Family’s TikTok video of ‘unsanitary’ conditions at Myrtle Beach hotel goes viral

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — A family has called out a Myrtle Beach hotel after experiencing “unsanitary” conditions inside their room.

A TikTok video of a room at the Ocean Star Hotel in Myrtle Beach was taken by Brooks Strickland, as he and his family planned on staying there for part of their vacation.

“I put my hands on the bed mattress and that’s when I felt the dampness of it. It was wet,” Strickland said. “Soon as that happened, I looked up at the ceiling. That’s when I’ve seen water drops from the ceiling.”

Strickland said hotel management blamed the moisture from the beach.

“Went to the bathroom, [and] there was, somebody had used the bathroom — all over it, not cleaned at all. The bathtub actually had holes in it,” he said. “And then we continued around the dressers, where it was nothing but water on top of the dressers, the TVs, and that’s when I looked up at the ceiling and you could actually see the water drops. The entire roof had water drops all around it. Stains on the couch that look like bloodstains, hair mold on the bed skirts.”

Strickland said his family immediately left the hotel room, but was denied a refund.

“I understand that if it was like, you know, I had to cancel or something like that, I get it. But for something that’s just . . . you can’t live in that,” he said.

For a few days, Strickland said he attempted to get ahold of the owner, but he said his calls were ignored. They told him the owner was out of town.

“I told him, ‘well, look, if something doesn’t happen soon, I am going to take this video to social media,'” Strickland said.

Strickland then posted the video to TikTok, which as of Thursday has more than 13,000 likes. He said it took one day after the video was posted for the owner to contact him, apologizing and giving him a refund for the room.

The owner then texted Strickland multiple times, asking him to take the video down and offering him to refund his entire trip, but would only give him 15 minutes to decide. Strickland said that made things worse.

“It just makes it look like it’s been going on for so long that they can just pay their way out of it, you know?” Strickland said. “If I was to say yes, how many other people have done this?”

Strickland said he plans on keeping the video on his TikTok, which would not be the only complain online.

The hotel only has 1.8 stars out of 5 on Google from more than 160 reviews. It also only has a 3.4 rating out of 10 on Bookings.com.

“After seeing all that, it was like, I wouldn’t feel right taking it down at that point,” Strickland said. “You know, because there’s so many people out there that tried to say something about it that their voices were not heard.”

News13 did visit Ocean Star and attempted to speak with the owner, but the front desk said he will be out of town for three weeks. When News13 asked for a phone number, the hotel said there wasn’t a number to call.

According to the South Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, there is “no state agency that inspects hotels or motels.”