Arrived on a Friday evening to find there was no room to pull up to entrance; a security guard working for adjacent complex, not the hotel, asked me if I was picking so someone up and upon being told I was waiting to check in to the hotel directed me to park in the Hertz lot next door, which is made up entirely of handicapped spaces. I parked in one, illegally and reluctantly, went to check in, and still could not park in front of hotel whwen I came back out. Went to parking garage and carried multiple bags into lobby where there were no luggage carts. Carried everything to my room by myself--manageable but awkward. My feeling is that hotels either need to have bellmen available to help guests or else have sufficient luggage carts available so guests can manage more comfortably on their own. And to have to park in a not super-secure-feeling garage and then carry everything was really not pleasant.
Some good news: Room was clean and fairly spacious, with very good light and a comfortable chair. Bathroom was very clean. Bad news: Very limited TV channel selection, not even a PBS station available although one was listed on the on-screen menu (no printed channel list). Bed was not particularly comfortable.
Half an hour later when I was being picked up to go out to dinner the family member who was picking me up was told to move car from the wide, straight part of the hotel driveway (where car was not blocking traffic) and park in a handicapped spot to wait for me. Odd, since I was told to move because I was NOT picking someone up.
Next day I took my car out for the day and when I came back there were no spaces available in hotel part of the garage so i was told to go to the upper level, which required driving around the corner to Cedar Street where a security guard had no idea of what the arrangement had been--apparently it was under new management. I don't understand why Doubletree would not alert guests ahead of time to adjunct parking, since there is very little space in its dedicated parking and the overflow must be very common. Doubletree charges about ten dollars a day for parking, not bad for Charlotte city hotels, but seems unreasonable for it to charge for what it does not really have. Communication was poor overall.
There was a major concert in Charlotte that Saturday night and perhaps the hotel was overwhelmed with business--I know the Marriott was already full when I made my reservation at the Doubletree. Overall, I would say the check-in experience at the Doubletree was one of the worst I have experience anywhere and that the parking inconvenience reflected very poorly on the hotels' guest services. In a city where jobs at all levels are probably being lost daily, it is odd that they could not have people on hand to direct traffic in the entranceway and to stay on top of luggage and parking issues.
Final note: I did get a luggage cart when I checked out early on a Sunday morning but again had to park in a handicapped spot (at desk clerk's instruction) in the Hertz lot because a car service vehicle was blocking access to the semicircular drive at the entrance.
Basically this hotel had a not-ready-for-primetime air and was not welcoming.
