Carolina Retreats (carolinaretreats.com) has a 3.9 out of 5 rating on OK.one, based on 101 user reviews collected here. It is listed under Travel & Vacation and its reputation is mixed. 67% of reviews are 4 stars or higher and 14% are 1 star; The business has replied to 10% of negative reviews; 7 of them were added in the last 12 months. Last updated 2026-08-10.
We rented 2 houses from Topsail Realty for last week of July 2023. One house was great but the other had a big problem. The house had 2 air conditioning units, one for each floor. The day after we arrived, there was no air conditioning on the first floor where all the bedrooms are. We called and texted Topsail realty and left messages. No one responded! The next day I drove to Topsail Realty in Surf City and spoke to the receptionist. She had no record of any of our calls and texts. She arranged for a hvac company to come the next day and said she would send 4 window units to hold us over. They only brought one window unit and said that was all they had. Hvac company came out and said all the Freon leaked out but they put more in because it was a “slow leak”. The unit stopped working again a few hours after they left. Contacted Topsail realty again, their response was they were contacting Hvac company for an update. That was the last time we heard from Topsail Realty. We left 3 days later because the rental was up. Do you know how hot and humid it is in Topsail in July! Would you like to sleep in an unairconditioned bedroom on your vacation? Well we had 3 hot bedrooms! I paid a lot of money for this house and didn’t deserve to be treated like this. I have always rented from Topsail Realty in the past but will definitely look for other options in the future. I also feel I should be compensated in some way to show good faith! Topsail Realty needs to improve their communication with their renters. To just ignore phone messages/texts is not acceptable. I should not have to spend my vacation doing someone else’s job! Very Disappointed!!
Reply from Carolina Retreats2023-08-03
First, Kathy, I wanted to thank you for your repeat business over the years. I would also like to thank you for your patience while we had the air conditioning team come out to repair the leak. And although the leak has been repaired, we can see in hindsight that we could've communicated this better. But we're pleased we could offer you a partial refund, and we hope you'll give us another chance the next time you plan a beach getaway.
Hi! Me and my family have been coming to sand pebbles for over 15 years and each time it has been an exceptional experience. Everything with the booking, the accommodations as well as the condo and all of its amenities were always great. Website for booking and the staff I worked with were incredible and made super easy. I do have to make mention about one very negative experience that we had on this last trip. There is a 41 year old tenant claiming she lives there at unit C11 that gave our family and 3 other families (that we do know of) a very hard time. She kept following our and other families trying to engage in adult behaviors whilst around small children. This got worse when she would be putting hands on and handling the individual kids in the pools without asking or acknowledging the parents. Though-out the trip, her and her 28 year old boyfriend of 2 weeks were making it a point to follow and “stalk” ours and other families and this was not acceptable for a place to come to relax on vacation with kids. When asked to stop she did but the experience was still an aggravation and this in my opinion can heavily deter families that have never stayed here from coming back. And this is a shame as I have stated for over 15 years I have not had this sort of experience but I love the stay as well as the beach location. I personally will return and would happily use Carolina retreats and sand pebbles units in the future but will hope to not run into this encounter again.
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SR Harp · 1 review · Verified · Experienced 2023-07-27 ·
★★★★★
Great area. Owners need to get rid of heavily stained carpet.
We received notification that the property wouldn’t be ready until 5 due to late cleaning. When we arrived, the unit didn’t appear to be cleaned very well. Large stains on the carpet, crumbs, fingerprints etc on every surface, hair in the shower drain and paper plates taped to the ceiling above the bed in the main floor bedroom. We spent the first hour of our vacation cleaning. We’ve rented for many years in Topsail and we’re disappointed. However, we had a blast on the beach and made wonderful memories. I did send an email about the condition of the house upon our arrival, but never received a response. Even an apology would’ve been nice.
Good experience except for checking in with keyless entry system and there was a clitch with getting into home we rented and had trouble getting someone to help me as the office closed at 5 pm on check in day but check in was not until after 4pm so this makes for some communication issues. We arrived at approx 505 pm and could not get door code to work and the emergency number did not work and kept hanging up on me.
Had to look deeper and harder to find another contact # to finally get a person.
Probably not the best idea to close the office at 5 with many check in times on day of arrivals scheduled for late afternoon incase there are concerns like we had.
Employees were kind and helpful …was just concerned with company contact issues and how long was response going to take?
Reply from Carolina Retreats2023-08-02
Thanks for reviewing us, Lance. Your feedback is appreciated and we take it to heart. We are always looking for ways to increase guest satisfaction and we will pass your comments along to management.
The house was great. Very clean. The elevator was a life saver for my parents and luggage. The only complaint I have is in my parents room there was no remote for the TV. After repeated attempts to get one and being told it would be dropped off it never was. That was disappointing. Other than that a great stay,
House and large deck are very nice. I fell on stairs leading to basement laundry and injured myself. And two others tripped at same location- the bottom two stairs. Coffee pot needed replacement which was done promptly on Monday morning when we requested. The outdoor shower is so very nice most of us used it instead of indoor shower all week. The kitchen is nicely furnished w tools and dishes/glassware. The bedrooms are good size and master br is large with a walk-in closet. The bathrooms are large enough The full size washer dryer are great.
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Susan · 2 reviews · Verified · Experienced 2023-07-27 ·
The view from the porch and dock was fantastic sunrise too sunset. The master bed was comfortable and the house was well stocked. We had a boat and the dock was perfect. Vacations with our dog are always a treat, thank you for being pet friendly.
The rental agency kept calling me and emailing me for additional payment but it was paid in full. The threat of my reservation being cancelled was concerning but I had to contact everyone involved to prove I paid. The agency used AirBNB and didn’t understand how to be a host. That was a sure sign that things were not going to handled correctly. The house was dirty (rugs, walls, dishes, odors, air conditioning vents, left over food).
The blame was placed on the cleaning crew, maintenance crew, everyone but the agency themselves. They were very apologetic, however, no resolutions were sufficient.
It was my fault for not realizing a rental company was using Airbnb which added cost to my rental. AirBNB customer service was great! They are aware of the problems I had with this agency.
The staff answered all my questions and…and did a follow up with a text to make sure our issues or questions were handled. We love tone hands on help & response! Personal touch was great!
The staff answered all my questions and when I called they answered the phone (did not go to VM) & did not refer me to their website! They responded to my request & questions and then followed up with an email to check to make sure our issue or questions were handled. We do appreciate the hands on help5 Stars to the staff for sure!!🤗
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Bill West · 3 reviews · Verified · Experienced 2023-07-28 ·
★★★★★
House was clean and everything…
House was clean and everything functioned properly. The linen and towel service is big help.
House location, on a canal, is a plus.
We really enjoyed our stay at Kure Beach and this condo. The upgraded finishes were very nice. The kitchen was the most well stocked beach kitchen we had ever had!
The reason for four stars and not five were because the ceiling fans were THICK with dust & I have a sever dust allergy, so we could not use them. There was no pantry for dry goods as every cabinet had dishes or cookware in it.. which is a double edge sword because we were thankful it was well stocked. There was a coat closet that could easily become a full pantry and solve this problem. And lastly the towel service was great to have but one towel the whole week was difficult. I just would’ve brought my own knowing this!
If we come to Kure again, I would definitely book this place again without hesitation.
Communication for check in/check out was good. The place is not in good shape due to the mold/mildew. Our clothes and suitcases have a terrible smell lingering and the headache was not worth it. There is also a large gap at the bottom of the door that could be fixed.
