The Kiawah Island Golf Resort Continues to Rank Above the Rest

In the past few months, Kiawah Island Golf Resort has enjoyed a remarkable run of rankings success from some of the nation’s most respected travel publications. Collectively, these wide-ranging designations have helped substantiate the Resort’s goal of becoming America’s finest resort, within a barrier island that is a wonderful place to live.

Just three years after opening its oceanfront doors, The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort achieved the top spot in a reader survey by Andrew Harper’s Hideaway Report, the well-respected travel newsletter that has 25,000 affluent, well-traveled subscribers. It was the first time in 26 years of the poll’s existence that a southern property ranked in the top of the Resort Hotel category. The Sanctuary bested other notable resort hotels like the Four Season Hualalai in Hawaii, The Cloister in Sea Island, Georgia, and the Montage Resort in Laguna Beach, California.

Families love Kiawah Island, according to Travel + Leisure Family readers. For the first time, The Sanctuary ranked as the number one family friendly resort in the US and Canada. Previously, the poll ranked it as the top family resort in the east and southeast. The Sanctuary ranked above other more-established resorts like Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa in Anaheim, California, The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia.

Travel + Leisure magazine readers were just as enthusiastic about The Sanctuary’s spa, which they ranked as the second finest hotel spa in America. The same poll saw The Sanctuary finish as the fifth best hotel in the country.

Conde Nast Traveler released a variety of rankings, which saw Kiawah Island retain its position as the second best island to visit in North America (Vancouver Island in Canada was number one), while the same poll named The Sanctuary as the fifth best resort.

The Resort’s tennis program helped the Resort retain its TennisResortsOnline ranking as the number one tennis resort in the world, while the Resort is also ranked as the number two resort in America by Tennis magazine. Finally, Kiawah Island Golf Resort ranked second among Travel + Leisure Golf’s poll of America’s greatest golf resorts.