Hilton HHonors - Hilton HHonors Properties in Charlotte

As a HH Gold, I will be travelling more frequently to the uptown Charlotte area. I've stayed a few times at the Hilton Towers (where I was given an 'ok' room on the club floor. I noticed they recently opened a Garden Hilton nearby, does anyone have any comments about that property?? I'll be there in CLT in early March for a week and thought I'd 'break-up' my stays to gain more points by switching between those two (or the Starwood 4 Points-I'm Platinum there).
I've never stayed at a Hilton Gardens, so I'm not sure what to expect.

mauld, I can tell you that it's not a conversion of an old property, it's a brand new building (it just opened Jan. 25).

According to the Business Journal of Charlotte, the Hilton Garden will offer room service, hot breakfast buffets and valet service.

There's some more coverage at the Business Journal web site:
http://charlotte.bcentral.com/charlotte/stories/2001/02/19/focus5.html

I stayed at the HGI that was about 10 mins north of downtown Charlotte. Nice place, good rates and not to bad of a drive from downtown. I would recommend it and plan to stay there again in two weeks.

I haven't stayed at or seen the new Garden Inn, but have stayed at the North location which is fairly new. It is on Harris Blvd between I-85 and I-77. It was very nice, except the "indoor-outdoor" pool didn't have the separation in place for the winter and therefore wasn't usable when I was there in January. They do have very nice rooms with Jacuzzi's in the room available. There is also a new Homewood Suites I will be staying at this weekend, near the coliseum, almost next to the Embassy Suites. Hope this helps.
Cindi

I have a trip planned Aug. 3-5.

Somebody give me an idea of a good hotel (location, amenities, room quality) ... with good weekend rate and other FF perks.

Regards,

The Pickle

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The Park Hotel

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum63/HTML/000978.html

Wow this is tough, there are a LOT of good Hilton properties in Charlotte. I live about 90 miles away so, it is a frequent weekend getaway, and usually find great rates. There is a couple of brand new Hilton Garden Inns that are fabulous, great business centers, FREE laundry, etc, one downtown, one on the northside between 85 and 77 on Harriss Blvd. The one on the northside I have seen as low as $59 a night on the weekend ($69 with in-room jacuzzi)
The Embassy Suites is nice, sometimes get a weekend rate around $99, and it is just off 77 South in the coliseum area. Not as nice as the ES in Durham (one of my favs)but pretty good. Homewood Suites between the airport area and the Coliseum, very new, nice property, very professional staff. Got the "gold touch" Homewood Truffles in the room.
Have never stayed in the 2 Hiltons, as I always seem to get a better deal elsewhere, but have driven by both of them and they look nice. So too many choices here, better to know what you want to be near: Downtown? Coliseum? Concord Mills Mall? Race Track?
Cindi

Can't help you on room rates, but will try on the others.

Hilton (Downtown Charlotte). Formerly an Omni and a Westin - it's a very nice hotel, with a good Club Lounge, and good sized rooms (even though I live in CLT - had to stay there during last year's post-winter storm blackouts). If you have business in the Center City, it's the one since it is connected to the Overstreet Mall (or as some put it, the Habitrail).

Hilton (University). Just opened up a new tower there. It's right in the heart of a commercial area by a little lake. Have heard good things about it - and understand they're more wont to have special rates - of course, doubt you'll find them around UNC Charlotte's graduation or freshman orientation.

There are also a couple of Hilton Garden Inns both north and south of the city, as well as one smack dab in Downtown near the Convention Center (shares a parking garage with a new Hampton (both properties opened around the same time)). They seem to be the same as every other HGI out there.

Embassy Suites is off of 77 and very close to the airport. Nice, typical ES - nothing stunning.

They also have a Hilton on Tyvola Rd. at 77 - just one exit down from the ES.

SO, it really depends on what you're doing and where you want to be. Also, if you're arriving Friday - just be aware of rush hour traffic here that could impede your progress to the Hilton at University, if you're heading North, and to the ES or the Hilton at Tyvola, if you're heading South.

Enjoy your trip to the Queen City.

The most bang for the buck is definitely the Homewood Suites over by the Coliseum ... I'd highly recommend it.

Too late for your August trip but just got this on e-mail in case anyone is in Charlotte in September.

