My husband and I decided to use our Priority Club points to stay in the Charlotte area, and the Holiday Inn Express Carowinds had rooms available for the time we needed. The hotel is directly across from the park and not too difficult to get in and out of since there is a stop light. We had a very quick check in and were told that our room was in the rear of the hotel by the back door. The parking lot is small (though well lit) and the door is directly in the back. With your card key you can access this door which leads you up the stairs to the second floor where we were staying. We were pretty disappointed to find out that this hotel did not have an elevator and even more upset since the stairways were small and on the dingy side. Once we opened the door to the second floor we immediately smelled cigarette smoke, but after walking down the hall we noticed all the rooms on the floor were non-smoking. Thankfully our room did not have the smoky smell like the hall. With our points we got a room with a king bed, jacuzzi and sofabed. The room was laid out a little awkward, but still decorated nicely. The jacuzzi is in the living room area of the room next to a fridge & microwave and the sofa and desk. A little partition separates this area from the king size bed and tv stand. Around the corner from the bed are a sink and separate toilet and shower/bath. This room looked like it needed some work since the paint on the walls was chipping and the floors could use new tile. The jacuzzi was comfortable and worked well with no problems. The bed was very comfortable with a down comforter and duvet. They did not have in-room movies, but they do have a large assortment of cable channels. There are several restaurants nearby which we took advantage of since the breakfast buffet looked a little sparse for our taste. There was a large variety of cold cereal, pastries, fruit and then hard boiled eggs, French toast and biscuits & gravy. It all looked fine, but we decided we wanted something else. Check out was also quick and we think that the only problem is the age of the hotel. For the most part it was clean and the staff was friendly. We might stay again if we are in the area.








