First time in North Carolina for my nephews wedding, 3 hotels in 4 nights.

Arrived at 10:45 pm and starving, restaurant closed at 10 but could get room service or eat in the lounge. We chose to eat in the lounge (hate eating in a hotel room) which was large, open and very nice. Cocktails, pizza and fried calamari...the perfect late night dinner.

Rooms were nice for the price, $139, guess I'm used to California room rates....oh, the valet parking was $22.

This is your good standard Marriott downtown hotel. Clean, spacious rooms with comfortable beds. A nice gym and pool onsite. Good breakfast and a starbucks in the lobby. Great location downtown Raleigh. Nothing special but absolutely a great choice if you are staying in Raleigh.

A recent one night stay in Raleigh was made memorable at the Raleigh Marriott City Center. We found the staff to be very helpful and accommodating. The room was spacious, clean, and quiet. We had made the trip to Raleigh mainly to attend a concert in the Performing Arts Center - and this hotel is directly across the street from the auditorium, which was a real plus on a cold night. After the concert my wife and I relaxed in the hotel's bar, and watched as the various and members we had seen on stage came in to spend some down-time before retiring upstairs to their rooms.

There are two things to be aware of before reserving here:

There is a fee for parking in the attached lot ($12 a day self-park... or there is valet parking for a bit more). But this is a center city location, and that type of fee is pretty standard.

There is also a charge for wireless or internet connections. These are a pain. Of course, you can beg and plead with the desk staff - and may get those removed... but need to be aware of the extra charges.

I did find a very good price on the room for our stay, so you should try all the variations you can find to see which prices are available - government employee, AAA, Senior Citizen, etc. Sometimes these are better than you can find on the typical internet travel sites.

The little touches that I always WISH a hotel would have but most don't: the lightswitch in the bathroom is gently lit so you can find it in the dark, the room was dark and quiet, even though we were near the elevator and there was a conference going on with kids all over, there are LOTS of electrical outlets within easy reach, including in the lamp base by the bed, and when you turn on the television you get a very easy to read menu that quickly takes you to the channel you want to go to. Everything was totally spotless, no smells, large, comfortable. A quite perfect stay.