Girls’ getaway at filthy hotel traumatized me

Hotel hell?

A group of friends on a girl’s trip to Myrtle Beach, South Caroline detailed their “trip from hell” and the horrors they encountered upon arriving at a filthy hotel.

In a TikTok with 7.2 million views, Kelly Bruce from North Carolina showed the dirty accommodations, which included an abundance of mold growth.

“I can’t believe this,” someone says in the clip. “This is the second room.”

Apparently, the ladies were “upgraded” to the room shown in the clip after reportedly being placed in the wrong one at Sea Mist Resort.

Calling it her “trip from hell,” Bruce was shocked at the room’s conditions, writing in the video’s caption that she had “never seen anything like this.”

“This was my gift to my friends, like it was horrible,” Bruce told WBTW News13. “The conditions there were just horrible. We were traumatized because we’ve never seen anything like that in our lives.”

The mold could be seen on the floors, walls, kitchen appliances, chairs, tables and even the bedding.

“It was just everywhere. We were just in disbelief,” she added.

The manager of the property reportedly told Bruce she didn’t want to see the videos captured in the room, instead saying she “believed” Bruce and put them in a different location.

In a follow-up clip, Bruce showed a newly-renovated room in a different building — one without mold-infested furniture.

“I did not expect [the video] to blow up,” Bruce said of the original TikTok video. “I was just like, ‘This is unbelievable. Nobody’s gonna believe me if I don’t have something to document this.’ … I don’t care what you paid. If you paid $1 or $10, nobody should have to stay in those type of standards.” 

But Bruce and her friends weren’t the only ones dismayed at the hotel’s conditions — her viewers were, too.

“omg this can’t be legal to rent rooms out like this,” wrote one user.

“I rather sleep on the beach,” said another.

“This is what you get when you pick the cheapest hotel in Myrtle Beach,” chided someone else.

“Y’all get out of there before y’all catch something,” another joked.

With over 7 million views in a matter of days, Sea Mist Resorts’ corporate headquarters discovered the clip, of course. According to Bruce, the company offered her a full refund, a three-day stay in their penthouse, free food and tickets to the aquarium — but only if she deleted her TikTok video.

At first, she considered the offer, but claimed she was informed that the rewards were no longer available to her the following day.

“[The manager] told me that I will not be getting a refund and [any] of the things that they were going to provide in that offer if I removed the TikTok,” Bruce said. “It was being rescinded and I would not be receiving it.”

Since the video went viral, Sea Mist Resort posted a statement on the company’s Facebook page, explaining their side of the situation.

“We are aware of the viral TikTok video depicting a room with mold. We’d like to take this opportunity to give you more details,” the company wrote on Facebook. “This unit is managed by Sea Mist but not owned by Sea Mist. The unit was on maintenance block to be treated for mold, which is a regular issue at EVERY resort in a humid climate.

“The unit was released in error and the guest was moved to a newly renovated unit that she then occupied for her two nights,” the statement went on. “In addition to the upgrade, the guest was offered compensation that she declined. While we do have rooms around the property that are blocked due to various maintenance issues, this was an isolated incident and we have hundreds of newly renovated rooms for all your vacation needs.”