Catching up on recent hotel stays. My wife and I had a one-night stay here the night of the Charlotte Heart Ball; she was part of the organizing committee for one of the corporate sponsors, so we needed a place close by the convention center to decamp, get ready, and not have to rush in from our home in the suburbs. We thought the night might run fairly late as well and rather than drive home after some drinks, it made sense to look for lodging uptown. The JW is on the opposite corner of the convention center and is a 3-minute walk from the exits, so it was the obvious choice.

We booked a standard room off Marriott.com, no special package. I have seen this hotel on FHR but it was not available on FHR at the time we booked. I think we paid $329+tax, so I wouldn't call this cheap.

Check-in was fine, they noted both my current gold and lifetime silver and then said your room is ready. I wasn't expecting an upgrade and did not receive one.

The physical plant is quite nice - a small-ish lobby form factor but fast elevators, beautiful trim everywhere -- there was attention to detail placed in the design...

...which did not appear to carry through to the room. The room itself was a standard king was very nice and functional. The bathroom was clean and the shower was great, plenty of room although not massive, and good water pressure. Everything felt new (and it is, the property is less than five years old). I would not necessarily call it luxurious -- it's certainly perfectly fine, even nice, and I have no complaints but I found the RC CLT rooms to have more of a high-end feel to them. The room didn't feel "cheap" in any way but I do think it lacked things like a minibar, in-room tea selection, a comfortable chair with ottoman as opposed to just a task chair at the desk and then the bed,etc. The views were great, however. Perhaps the suites are better appointed.

I had a pre-dinner dinner at Dean's on the first floor. Service was on the slow side but the food was superb. This area is not very large and can get quite crowded as the bar fills up and people congregate behind the bar stools; this is also the main passageway into the deeper part of the restaurant with table service so you may feel some mild claustrophobia.

Post-event with some friends we went to Caroline's Oyster Bar on the second (third?) level of the hotel. This was excellent and while I do not eat oysters, our guests did, and they had a favorable impression. We stuck with cornbread and a couple of cocktails. These were great. The restaurant had an outdoor deck that looked very nice but was full at the time of our arrival, around 11pm.

We came back to bed a little after midnight. Turndown service had been through, which was nice. I did not sleep well. The bed was hard, which contributed. It's not the worst bed I've ever slept on but it was clearly selected by someone who values firmness. The pillows were unsatisfactory in a way I cannot identify.

The next morning we had breakfast again at Dean's. This was fine, not amazing, but priced fairly reasonably and the area was quiet. There was not a complimentary coffee setup in the lobby, but the bar at Dean's turns into this coffee/espresso bar area and coffee is for sale. This feels a bit cheeky.

The lobby bathrooms are disgusting. They are obviously used by vagrants and other non-guests and are not properly looked after. Avoid at all costs.

We are lowly Marriott golds and we did not qualify for executive lounge access.

It was mid-February so we did not partake in the pool; however we could see it from our room and it looks very nice, on the roof near the oyster restaurant. Not large but I can see in warmer weather it would be very inviting.

We did not use the spa but I have over several months looked to book in for services and the menu and availability seem quite limited. The RC spa is probably the best in-hotel option in the uptown area.

In sum, this is more of a standard hotel than I think you might expect from a JW-badged place. The common areas and amenities feel luxurious, but the standard room quickly drops down to what you could reasonably expect from a new regular Hyatt. Regardless, it's a nice enough in a good location if you keep your expectations in check.