Hampton Inn & Suites Chapel Hill-Carrboro/Downtown — Hotel in Carrboro

We have stayed here for a number of Thanksgiving Holidays and like the hotel, its staff and the complimentary breakfast and coffee. It is conveniently near the home where we gather every year with friends and family for Thanksgiving.||||We were shocked to find at check-in for 3 nights that they now require a separate charge, $10.00 per day, payable to a third party via a smart phone app for "Self Parking" on top of the $453 we paid in advance for our stay.||||We were told it was mandatory or we could be fined, the car booted or even towed. The staff also stated that it was because of a recently enacted Town of Chapel Hill Ordinance. If it wasn't Thanksgiving , I told them i might just cancel. And since our bill already had a Chapel Hill accommodations tax included, this fee seemed to be an excessive pile on. There were very nice and said they would waive the fee this one time. I still had to download the parking app via QR code, have my picture entered into it as well as my plate number and credit card. All for the privileges' of "self parking" in an unsecured parking lot that wasn't any different than it was last year when parking was free.||||Back in my room , I did some research. First thing I checked was if such an ordinance was in place. No such thing. This was likely cooked up by management as way to pass the buck about a decision that would certainly upset returning patrons. The front desk staff was then told to use it as an excuse it if someone complained.||||Next I looked up who the parking management company was. It is called "PMC". They are all over the country and apparently are a growth company. Their moto is "Relentless Hospitality". Relentless yes, hospitality no. They hire sales people to go to hotels that used to offer free parking and pitch them on a new profit center. No up front capital, no operational expense to the Hotel, just a kick back of a percentage of the parking fees. Free money.||||This effectively raises the advertised price without it appearing when you book the room. It is up there with the various gouge fees charged by airlines, restaurants, and other entities to jack up their bottom lines without appearing to do so in their advertisements.||||The PMC conditions of service is full of legalese, and is 100% a one sided agreement that only benefits them and must be agreed to even when the hotel enters their comp code to allow one to park without being towed. It applies to any property they manage. They issue fines if you have not paid them even though they are unenforceable except as a debt to them. They are apparently binding in perpetuity.||||If one of their policing vehicles negligently damages your car, by virtue of they requiring you to have an account with them, you have indemnified them for everything. You are paying for nothing except their right to take money from you and give a piece of it to the hotel. You don't receive a single bit of value added benefits by paying for "self parking" , its not like a secure parking garage or a valet service. If enough people refuse to pay this or stay at hotels with a similar scheme going on, maybe the hotels will realize they in the hospitality business .||||I am in the process of undoing my unwanted PMC account and in the future will never stay at this Hampton Inn or other hotel that uses this unfriendly practice.||||I am also starting to be more cash oriented and am using my credit card less. I have actually been told in one restaurant that they don't take cash! We have had to cancel credit cards 4 times in recent years because someone in a hotel, a parking garage, and a restaurant took the card back to a machine, took a picture of it and used it on-line for large purchases. The fewer places that have this personal information the better and having to give an anonymous app my plate number, credit card number and face picture and agree that their conditions of service apply apparently forever is bit much for the privileges of simply parking my car my self in an unsecured parking lot ||||We have started using short term rentals instead of hotels and certainly plan to go that route on our next visit to Chapel Hill . This hotel chain has lost us as long...

We have stayed here for a number of Thanksgiving Holidays and like the hotel, its staff and the complimentary breakfast and coffee. It is conveniently near the home where we gather every year with friends and family for Thanksgiving.||||We were shocked to find at check-in for 3 nights that they now require a separate charge, $10.00 per day, payable to a third party via a smart phone app for "Self Parking" on top of the $453 we paid in advance for our stay.||||We were told it was mandatory or we could be fined, the car booted or even towed. The staff also stated that it was because of a recently enacted Town of Chapel Hill Ordinance. If it wasn't Thanksgiving , I told them i might just cancel. And since our bill already had a Chapel Hill accommodations tax included, this fee seemed to be an excessive pile on. There were very nice and said they would waive the fee this one time. I still had to download the parking app via QR code, have my picture entered into it as well as my plate number and credit card. All for the privileges' of "self parking" in an unsecured parking lot that wasn't any different than it was last year when parking was free.||||Back in my room , I did some research. First thing I checked was if such an ordinance was in place. No such thing. This was likely cooked up by management as way to pass the buck about a decision that would certainly upset returning patrons. The front desk staff was then told to use it as an excuse it if someone complained.||||Next I looked up who the parking management company was. It is called "PMC". They are all over the country and apparently are a growth company. Their moto is "Relentless Hospitality". Relentless yes, hospitality no. They hire sales people to go to hotels that used to offer free parking and pitch them on a new profit center. No up front capital, no operational expense to the Hotel, just a kick back of a percentage of the parking fees. Free money.||||This effectively raises the advertised price without it appearing when you book the room. It is up there with the various gouge fees charged by airlines, restaurants, and other entities to jack up their bottom lines without appearing to do so in their advertisements.||||The PMC conditions of service is full of legalese, and is 100% a one sided agreement that only benefits them and must be agreed to even when the hotel enters their comp code to allow one to park without being towed. It applies to any property they manage. They issue fines if you have not paid them even though they are unenforceable except as a debt to them. They are apparently binding in perpetuity.||||If one of their policing vehicles negligently damages your car, by virtue of they requiring you to have an account with them, you have indemnified them for everything. You are paying for nothing except their right to take money from you and give a piece of it to the hotel. You don't receive a single bit of value added benefits by paying for "self parking" , its not like a secure parking garage or a valet service. If enough people refuse to pay this or stay at hotels with a similar scheme going on, maybe the hotels will realize they in the hospitality business .||||I am in the process of undoing my unwanted PMC account and in the future will never stay at this Hampton Inn or other hotel that uses this unfriendly practice.||||I am also starting to be more cash oriented and am using my credit card less. I have actually been told in one restaurant that they don't take cash! We have had to cancel credit cards 4 times in recent years because someone in a hotel, a parking garage, and a restaurant took the card back to a machine, took a picture of it and used it on-line for large purchases. The fewer places that have this personal information the better and having to give an anonymous app my plate number, credit card number and face picture and agree that their conditions of service apply apparently forever is bit much for the privileges of simply parking my car my self in an unsecured parking lot ||||We have started using short term rentals instead of hotels and certainly plan to go that route on our next visit to Chapel Hill . This hotel chain has lost us as long...

