Hey reader, I am going to keep this short and simple for you. The Mills House is flat out cool and a good place to stay. If you are visiting Charleston for the first time or the fifth time, stay here if it meets your budget. I was able to find a good rate on Priceline when we stayed here. I thought the services were just average and the check-in a bit slow, but that was ok. I was here for convenience.

This is a nice, old hotel with nice furnishings, modest services and decent food offerings. However, if you're staying here in downtown Charleston, don't eat at the Mills, get out! Charleston is such a great city for culture, history and food, get out. The hotel food is overly priced in my opnion compared to what is available in area restaurants. Many places are within walking distance of the hotel and it totally beats staying 10 miles north and driving into the city on the highway, paying for parking and walking around.

You should stay here for good accomodations and convenient walking/shopping/exploring.

I can't say enough about Charleston, see the museums, see the sights, visit plantations, come back again and again. You will not be disapointed at the Mills House as long as your intentions are to stay and enjoy old historic Charleston and you're looking for a convenient, enjoyable setting. Happy travels.

DB

Had a very enjoyable 3 night stay in March. Hotel was clean and comfortable. Bar and restaurant were good - not great, but more than adequate. Rooms were a bit on the small side, but average sized for a historic property.

We booked through Hotwire (but knew ahead of time which property it was through betterbidding. com) and were treated as well as any other guest. Pool is seasonal and was closed in March. We did park in the adjacent city parking structure instead of valeting the car because I knew we wouldn't be using it during our stay - it was considerably less expensive and very close.

Very convenient to all the tourist sites - perfect location. Take the guided walking tour ($20 person) that leaves from the lobby. It was fun and very informative.

We were on a tour and this hotel was the last stop. We had 3 nights with the tour and one on our own.
I found the location to be very convenient to walking to the Battery area and even to the Charleston Museum or the Aquarium (if you enjoy long walks).
The breakfast buffet was extensive and fresh.
I found the people at the front desk and the concierge to be very helpful and pleasant.
The room we had was on the 4th floor, facing the street but was quiet for sleeping at night.
The room was large enough and very comfortable and nicely decorated.
The only complaint I have is that the bathroom was tiny and awkward due to that.

In our past stays at Priority Club Hotels, we have reserved an Executive Level King room. They have always been large rooms along with their particular amenities. We were very surprised at the small sized rooms on the Club level of the Charleston Mills. We were so disappointed that we contacted the management upon check in and told them that we would like a larger room the next day. At 8:30 a.m., we contacted the front desk manager and she said she would see what she could do. We recontacted them at 11:00 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and then at 2:30 p.m. Finally, at that time, the front desk gave us a key so that we might look at another room. We went to that room and it was exactly the same as the room we had, but on a lower floor and not on the Executive level! Why she would have wasted our time with this is unknown. We returned to the front desk and reiterated that we wanted a larger room. At that point the manager very snippily told us that our room was a standard King room (not what we reserved) and that was all that was available.

The last time we stayed at the Charleston Mills, it was before the renovation, and it was an unpleasant stay because the hotel was obviously in need of updates. We decided to give the hotel another chance since it was renovated in 2007. In spite of these renovations, the bathrooms were dirty (dark fingerprints on back of bathroom door and hair in the bath), the "Club Level Breakfast" was incredibly bad, with stale muffins and unripened fruit. For the amount of money paid, you should simply give the club level guests coupons for the buffet downstairs. We are still not sure what the club level means, since the rooms are exactly the same as the rest of the hotel.

The final insult occurred upon check out when we had to wait 30 minutes for our car to be brought around by the valet.

It is inexcusable that a hotel in a competitive market such as Charleston's could have service as bad as this. We have learned our lesson, and we will not give the Charleston Mills any more chances. A copy of this letter is being sent to AAA.