AAA Rates in Charlotte, North Carolina
Enjoy a rate of $119 per night or $99 per night any day from August 1 through September 30, 2001 for your summer travel to the Embassy Suites Hotel Charlotte. Rates subject to availability and black out dates August 3 - 6, 2001, apply. Call and book promotion code AA1 or AA2 by calling 1-800-EMBASSY or 704-527-8400

Passing through on Friday.
Would like to try using my GOLD to get upgraded.

Have my wife and two kids with me.
Several Hilton choices in Charlotte area.
What would you recommend I shoot for?

Thanks...

I've only stayed at teh Executive Park property. Nothing too special, but not bad either. In my opinion, the Hilton's in Charlotte aren't noteworthy, but solid properties. The one on Harris Blvd. is a decent location...centrally located close to I77 and I85. There is a new GI right off of I77 also on Harris Blvd, but if you're going to choose that one I'd opt for the aforementioned one (also known as University Hilton I believe).

I live in Charlotte, so I have not stayed at many of the Hilton properties. However, I can offer some suggestions based on location. It all depends on what you want location/price. The Hilton Towers downtown is supposed to be nice and on a Friday night you should be able to get a good rate as the business travelers will be gone. If you want to stay by the airport there is a Hilton and an Embassy Suites. A colleague of mine stayed at the ES and was pleased. If you want to stayed near SouthPark where there is a lot of shopping there is a Hampton Inn and DoubleTree. The DoubleTree just bought the SouthPark Suites (supposed to be very nice; internet rate of $71 and all suite rooms).

We spend the weekend in Charlotte fairly often. The Embassy Suites in the Coliseum Area is my favorite, next to that probably the Hilton Garden Inn downtown, a very new property. The Homewood Suites between the Airport and the Coliseum, is very clean and has pretty large rooms. Have also stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn on Harris Blvd, nice, but not quite as nice as the one downtown.
Cindi

On the Charlotte University Hilton, you will find that the service is rather lackluster (and has been for the past 4 years at least). The front desk will be understaffed no matter what time you arrive. When I was there three weeks ago, the front desk person told me that the hotel currently was without a Concierge. The Executive Lounge was without food and drink for the two days (mid-week) that I was there....probably because no Concierge. The property is nice and well located, but service is questionable. I am Hilton Diamond by the way and was upgraded to a regular room on the top floor. No suite, in fact, they couldn't even get me a King bed. Had to settle for two doubles.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by cndij:
We spend the weekend in Charlotte fairly often. The Embassy Suites in the Coliseum Area is my favorite, next to that probably the Hilton Garden Inn downtown, a very new property. </font>

Do the "King Suites" in the Hilton Garden Inn have a pull-out sofabed? We'll be traveling (and staying for 6 nights) with one teenager. Any comments re this property and the adjacent Hampton Inn (which also lists having suites). Thanks for any help.

I'm currently a business traveler in Charlotte, and have stayed at Hilton Towers (solid property) and the HGI downtown (better value). As a Diamond, I was upgraded to a King Suite at the HGI DT- which was just as nice, if not nicer than any room at the Hilton Towers.

The Suite had a door between living room and bedroom, so privacy will be assured as you take advantage of the Jacuuzi tub in the bedroom area. It's situated next to the bed , outside the bathroom, nice 'cause your able to watch TV. However , the jets (although very loud) we not that powerful--, so dont expect a hottub jet. (it's also BYOB- bring your own bubbles) I assume the living room couch pulls out as there's plenty of room for it to do so. The room also contains a seperate TV, microwave, and fridge.
As if that's not enough, the property also offers free high-speed internet access in your room. *Warning*- the hotel ran out of LAN cords- so I would suggest bringing one of your own. 'Plug and Play'

Room service was fast and affordable- and the hotel is fairly new, so it's in good condition.

Drawbacks--

The 3 Elevators can be slow

The Gym is a typical hotel box gym, and the pool is only a small 3-5 foot wading pool. (Hilton Towers guests are able to use the YMCA facilities next door-- very nice! Hotspot for Wachovia employees)

Good luck getting the upgrade

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[This message has been edited by cperks (edited 02-11-2003).]

I have to be in Charlotte tonite and trying to decide where to stay.

I've searched but all the data is pretty old.

Any new experiences?

thanks

I have to be in Charlotte tonite and trying to decide where to stay.

I've searched but all the data is pretty old.

Any new experiences?

thanks

I stayed at the HGI in Sept 04. I was attending a convention at the time, and all of the area hotels, including the HGI, were booked solid. They upgraded me (gold) to a suite w/ whirlpool, without me asking. Of course, my wife was pissed, as I she wasn't with me. :)

Hello!