It started out as a casual weekend getaway—nothing fancy, just a few of us looking for a change of scenery, a break from routine. We booked a couple of rooms at the Hampton Inn & Suites Chapel Hill-Carrboro/Downtown, not really expecting anything special. Just clean beds, some decent breakfast in the morning, and maybe a walk around town. But like most low-key plans, it turned into something better than expected.

We arrived just before sunset. The hotel was tucked neatly into downtown Carrboro, right on Main Street, which gave it this perfect mix of small-town charm and walkable energy. The lobby had a quiet, welcoming feel—warm lights, soft jazz playing (not too loud), and the smell of fresh coffee from the corner station. Check-in was smooth. The woman at the desk was friendly, handed us our keycards, and pointed us toward the elevator like we were old friends just coming home.

The rooms were nicer than we thought they’d be. Clean, spacious, and simple. We dropped our bags, kicked off our shoes, and took a few minutes to lie back on the beds, the way you always do when you first get to a hotel. Everything felt easy, no pressure to do anything. But it was a nice night, and Carrboro doesn’t sleep early. So we headed out to explore.

Right outside the hotel, the sidewalks were alive. People were walking to bars, couples holding hands, college kids on scooters, and locals just enjoying their Friday night. The mix of students, artists, and townies gave the area its own vibe—laid-back, but never dull. We didn’t have an agenda. We walked past Cat’s Cradle, where a crowd was starting to gather for a show. The music from soundcheck spilled onto the street like a heartbeat.

We ended up at a small taco spot just a few blocks down, the kind of place with handwritten chalkboard menus and mismatched furniture. The food was quick and messy and delicious. We shared chips, sipped from glass-bottled sodas, and talked about everything and nothing. The conversation wandered the way it always does with good friends and nowhere to be.

After dinner, we walked a little more, past bookstores with their lights still on, a mural that stretched across a whole wall, and a guy playing acoustic guitar near the Weaver Street Market lawn. We sat on a bench and watched for a while. No rush. The night had this rhythm, like it was asking us to stay a little longer. So we did.

Back at the hotel, the lobby was quiet again. Someone grabbed cookies from the front desk—warm, somehow, even late at night—and we took the elevator up in lazy silence. The hallway lights buzzed softly, the kind of sound you don’t notice until everything else goes quiet. We all crashed in one of the rooms for a bit, kicked back on the beds, talking about the kind of deep or weird topics that only come up when it’s late and no one’s looking at their phones.

Eventually, we split into our own rooms. I remember lying there in that big, crisp bed, a little too full from tacos and sugar cookies, the air just cool enough from the AC unit humming in the corner. The hotel felt safe. That kind of calm you don’t always notice until you realize you needed it.

In the morning, we met in the breakfast area downstairs. The free hot breakfast was way better than expected. Eggs, sausage, waffles, and even a little station with yogurt and toppings. We laughed about how much we ate, how little sleep we got, and how we somehow ended up making a great memory out of a trip that wasn’t supposed to be anything big.

We didn’t go far. We didn’t do anything wild. But in the simple wandering, the shared meals, the comfort of a clean hotel room in the middle of a friendly, artsy town—we found something real. That’s the thing about places like Hampton Inn & Suites Chapel Hill-Carrboro. They’re not flashy. But they put you in the middle of somewhere that feels like a little piece of the world saying, “You’re welcome here. Stay...