I'm confused about any earlier good reviews for this hotel. The lobby is nice and the people from front desk to shuttle drivers - are really nice. The upside it's one of the few hotels at CLT that offers 24 hr shuttle service. The downside is it's just a really old in bad shape hotel. A non-smoking room -and floor- that wreaked of smoke. The towels, bedspreads and sheets were old and threadbare. The headboard that was suppose to be screwed onto the wall was falling off. The white formica bathroom counters had 2 big coffee stains the size of wash cloths. .We left our car there for our trip and it was fine when we came back. So I guess if you subtract the $40 parking fees that we would've spent at long term parking, the room was about $29. Another customer on the shuttle with us said the desk asked if he'd like a wake up call to catch his early flight and he said yes. He realized that morning there was no phone in his room. Not sure how such a bad facility can keep such nice help but they are really nice. But I won't stay there again.

As we pulled into the parking lot and realized the gentlemens club was to the right just about 100 yards from the front door we became a bit apprehensive. Greeting area seemed clean. And front desk was helpful in obtaining my boarding pass, as the guest computer printer was out of ink and no one knew if there was a replacement. The room does not offer a microwave or refrig. The TV was older and the sound was horrible, not clear and all stations were not available. I needed to see a program and they called the hotel across the street and told me I could go there and view it in the fitness room there. When I returned home I realized I had been charged twice and no one could help me on a Sat., I had to return a call on Mon when accounting was in. Well when I called my bank was blamed, I called my bank and was informed the hotel had a hold on this charge for a few more days and I had to have them fax a release for my money, resulting in another call to them and an hour of my time on the Monday I returned from vacation, quite a hassle.

Firstly, if you book on the internet, you get charged a few days after you reserve.
If you book through the specific location, you don't get charged until you check out.
When you see the pictures on the internet, it looks pretty nice and clean; updated even.
That is not the case when you actually arrive. The building itself is filthy and in need of (at least) a power washing. The parking lot is blocked off at so many strange points, blocking you from leaving from any entrance except the main one, which is a very busy and cramped street. For singles, there is a strip club next door. There is also a billiards hall next to the strip club. We did not visit either, but both the area and the outside of these two venues I just mentioned were "shady looking" to say the least. There is an IHOP next to the motel which, at 10pm, serves food that is less than par with any IHOP experience I have ever had. The waitress Terry was great though. Now when you walk into the Ramada's hallways that lead to the rooms, the smell of old, musty and under-cleaned hallways can be overpowering. A houseman asked me if the cleaner he was using was too strong of an odor, to which I replied "It smells a h*ll of a lot better than any other spot I have been here so far." It was all jovial. Once you get to the elevator and press the call button, you will hear a sound from inside the doors that sounds like something along the lines of a bucket has dropped and broken somewhere in the nether regions of the shaft. Apparently, though, that is just a sound the elevator makes. The elevator itself does indeed feel like a sauna, and it smells so bad that both my boyfriend and I had to cover our noses every time we got on. We stayed on the fourth floor, in a non-smoking standard room with one king bed. The room itself was exactly what was described, not a single variation or extra. That is all well and fine. However, I expect that my room be clean. I work in a resort, so I know very well what a clean room entails. I refused to take my socks off, because the carpet itself was greasy. It is possible that they use an oil based cleaner. I would highly recommend that Ramada invest in a chemical called "Shore Master" and clean the entire inside of the building with it. The bathtub had black foot stains in it, which shows me that the housekeeper did not do even a passing job of cleaning the tub. It appears that the maintenance man who installed or re-installed the fixtures and/or tiles in the bathrooms had no experience at such things, as there was grout, caulking and paint over every single edged surface in the bathroom. I could deal with that if it were at least a neat job, but it looked like they sprayed the fixtures with a popcorn ceiling texture gun and didn't bother cleaning up any over-spray or excess.

Now there was also no toilet paper holder, just a roll of toilet paper shoved (standing up) into the recess in the counter where the holder used to be. The windows in the room were extremely grimy. The floor mounted wall-unit air conditioner was extremely loud (imagine playing a the television at top volume and still having to strain to hear it.) and it did very little to actually cool the room off. I would honestly estimate that the room stayed at a cool 83-85 degrees. The Ramada web site advertised that there was a free continental breakfast. When I asked about it, she looked at me regrettably and said "It is not included. The continental breakfast is $5.99, and the full buffet is $7.99 plus tax."

The pool was clean, but the chairs and tables were filthy with build up and scuffing, from lack of basic maintenance. The parking lot leaves a lot to be desired as far as safety is concerned. If it were a busier hotel than it seemed to be, I would also complain about the fact that they do not use parking passes, and anyone can park there. Such as strippers. And "Johns". Get the picture?

Check in was smooth as butter, and the lady who checked us in was extremely nice and professional. She was very helpful in getting us directions to the nearest Boston Market. However, I was not told prior to check in when I called to check on my reservation, upon arriving and checking in, OR upon leaving, that there would be an additional $6.75 charged to my card the day I checked in. When I got home and checked my statement, I found that out. I called the Ramada location that I stayed at and asked them why I was charged. After holding for quite a long time. the lady told me that she sees the charge, but she could not confirm what the charge was for. She said she "thinks" it is a pre-authorization in case we charged something else to the room. I truly hope that if you, as a business, are going to pre-authorize charges to a guest, that your employees know what that is and what it is for. I also hope that this pre-authorization is not applied to a select few people, which is the impression that I got from the lack of knowledge of said pre-authorization with the employees. Furthermore, why would you "authorize" such a strange amount as $6.75? It seems shady. Either way, the lady said she put a note in my reservation for accounting to fix the error and it should be gone by morning. If it is not, I am to call back and speak to the-lady-who-gave-no-name.

I am not sure why anybody would find this hotel to be great. The only nice thing about the hotel is the friendly staff. The facilities are something else. The hotel is old and dirty. Walking into the elevator was like stepping into a sauna. We got a king size bed and the fitted bed sheets would not fit. They came off every single night. I spoke to several people about the issue and they just replaced the sheets with same badly fitting sheets. They only left an extra flat sheet so that I could find a way to fix it myself. The AC unit was extremely loud. If you still want to stay here, do not get the king size bed and understand that you get what you pay for.