The Inn At Middleton Place, LLC — Hotel in Hanahan

My daughter and I recently spent four nights at The Inn at Middleton Place in Charleston South Carolina. I find myself conflicted on how to review. The good: The location and setting spectacular...110 acres of History, rivers, streams, gardens, ponds, wildlife, birds, equestrian centre, wonderful nature walks, Restaurant, a small Shop and The Inn. All nestled in lightly forested areas of pine and live oak trees overlooking the Ashley River. Included with your stay is a substantial Breakfast served in a separate building where you can chose to sit inside or on the patio. Breakfast offerings include: juice, yogurt, cereals, eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, toast and pastries, beverages. It is self-serve and you won't leave hungry even if Breakfast isn't your thing. In the late afternoon Happy Hour is offered in a chalet like building overlooking the river. A staff bartender serves beverages of your choice and manages an array of appies. It is a wonderful opportunity to meet other travelers and relax. There is a pool but it hadn’t been cleaned and did not appear in use. At night and in early morning it is so quiet the only sounds are from birds. It is like camping without a tent! Sadly all was not Perfect. Entrance to your accommodations is only accessed after checking in at a small Office building and given a gate code. Then a short drive through the trees on what feels like a dirt path. Free parking is in the treed area opposite your assigned unit. Rooms are housed in buildings that resemble a small condo buildings or possibly College housing nestled in the trees. Each unit appears to have less than 10 rooms. The second floor rooms are accessed by a steep outside staircase with 16-20 narrow concrete steps that were difficult to navigate with heavy luggage. The good sized room was completely paneled in wood and included a fireplace. The bathroom entry had a large heavy sliding door leading to a mirrored vanity with 2 sinks. A narrow wall separated the sink area from the open toilet stall which had no door. The toilet was separated from the shower by a pony wall [half wall]. It reminded me of a sports locker room. Hot water only arrived after running tap for at least 15 min. The whole bathroom was floored in tile and because of the open floorplan it was quite wet and slippery most of the time. No privacy when using. Keurig was supplied with Non Caffeine pods? After arrival we contacted the front desk. We understood our room would have a tub and were advised they would get back to us the next day...they didn't. The next day we returned to our room at 4:30pm ...no housekeeping had attended! No clean towels, bed unmade. We called and 1.5hrs later only some towels were delivered. Later that evening we returned to our room after 9pm. to discover a bird flying in our room! We called Front desk and were advised there was no one on site except the person at the front office. It was a very long uncomfortable night under the sheet listening to a very stressed noisy flapping bird. No one on staff ever contacted us about bird and we assume it flew out the chimney during the night. Housekeeping continued to be absent on our final two days. We gave up notifying. There was no notice in the room advising we needed to ask for room refreshing. On checking out I asked if they were having staffing issues and advised they had full staff. I loved staying at Middleton Place...quiet and peaceful. But the Foundation really has to exam housekeeping practices, and institute Quality Control measures. I wondered after our stressful “bird night" if there is no one on site what happens if there is a medical or fire emergency? In hindsight it’s like planning a party…buying food, beverages etc., inviting guests and then leaving never knowing if it was a good party or if your guests had...

Don't miss out on an opportunity to stay at somewhere truly unique for a basic hotel room. ||Although this is our first review of the Inn at Middleton Place, this is actually the 4th time we've stayed here since our honeymoon ten years ago! While there may be other hotels or places to stay that are more conveniently located, or more modern, this place offers an experience that those other establishments can't hold a candle to. Where do we start?||Location:|Beautiful views of the Ashley River, live oaks dripping with Spanish Moss, Magnolia trees, the deafening sounds of cicadas as night, and the delightful sounds of birds in the morning. Not only are the grounds entirely unique to this hotel, they are also situated directly next to Middleton Place, which is included with your stay. Normally over $30 per person, you can freely walk the grounds of Middleton Place any time you choose. In terms of atmosphere and environment, Middleton can't be beat. It should be noted however, that this Inn is off the beaten path, and will require a drive to downtown Charleston and other attractions. However, we have always felt that it was worth the trade off.||Amenities:|The rooms are unlike any other hotels you'll ever stay in. Hardwood floors, other features accented by wood and oak, wooden shutters on wraparound windows, a classic feature offering amazing views of the grounds and River. Newly remodeled bathrooms include a rainfall showerhead and modern countertops and floor. Bed linens are white, clean, and crisp. Housekeeping does a great job of refreshing the room each day. For colder months, there is also a wood burning fireplace in each room (but we are always here in the summer so haven't used this feature). ||FREE breakfast is offered daily, and is the best breakfast we've ever had at any hotel in our lives. No joke. Restaurant quality place settings, mood music, and a breakfast buffet that would rival any popular eating establishment. Bacon, eggs, empanadas, waffles, and the best cheese grits in town. Great coffee, fruit, cereal, and many juices. Not to mention, the breakfast area overlooks a South Carolina marsh, with beautiful views even as you wake up. ||Sidenote: The grounds, while beautiful, may be difficult for physically disabled folks to navigate. For us, we enjoy walking and being outside, so this was a perfect fit. ||Every time we have visited Charleston, we felt as though our stay at the Inn at Middleton Place was an integral part of our experience. Everyone who loves this city should give this place a try at least once. You...

I tried leaving this feedback in your private channel, but since it didn't receive any response I'll add this here as well...

While our room was very satisfactory and the grounds at the Middleton Place were so beautiful, there were some MAJOR issues with our stay.

Upon arrival, we were dropped off at the front office building by our Uber driver to check in. Then we were shown where our room actually was... The fact that there is no golf cart or something to take guests that do not have a car at the property is absolutely absurd. We had to drag our rolling luggage down a gravel pathway to our room. This was an unacceptable start to our stay.

We understand that things happen, so the power outage that caused the next issue can't be blamed on the Inn at all. However, the response to the issue was yet another problem. The power outage allegedly caused air to get in the plumbing and pipes which resulted in our room's toilet screaming at us with a high pitched whistle after flushing it for the first time upon returning to our room that night. I called the front desk and they said maintenance would be right out. After about 15-20 minutes of this noise, I called back and was told about the air in the pipes issue and that it would go away. Again, unacceptable. If that was the issue, why was I never called back? Why was I never told to turn the water off and wait it out? So of course I was frustrated, and to top it all off, I was told by the front desk that I had attitude. Try dealing with a screaming toilet at midnight and not being a little upset. Ridiculous.

Finally, we had another frustrating experience with the waitstaff in the main restaurant while trying to have a nice brunch with the family of the wedding party that we were with that weekend. Some tense exchanges actually ended with the manager on duty that morning actually telling us that "If we didn't like it, then we could leave." Not exactly a lesson in customer service, especially towards a party that had likely spent a lot of money with the Middleton Place for the wedding services.

It wasn't all bad. The ladies that work the afternoon and evening shifts at the little bar area by the rooms were amazing. The wood burning fireplaces in the rooms and provided setups (wood, starter, matches, etc.) for that were nice as well.

However all in all, the stay itself was just a really bad experience, which was so disappointing because the property has so much potential to provide a great experience for its guests. We'd really appreciate some explanation of what went wrong for you...