Does anyone have any experience with either of the Doubletrees in Charlotte, NC, either the one downtown or the guest suites in SouthPark?

The Hilton and HGI downtown seem to be nice properties with good reviews on this site, however there is little information on the Doubletree properties.

I put my wife up at the DT Southpark a few weeks ago (for her reunion at The Queens University, which was nearby). I'm hearing this second hand, but she had a lovely stay. It's all suites, they comped her buffet breakfast (it was under my name as a Diamond). Aside from that, she didn't have any problems.

I've stayed at the Hilton in uptown and had a great stay there ... but this was 2 years ago.

I stayed at the suites hotel about 2 months ago. If you want to be near a mall, it's an okay property. Overall, I thought it was overpriced and a bit "tired". No real upgrade for this diamond.

Anybody stayed recently at the Doubletree Hotel Charlotte Airport on Yorkmont Road. I believe it used to be a Wyndham Garden hotel.

As far as I know, this is the only Hilton family hotel that has 24-hour shuttle service to the airport. The rest of the hotels have shuttle hours of 6am to 11pm.

I'm also considering the Springhill Suites but wanted to see if I should give the Doubletree a try.

I have stayed there while visiting my daughter at Johnson and Wales University (JWU), JWU runs the property and I have been disappointed with both the service and no special service/amenity for Diamonds.

Avoid Charlotte Hilton University Place - managmeent is worse than rude and place is dirty. I somehow survived 3 months there last year - don't know how I did it.

I'd echo the Charlotte University comments. I've stayed there several times to get the Hhonors points, plus my company is down the street and has a decent rate there.

But... had one room with no operable AC in the Summer. Waited forever for the engineer to come up and pronounce it dead. They managed to find me another room on the same floor, but I suspect that someone ended up getting bumped or got my old room (they hemmed and hawwed about moving me because they were "full" -- they wanted to know if I could manage "for just one night" -- um, no, I'm sitting here sweating because the room is 80 degrees... I'm not going to try and sleep in this heat with no window to open).

Stood in line at the front desk for 15 minutes one morning while the sole clerk dealt with some problem or another that a guest was having. Meanwhile, TWO management types (upgraded professional wear and Hillton name tags) stood off to the side in the main part of the lobby chatting and providing directions to every person coming in the front door for some meeting -- think it was a Wachovia bigshot meeting. Finally someone wandered out from the back. I made a rather rude comment ("Do you really need two managers to point down the escalator when you have guests standing in line for 15 minutes?") to the management types about their lack of customer focus. They just stood and blinked at me. Apparently they were so absorbed in their conversation and direction-giving that they never looked over by the desk.

Besides the University date conflicts, the place gets overrun when NASCAR is running. And about anytime Wachovia has a big meeting.

Does the Charlotte Hilton and Towers still offer free wifi? Does the club lounge stay open on the weekends? and if not do they offer breakfast certs?

Update: Am there now and the recent renovation is amazing! Rooms are beautiful and super-modern with glass shower stalls and fancy bathroom fixtures. It reminds me of the modern Hiltons in Europe like Copenhagen Airport, Dusseldorf, Vienna City, etc.

The lounge stays open all day with drinks and snacks (in true European fashion) even on weekends. The breakfast spread isn't elaborate but has a half dozen types of very fresh fruit, cereals, deli meats, and yogurts. The staff in there is simply amazing and free wi-fi makes it the ideal place to get some work done. The view of downtown Charlotte is the icing on the cake:)

Has anyone stayed at the Embassy Suites by the airport lately? I've got a one night stay there next week and wanted to know how it compared to the DoubleTree and Homewood (both slightly closer to the airport). I'll have some time at the hotel so I'm looking for a place to be able to work. Is there a shuttle?

I stayed at the ES about a month ago,but I can hardly remember anything about it. This pretty much means it was a typical ES.
Also stayed at the Homewood and the Doubletree recently. I didn't like the Doubletree, but the Homewood was fine.
I had a car,so can't help with the shuttle question. I'm sure their website can clarify this.

Has anyone stayed at the Embassy Suites by the airport lately? I've got a one night stay there next week and wanted to know how it compared to the DoubleTree and Homewood (both slightly closer to the airport). I'll have some time at the hotel so I'm looking for a place to be able to work. Is there a shuttle?The Homewood is ideal for working in, very quiet and plenty of space in the suite. But, without a car it's pretty remote - not really close to the airport, or anywhere else for that matter.