Holiday Inn Charlotte University by IHG — Hotel in Charlotte

I wish I could give negative stars. By far the worst experience I have ever had. Normally I don't care to write reviews but I'm making an exception for this one. I made the mistake of booking this hotel for MY WEDDING. Since the moment of booking, it has been hassel after hassel. 2 weeks before the wedding, I ask the sales coordinator to send me a copy of the people that have reserved a room in my block. I look at the list and notice the reservation for my husband and I is wrong. I went back and forth, receiving over 4 different emails and 2 phone calls to fix this. Then 1 weeks before the wedding, I ask her to resend me the list to double check. I get the list and low and behold, another issue. All of a sudden they have everyone's reservations correct except now they DONT EVEN HAVE MINE AND MY HUSBANDS RESERVATION! Finally we get that figured out. Then comes the day to check in. Thankfully there was no problem there except if you pay cash, you have to pay more. Which is whatever. Well I'm asking everyone what their room numbers were and we were all on different floors. I asked the receptionist and she said there is no guarantee to have one floor unless we book more than enough time in advance. I told her we reserved this block OVER A YEAR AGO! How is that not enough time?! So we decided to not fight and just deal with it even though we were told we were all going to be on one floor when we made the reservations. My husband and I were staying in different rooms the first night (night before the wedding) and then the second night (after the reception) staying together. When we checked in the first day the receptionist told us we had to come back tomorrow and check in for tomorrow night. I asked if we could check in now for tomorrow since we won't have time to check in since it was the day of the wedding. She told us no and just to check in when we get back from the wedding. Then the day of the wedding comes and I had reserved the shuttle for my husband and his groomsman to take to the venue. They were supposed to be to the venue at 6 but they were told no. My husband told the driver they need to leave since they were gonna be late. The driver said we have room for more people, we can't leave yet. My husband told him that the wedding party had a reservation at 5:30 to be to the venue by 6 BEFORE the guests arrive. Well, my husband and the rest of the wedding party had to take a shuttle WITH some of our guests. Oh and the best part, they were all late, making our ceremony late!!!!!! Fast forward to the end of the night and the shuttles are waiting. The guests load into the shuttles from the reception back to the hotel. Down side was, there wasn't enough shuttles for everyone so the wedding party with a few more guests had to wait OVER AN HOUR for the shuttle to come back. We had a BABY and 3 other kids with us and it was about 1:30AM when we got back to the hotel. When we got back, we stopped right at the front desk to check in. We checked in then went to our room. That morning, we checked out a little before 11am. Here's where it gets fun... I checked my bank account since we were about to leave for our honeymoon, and notice they had charged an extra night. We stayed 2 nights and got charged for 3. We spoke to the receptionist who first told us that's not possible, there's no transaction history in their system. I showed her my account and it showed the 3 pending transactions. She then told me it will come off, it's probably just the "hold" they do. I told her no, the hold is the extra 50/night you guys charged. She then said oh well your going to have to contact your bank because it's not on our end. We called the bank and they told us what we see is accurate. The hotel charged 3 nights, not 2. So we are trying to explain this to the receptionist and she doesn't want to hear it. We then ask for a manager. She CALLS her manager and I have to speak to her by phone. Working in management myself, completely unacceptable to not have a manager on site. After talking to the manager, she said it would be taken...

My wife and I wanted to be sure the first thing we did when returning home was to reach out to your Corporate Office and General Manager. We recently stayed at the Holiday Inn. University City Blvd. Checking in on 11/17, for a Stargazing Music Festival hotel deal. Included will be a shuttle that will be running hourly and a 3PM Happy Hour Event in the Grand Ballroom. Reserve your special group rate (code “SRG”). Long story short, it was no fault on your hotel, as the promoter dropped the ball and there was no transportation to the event or happy hour. At this point we panicked as we booked VIP and expected to see someone with drinks in hand in the lobby. Your front desk staff were professional, courteous, and patient while I searched for emails, or a number to call making the check in line wait. Patricia was Managing the Front Desk, making calls to other locations to see if there was a mix-up and still handling her other duties like she was the captain. Patricia was calling around, checking in a large group, and answering the phones. Each interaction was kind, patient, and doing what it took to make that customer smile. We ended up sitting at one of the tables in the back, and Patricia was continuing to check in on us and her status updates. Finally, after the third update Patricia came and gave us two small drink tickets and said here let’s take your mind off things and take a break. My wife and I really appreciated how Patricia took ownership to call around to different locations and still have the time to check in on us. Thank you, as we were able to finally collect our thoughts and calm down.

There’s more, once we headed to the bar we met Felice Hopkins, she will have you on the floor laughing. No matter who you are, why you are here, Felice is that person you can talk to, and she will remember your drink for next time. Felice gave us one of her famous drinks you need to name it after her before I do, that turned out to be the best part of our spoiled star gazing event. The time we were at the bar we did not have a care in world and had a good time. Then Felice turned on the lights, lol she was so proud and made everyone stop and watch. Thank you, Felice, for listening to us vent about the night we had planned, and still had something funny to say. We are coming back to stay just to run into these two again as that is how you take care of a customer. They value the customer and understand how to do an exceptional job.

We ask if you can please be sure to truly recognize them for a job well done. By going the extra mile, being a professional, and caring, with everything they do. As my wife and I know starting in the service industry; a thank you acknowledgment is a turbo button...

Not a great experience unfortunately. Came for a seminar that was held in the building so we figured out of convenience alone we should choose this hotel. Bad decision. Had classes Saturday and Sunday all day which started at 8 am. When we arrived at the hotel around 7 pm Friday there was a literal party going on in the lobby. So loud that you couldn't hear yourself think. The hotel claimed that only a few of the guests were staying there but they partied throughout the hotel until around 5 am. Didn't leave the lobby until 530 we heard and from our room we could hear people partying until at least 4. Got zero sleep which was a main purpose of paying money for somewhere to sleep. After going through my class that I paid close to a thousand dollars for on Saturday exhausted we find that the single working elevator, the other one was shut down for "upgrades" has stopped working. So after my 8 hour class I lugged about 100 lbs of books up to the sixth floor. The AC in our room also went on and off as it pleased. This is to be expected at a red roof inn, super 8 or something like that where rooms are 55-60 a night but for the price this place is trash. Parking lot doesn't feel safe, people smoking pot right on the front entry furniture throughout our visit and police there more than once within our 3 day stay. Considering the Hilton is right across the street and has same priced rooms with much more adequate lobby, restaurant and staff this holiday inn will not be on our list again. I do not want a post apologizing for the inconvenience because searching through the reviews I see that it is your MO and the same concerns have been brought up consistently so your apologies are empty. How about close down and get your stuff together before charging people mid range rates for a crack motel experience. Also, drinks at the bar are astronomical and it closes at 9. Which further added to the confusion of why people not staying in the hotel were allowed to get drunk in the lobby and hallways on most floors until 4 am. Drinks are around 12-17 and that is beer to liquor. Hilton has the same stuff but with good food less than a block from here and is actually on the boardwalk for about 5-12. Thanks for ripping me off holiday inn. Would request a refund but we all know that's not...