Hilton Club Liberty Place Charleston — Hotel in Charleston

Short version- Do. Not. Stay. Here. This is the worst “luxury” hotel I’ve ever stayed in in my life. We are in an executive suite- separate living room, full kitchen, bedrooms. Supposedly the best room in the hotel. And it is awful. Absolutely not worth even 1/2 of what we are paying. I shudder to think what the “normal” rooms are like if this is “luxury.” The front desk clerk was rude. When checking in we asked for 3 room keys. We got as far as the elevator in the lobby before noticing that we had only been given 2 keys. No worries, I sent my family on ahead upstairs and I walked back over to the desk. The clerk asked for my name, room number, and ID; then told me since the reservation was in my husband’s name she couldn’t give me a key. She had literally checked my entire family in, including my husband, 30 seconds before. The elevators only work with a key card and she refuses to give me a key, so now I’m trapped in the lobby. My husband had to come all the way back down and fetch me. We go up to our room, the keycards don’t work. We trudge down to the lobby for a third time. The clerk asks us for ID and reservation number! Again! No apology or anything. Just fixes the cards and turns away.

We finally get in to our room and the first thing we see in our “executive suite” is this couch (see attached pic) that is so beat up it looks like they found it in a goodwill dumpster. The “fully stocked kitchen” has exactly 4 of everything- 4 plates, 4 forks, 4 cups, etc. In a 2 bedroom suite for 4 people. So if you want to say, stir cream in to your coffee and also have a bowl of cereal, you’re going to be washing dishes on your vacation because there aren’t enough spoons.

The living room temperature is comfortable but the bedroom feels like a sauna, the a/c isn’t working. We called for maintenance multiple times, but we arrived Sat, today is Thurs, and it’s still not fixed. Nor have they offered to move us to a room with working a/c. It’s 95 degrees outside. To be able to sleep we’ve been turning the living room a/c down to 62 degrees and leaving the bedroom door open so some of the cool air drifts in. It’s still stifling.

The hotel listed these things as amenities- and they are all a lie:

1. Restaurant. The “restaurant” is a bar in the lobby. No tables. If you want any food (from the extremely limited menu) you’ll be eating with your plate on your knees in a chair next to the check in desk.
2. Fitness center. This is so bad it’s laughable. It’s literally a single weight bench sitting in the dead center of the room and 2 treadmills.
3. concierge service. A real concierge will recommend and book you activities. This “concierge” will hand you a copy of the same free map available in literally every store on Charleston and then give you a hard sell on attending a sales pitch meeting to buy a room in this hotel as a timeshare. Every time you walk through the lobby the “concierge” will call to you and re-try the timeshare sales pitch. It feels a bit like walking through a street market in Mexico where all the vendors are shouting at you to come to their booth. Definitely not a “luxury” experience. It gives me anxiety to even walk through the lobby now because I know I’m going to get a shakedown.

This hotel doesn’t have a pool! At all. To be fair, it’s not advertised that it does, but I didn’t even think to check for that as an amenity because what hotel doesn’t have a pool?! There is also no spa. Which is another thing atypical for a “luxury” hotel.

This hotel is so bad that I’m writing this review while we’re still in Charleston and we are looking in to switching to another hotel mid-trip and just forfeiting the cost of the rest of our reservation here. Run, don’t walk, away from...

We stayed for a full week and had a fantastic experience. We booked a suite, and it was one of the most spacious and well-thought-out rooms we’ve ever stayed in with Hilton. The fully stocked kitchen was a wonderful surprise, complete with a blender, toaster, and kettle, which made it easy to have meals in when we wanted. The living room was huge, giving both of us enough space to stretch out (and even nap comfortably on the couch).

The primary suite was perfect, with a very comfortable king bed and plush pillows that made for a great night’s sleep. The amount of storage space really stood out, much more than we’ve seen at other Hilton Clubs, and the guest robes and umbrellas provided were a thoughtful touch. The bathroom was massive and featured a beautiful couples shower, which we loved. The Toto toilet was a nice luxury addition, though the cleaning cycle smell was a bit too chemically for us.

The location felt a little sketchy at first glance, but it’s actually perfectly placed on E Bay Street, just a short walk to the market and tons of restaurants. It’s also only a few minutes from King Street, where you can shop, grab a bite, and experience the lively college nightlife from Thursday through Saturday.

The staff made the experience even better. From the moment we arrived, we were greeted with warm smiles and helpful service. Check-in was smooth, and they made sure we knew about all the amenities. Water was always available in the lobby, and they provided an owners’ discount card we could use at Beech, the on-site bar and breakfast/pastry restaurant. The valet team was incredibly kind and full of southern hospitality, they opened doors for us every time we got in or out of an Uber, and one even took the time to show us how their car elevators work (which was surprisingly cool!).

The gym was a nice bonus for keeping up with workouts while traveling. It had a good variety of equipment: a cable machine, dumbbells up to 75 lbs, kettlebells up to 30 lbs, one bench, and several cardio machines. We especially appreciated having full control over the TV and music in the gym, since we could turn off the house music when we wanted to focus. Plenty of towels and water were available, too.

The only downside was the business center, which felt like an afterthought with just one computer and printer tucked into a small alcove near the owners’ lounge. Speaking of the lounge, it’s not much to miss if you don’t have access; it’s essentially a quiet space with a few snacks and a continental breakfast option, and you can still enjoy the outdoor seating area nearby.

Overall, we really enjoyed our stay. The suite was spacious and comfortable, we got great sleep, and the staff was friendly and helpful throughout. The little touches, like umbrellas, robes, and the unique Toto toilet, made the experience feel elevated. We would definitely...

Hotel was ok. There are better options in better locations. We’ve stayed at the Embassy Suites just across the bridge in Mt Pleasant several times and they offered us a discounted stay to try this new hotel, and we much prefer ES. The ES balcony rooms have views of the harbor, complementary happy hour drinks and breakfast, and parking is half the price. $45/day parking here is a lot, and it’s per day, not per night, so we parked for $18/day at a garage 1 block away. Room here was nicely decorated, with some high end touches, but lots of visible poor craftsmanship. The tile/grout work was sloppy throughout, the bathroom hook lock was not aligned to actually use, and the balcony while spacious, just faced the hotel and no view. Would also not recommend top floor balcony as it’s uncovered versus lower floors. The staff was all very nice, but the hotel lacked amenities. It’s not as walkable to the historic district as other hotels. For the farther location, they should make up for it with things like a spa or room service. There’s really no reason we would select this location again. They have added limited coffee options and a few snacks at the bar, but no restaurant for lunch/dinner and limited breakfast items at the coffee/smoothie bar. Also no market to pickup snacks or water as most hotels have. I will say the larger suites with full kitchen were quite nice for a family, but for a couple, there are better hotel rooms in the...