Unusual design, pleasant hotel (Hotels in South Carolina)

Member Name: janeh

Product:	Hotels in South Carolina
Date:	31/07/01 (95 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Central to everything, Two room suites

Disadvantages: expensive if booking direct, Suites smaller than other Embassy Suites

Whilst visiting Charleston recently we stayed in an Embassy Suites Hotel. It is located along Meeting Street which is one of the main streets in the tourist area of Charleston. It was just down the road from the Visitors Centre which was very useful for info about the area. It was also within walking distance of all the major attractions, shopping and coastline.

The hotel is of a very unusual design. It was originally the home of the 19th Century Citadel Military College and from the outside looks like a large salmon pink castle.

There is a large lobby with a reception, concierge, lovely wooden floors and huge potted plants. Along from the reception to the lifts you will find the dining area where you get your complementary cooked breakfast buffet each morning. Evening meals are also available. There is also a bar area where they hold a Managers reception every evening with free drink and nibbles. Along the corridor you will also see a cage with two cockatiels inside. Unusual but true!

At the end of the corridor you come to the two lifts, beyond these is the huge five storey atrium. There is a large ornate fountain in the centre and lots of sofas etc to sit and chat in. All the suite doors open out onto the atrium.

We had a king suite which consisted of a living area with sofa, chair, coffee table & TV. This led through to a kitchenette with microwave, coffee maker, fridge and sink. This then led to a separate bedroom with king size bed, wardrobe and another smaller TV. It also had a large bathroom with bath, shower, toilet and vanity area. The rooms are decorated in “Colonial Plantation décor”, our bedroom had an old exposed brick wall and a boarded over hole which apparently used to be a gun turret! Oh there is also an ironing board and iron in the room which can prove handy.

The only problems we encountered was on arrival our bathroom did not have a shower curtain and I had to phone down three times and wa
it two hours for one to be delivered. We were desperate for a shower after a long six hour drive from Atlanta! We also found that some parents allowed their kids to run around in the atrium in the evenings. This meant that their shouts and screams etc carried around the atrium and straight into the rooms. This was quite annoying, especially for a hotel which was advertising its normal room rates at $299 per night. We did not pay anywhere near this and I would urge anyone wanting to stay here, or any other Embassy Suites – shop around. There are lots of hotel booking web sites offering discounted rates for exactly the same rooms.

The hotel has an outdoor pool and garden courtyard if you are brave enough to venture out in the heat. There was apparently a workout room too, but we were too lazy to confirm this.

I have definitely stayed in both better and worse hotels, so although I cannot rave about this hotel, it is more than adequate for the average traveller. The fact that it offers two room suites as opposed to a single hotel room is a big bonus.

Summary: