Sonesta Charlotte Lower South End — Hotel in Charlotte

Our stay at the Sonesta Charlotte Lower South End hotel on August 30, 2025, was the WORST experience we ever had at any hotel. There were 6 of us driving from Florida to Canada with an overnight stop in Charlotte. We booked and PRE-PAID for two rooms at the Sonesta Charlotte Lower South End through CAA (Canada's AAA). By the time we arrived at the hotel, it was 10:30 pm. We had just completed a 10 hour drive from Boca Raton Florida and we were all exhausted. When we go to check-in, we were told our rooms were not available and that the cleaning staff is quickly cleaning two rooms for us. The lady at the front desk was no help with any of our questions or concerns. She seemed to be annoyed that we were protesting and angry about this. About 30 minutes later, a hotel staff spoke to us and gave us an update on the status of our rooms. He explained they have 3 people cleaning each room and they should be ready soon. He offered us refreshments from the lobby store free of charge and gave us 6 breakfast vouchers. We explained that we were on our way to Canada and this was just an overnight stop and would need to be on the road at 6 am because there's still a 12 hour drive the next day. He informed us that breakfast service would be available at 6 am and that the manager would be onsite and speak to us before we leave.

We waited 1 hour only to get the first of our two rooms. The 1st room we got was room 301 which was located on the same floor with the main lobby and right literally around the corner from the elevators. This has got to be the worst room in the hotel. The room looked like it was very quickly cleaned. There were still cup stains on the bed side table. When we used the bathroom sink, we found water was linking from the piping under the sink. We complained to the same lady at the front desk and was told someone would come over to fix it. NO ONE EVER DID. We just laid a towel under the sink to soak up the water. While we were at the front desk complaining about the leaky sink, another guess told us she was waiting for another room because her room has BED BUGS. This is now 11:45 pm and she is in her pajamas. Our second room was not available for another hour. When we did get the second room it was #701 which was on the 7th floor and around the corner from the elevator. The bathroom sink in this room did not drain or drained very slowly. Water was filling up the sink while washing our hands. At this point, we just want to get some rest before continuing our drive to Canada the next day. I took the lobby room with my two sons and my wife took room 701 with our daughter and her friend. I was woken up at 2:30 am by a loud group of people in the lobby probably waiting for the elevator.

In the morning, we were told breakfast service starts at 7 am and not 6 am so we left with no breakfast. We asked to speak to the manager and was told he would be at the hotel at 9 am. At 9 am, we called the hotel only to be told the manager is not there and is expected to arrive at 1 pm. I left my name and number and explained I wanted to talk to the manager to discuss our experience the prior night and was told the manager would get back to us. NO ONE EVER GOT BACK TO US!

This experience as left a really bad impression with my wife and I and we will NEVER book a room with this hotel or any hotel affiliated with...

As a current guest here, my card was charged at 8pm last night and as happens many times, the charge remained pending. Why banks do this, there are many answers. That being said, the initial charge went through and I was given the room keys. We get upstairs to a room on the 15th floor with the balcony door open and quite chilly as a result. I paid for a balcony room with a tub seeing as our 3 year old son is with us, yet the tub faucet was a dummy. It was simply for show. I figured I'd deal with it in the morning after such a long drive. My wife wakes me up handing me a slip that was slid under our door stating payment wasn't received and I was to come down with an alternate payment method. So I log in and check, payment was marked pending still. They attempted to charge my card several times between 1am-9am. I called the front desk which is virtually impossible to get in contact with, it took almost an hour. Same with their automated system to reach the HR department who's voice-mail is conveniently full. Finally the front desk answers and I explained first the lack of a proper and functional tub system to which they sent up a maintenance guy, who was an absolute pleasure meeting and speaking with and remedied the situation for us. Then addressed the issue pertaining to the card declined. I explained that it went through, hence receiving room keys and a parking pass, it was then marked pending as is the banks precaution for multiple reasons, all of which I agree with. The front desk said they weren't aware the card had been charged several times and accepted my response of giving it time to clear as the bank told me. Mind you, that between 8pm check in and 9am this morning, I have 3 declined charges aside from the first 2, for a total of 5. As the maintenance guy is here I get 2 more notifications of attempted charges to which my card is now locked. 7 charges in a 12 hour time span. Does that sound like they gave it time to clear? No, it sounds like they did the opposite even after I spoke with them and we seemed to be on the same page. I'm a business owner and have my wife and 3 year old traveling with me, and today, our only day of rest and relaxation, has been anything but. As a Sonesta Honors member, I have to say I will be closing that account and no longer staying in their hotels. My day of down time with the family has been more work than anything up to this point. I'm beyond annoyed at their blatant disregard to do something as simple as wait for a payment they received to clear from my card as is the norm in situations like this. This is how virtually every bank handles hotel stays, rental cars and the like. It's done until the final amount is updated/settled by the merchant. Due to extensions, add-ons, room service, etc. Sonesta Charlotte Lower South End, may want to jump on board with the rest of the world here in 2025. Thank you, from a longtime Honors member who is regretfully closing out his Honors account. Well, I guess I should say, gratefully, if this is how members are...

THEY HAVE BED BUGS!!! NEVER AGAIN! spent a wknd here and i wish i would’ve taken my business elsewhere. a few of the staff were friendly and helpful & some were terrible and not much of any help.

1st night: no problems at all except for the fact that they forgot to give us a remote for the tv and the phone didn’t work. no biggie.

2nd day: the toilet overflowed. from the min we checked in, we kept having to flush the toilet twice whenever we used the restroom. ok, not too much of an issue until the toilet was used again, and overflowed. we tried to call the front desk but forgot the phone in our room didn’t work. used my cell to call the front desk and the girl that answered the phone sent someone up immediately to take care of it. the guy that came in the fix the toilet was extremely helpful and made it known to us that they gave us the room with the phone that didn’t work and didn’t bother to tell us. again, brushing it off but was a bit of an inconvenience. girl at the front desk let us know she’d send housekeeping up to service our room for us since there weren’t any other rooms available. ok, i can deal with that. man that came in to fix the toilet left and came back to let my bf and i know that they find a room for us to move to.

the room they moved us to (room 607) smelled like someone just left the room right before they gave us the key to it. the bathtub was rusted and gross, the toilet had a pubic hair floating around in the toilet and the restroom reeked of sweat & cheap cologne. we stayed in it anyways bc we planned on checking out early the next morning and weren’t going to be in the room all day. fast forward to bed time, i kept getting bit throughout the night. this was around 4-5am. by the 3rd bite i jumped out of bed and discovered a bed bug on my pillow full of my blood after biting me twice on my back and chin! i quickly woke my bf up, pulled the entire cover back and started inspecting. mind you, we got double beds, so we pulled back the cover of the other bed and discovered bed bugs as well!! we packed up and left immediately. we took photos & videos! went down to notify the front desk, we weren’t offered a sincere apology, an accommodation, a refund, NOTHING!!! we were just told to contact the manager who would arrive around 7:30am. by this time, i was already omw back home. called the hotel around 9:30am to speak to the manager who seemed completely uninterested & unapologetic. she told us they’d have to get an inspector to come take a look and then they’d email me with the results. still didn’t offer or mention a refund lol so i asked her abt it and she said they typically can’t give refunds until the results are confirmed that there are bedbugs. basically lmk she couldn’t do anything to help. therefore, i will be contacting corporate and taking further action if this situation doesn’t get handled asap!! i’m completely paranoid of staying at any hotel atp and this is by far the worst hotel and service i’ve ever received at a place...