We stayed at the Best Western Sterling Hotel & Suites for 4 nights from November 2 until November 6th 2006. My family is considering relocating to the Charlotte area so we thought we would check out the area.

I am giving this hotel a 2 and that is because the staff was friendly and wonderful, but the place is dumpy and some major renovation on the rooms need to be done.

We booked our hotel through hotwire. It was one of those you book and pre-pay and then you find out the hotel. It was given 2.5 stars. AAA gives it 3 diamonds in its Traveler's book. However,when we mentioned the hotel to friends/relatives, their repsonse was less than supportive and we got the question "how did you pick that hotel?" One local told us that the area was questionable. In all fairness, through hotwire, we paid $54 a night.

The hotel is located about two blocks ( or a little more)away from an IHOP, Krispy Kreme and a Gentleman's club. On the other side of 77 is an Embassy Suites that my husband stayed at ( on a different trip)and said was great.

We called several days before and the day of to try to get a Non-Smoking ( NS) double bed room. With hotwire, you get what you get. I am definitely chalking this one up for experience. It has never been a problem in the past to get a NS room; however, this is tabacco country and my family was stuck with the smoking room because the hotel was full. The staff said they would change us to a NS the 3rd and 4th night. Knowing our smoking room concerns and our children's health, the staff went in before we arrived and vaccumed baking powder all through out the room in order to reduce the scent. They also put us in the room at the end of the hotel. Once again the staff was great!

THe room number was 102.

This room was dumpy. The bedspreads were worn and dated looking circa 1980's. I pulled them off of the bed because they seemed icky. The two wing-backed chairs were worn and ragged ( torn- unraveling) in places. The furniture in the room looked like a bunch of left over pieces from different decades and different hotels. It didn't have that unifying look that you see at other hotels. ( i.e. the econolodge, holiday inn, etc) This is probably the designated hotwire room.

We went to sleep. The next morning after taking a shower, the fire alarm in the room started chirpping. My husband told the front desk. She immediately came down and changed the battery. Great service! However, after a few minutes, we realized the problem was not resolved and the alarm continued to chirp.
My husband informed the front desk. We were gone from 9am until 7pm that day. When we returned to our room, the smoke detector was still chirping. My husband told the front desk. He was told as soon as the maintenance man/driver returned he would send him down.

Our children were tired. Shortly the maintenance man came to our room. He stood on the ratty comforter on the bed to look at the smoke detector. He was still wearing his cowboy boots. Now, who knows where those boots had been ( men's public restroom's - ick), but there was no way I was going put my face near that comforter. Once again, it ended up on the floor. The maintenance man removed the smoke detector from his room and installed it in ours so that we would have a detector for the night. Once again great staff! He seemed concerned about our well-being enough to make sure we had a smoke detector. We knew this would be the last night in that room.

The next morning at 7am the front desk called us to let us know that people did not show up the night before and that we could move immediately into #306. They also wanted to get our room ready for the next customers. The front desk employee seemed a little overwhelmed since her replacement for the morning shift was running late. She wanted to make sure that we got the new room and that is why she called so early on a Saturday morning.

We relocated everything upstairs to the third floor. Then we left for the day. We returned later that evening to find ants in the bathroom. Also there was a bizarre familiar smell in the bathroom. We realized later that smoke was traveling from the first floor vents up two levels and coming through the bathroom vent. We also smelled it first thing in the morning, too.

My husband informed the front desk about the ants. We went out for the rest of the day. When we returned and got ready for bed there were still ants in the bathroom. Another thing we found out was that some of the major stations such as CBS were snowy and difficult to watch, but the rest of the cable worked. This room was definitely an improvement over 102. The furniture was more modern. There were extra pillows. The handle was missing of the entertainment center. The comforters were puffier and seemed newer. The furniture was not as worn. The front desk told us it was also a larger room.

As we were checking out on Monday morning, my husband informed them that the ants were still there. The front desk employee said she had the room sprayed. She said it was room 206 right? We were a floor higher in 306. I am sure the other hotel guests were surprised.

Every day we saw US air employees staying here. That was a surprise to me. Maybe they don't have a lot of choice. The front lobby does look renovated as does the breakfast area. Breakfast is minimal. This is exactly what it is no more and no less: cereal (raisin bran, frosted flakes, cheerios), milk, raisin bread, bagels, cream cheese, butter, jelly, donuts, danishes, and make your own waffles, coffee, and juice (oj,apple, grapefruit), bananas, and apples. This breakfast worked for us and the kids. It was well stocked and the area was kept clean.

The customers at the hotel were a mixed bag. You had families, airport employees, seniors, and then in the parking lot there was a truck parked next to our car. The person had a box in the back of the pick-up clearly labeled that the contents involved an inflatable toy used for pleasure ( if you catch my drift). I am sure he probably visited the gentleman's club down the street.

The price worked for us. We won't stay there again. My husband told the front desk that the employees really were great, but the place was a dump. The owner really needs to invest some money in fixing it up. I plan to contact AAA and suggest they re-evaluate their 3 diamond rating. I will be reluctant to book less than a 3-star on hotwire again. I have booked through hotwire before for both NYC and CO without a problem, but they were higher starred places. If we hadn't pre-paid for the room, we would have left.


I hope this helps you in making an informed decision. PS- in case you are wondering, we were not given any kind of refund or rate cut for the smoke detector problems or the ants. It may have made it less painful.