I went to Center City HI because my husband and I needed to get away and we really had never been to Charlotte downtown. Sure everyone's been to Carowinds, but never downtown. I was really looking forward to seeing their "art scene".
When we got there, the clerk wasn't very interested in giving us the "above and beyond" service I was looking for, but I figured it had to do with the steep discount I got for the room since I only paid 50 for it, and their rates are well over a 100. She was probably being smug thinking we were getting over. I just use my resources. :P Nevertheless check in went smoothly. I live in a city were parking never costs unless you're there too long and you get a parking ticket so the 12 dollars just to park the car was astonishing for me. I figured that should be included in the rate, not seperate. But since they're sharing a parking deck with other businesses and people not staying at the HI it probably helps with accounting at the end of the day. And I was warned about it before hand.
We had no problems with the garage, even the valet, and the people working in the garage reminded us to get our ticket validated at the front desk before we leave. The valet was very nice, and even offered to hold our bags while we parked, he was very helpful. I guess because he couldn't see our rate. :)
The desk clerk did speak rather fast, like I read another reviewer say. And she explained the elevator in the parking garage and validated our ticket on check in, but she didn't tell us that if you're staying on a floor higher than 9 you have to insert your key card in the slot on the elevator. We spent like 10 minutes pushing buttons wondering why we couldn't get to our floor. We gave up, got off at the 9th floor and hoofed it up the stairs to the 10th floor. I'm not sure if this is because we're Priority Club members and those are special floors, thats why we have to have a key to get to it, but I would have figured she would have told us that before we spent 10 minutes switching elevators thinking that maybe its broken, or this one doesn't go that high. And the stairwell was not very sanitary. :(
All of our drama was however washed away when we got to the room. Wonderful. All white linens, which were clean and so soft, I slept like a baby. I loved the sink, and the granite counter. No microwave or fridge so all of the snacks I was carrying on the road had to be eaten that night. The view was amazing.
We decided to go to this rooftop pool, knowing it closes soon we weren't planning on getting in, just looking at what they had for future visits. When we opened the door to the roof we were greeted, well grunted at by the security guard who muttered, "Pool's closed" I told him I know, I just want to look not swim. Obviously since we did not have on swim gear. Thusly he became more irritated I suppose at our presence and kept grunting, "Its closed." until we were forced off of the roof and he locked the door behind us. Another guest by the elevator explained that the whole roof closes, not just the pool. I was kind of miffed that this guard couldn't have just said that instead of pushing us out like that. Like we were trouble makers.
The location was wonderful, we walked to the IMAX to see "The Dark Knight" the next afternoon, it was less than a block away. We walked to the mint museum and for everything else the LYNX train was right there to ride, and we rode that just because there's nothing like that at home. Downtown was wonderful, we couldn't take it all in, but the location was great, we will go back. A little less than wonderful customer service, but the rooms were wonderful and the location was great, we never moved our car until we left and we didn't miss out on anything. Since we know how it works we'll keep coming back.
