We always wanted to stay at Murrell’s Inlet and were so happy to find a beach front location, decorated beautifully with a nice porch for my older parents and us to enjoy coffee and watching the ocean without a long walk for them to the beach. We are thankful for those accommodations but were caught off guard when we were overwhelmed on a daily basis on the beach with the church retreat young people and adults. They totally consumed the beach in front of the condos families like us not involved with the retreat had rented. Teenagers even sat down in our chairs. When we asked them to please allow our family to use the chairs we had purchased, not one adult on the beach with them from the retreat apologized instead they acted as if we should be accommodating them and were a problem. The next day, my father nicely asked one of the leaders if they were trying to teach some of the basics we learned growing up like “respecting their elders?” He was told it’s a public beach and they pay taxes so they have the right to bring the retreat there. My father mentioned but kindness and respecting others should make you try to move them to open spaces on the beach rather than overwhelming those of us who are vacationing from out town. He was told he should take it up with the owner of our condo. Afterwards, they did seem to be a little better about not stepping right in front of family’s and throwing balls where it could hit them, but his answer made us feel as if this is something the owners around there were quite aware of and have had to accept so we didn’t complain at the time. However, when we spent a large amount of our money on our beachfront location, it was sad to feel overrun by the church and their retreat that had found a way to make a TON of money taking advantage of the situation. The maximum number their retreat says it can accommodate online is 568 people at a time. We have been going to the beach for 25 years and have shared beach space graciously during these times and we have never felt so disappointed in the way this space was shared. If a family worked hard to give their children and relatives a week away at the beach, it breaks our heart that it could be so monopolized by those running the retreat like a business. They need to learn to treat others the way they would like to be treated. Sadly, we paid for prime vacation time but it really was prime retreat time. This should be considered when determining rent at these units.