beach each day. There were rinse-off stations on the boardwalk leading back to the hotel with easy access to towels from the pool area.

The room

We used points to cover a room that would have been around $312 a night, so points saved us over $1,500 on the base room price. We received an upgrade to an ocean-view room, which can cost upwards of $500 a night. Our room had a small balcony where our dogs enjoyed eating breakfast in the mornings. We’re early risers, so we always had a great view of the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean.

The room had a king size bed and couch, which offered plenty of room for us and our two dogs. The bathroom had a shower and tub along with a dual-vanity.

We didn’t spend too much time in the room because we had our dogs with us, but the room was nice, spacious, and clean.

Resort fees are not covered by points. While using points saved us between $1,500 to $2,500 depending on your calculation, we still had to pay a few hundred in the daily resort fee. We did earn Marriott Bonvoy points on the pet fee and resort fee for our stay.

Summary

All told, this was a great option for us for our final trip of 2023. The beach location was ideal and the resort itself was a nice place to stay for five nights.