WV Charleston Marriott Charleston Town Center

[TottenKing]

Although this hotel is local to where I live, I needed to get out of the house for a couple of nights recently. I narrowed down my possible bids on this website and ended up getting the Marriott Charleston Town Center.

The hotel is located in an urban setting, right in downtown Charleston, across the street from an indoor shopping mall and just down the block from the Charleston Civic Center (for concerts, sporting events, etc.) Still, the area is safe, people walk around very late at night, etc. It helps that the mall is directly across the street and numerous restaurants (ranging vastly in style and price) are located on the same or adjacent blocks. In fact, one can cross the street to the mall (through which many of the restaurants can be entered) under a covered underpass from the mall's parking building).

The Marriott lobby was impeccable and stylish. The floors are marble, the accents are wood, and the furniture is attractive yet comfortable. The staff were all very professional and friendly and check-in took just a minute or so. My request for a late check-out was quickly granted, moving my check-out time from noon back to 2:00 p.m. (on a Sunday).

Upon reaching my room floor, I did notice the faint smell of some (stale?) smoke in a significant portion of the hallway even though this is supposed to be a non-smoking hotel. I was worried that it might be some sort of unofficial smoking floor but that can't be because the entire county is non-smoking in public buildings (including bars). My room, however, had no odor of smoke. It could be that this room was previously on a smoking floor and that the hallway was not given as much attention when our local law changed. It could also have been that someone had smoked in the hallway, was heavy with smoke when they walked down it, etc. (My sense of smell is sometimes TOO keen.) Nonetheless, I didn't worry too much about it after I found that my room didn't smell of smoke.

The room itself was somewhat compact but certainly big enough to move around comfortably, even with the king-sized bed. Again, the decor was elegant but comfortable and very, very clean. The bathroom was spotless and roomy enough. The toiletries provided were quite nice, too...something I'd rarely notice. They were Bath & Body brand but I didn't write down the type.

The best part of the entire room was the bed. WOW. This was probably the most comfortable bed I'd slept on in my entire life. I even have a Sleep Number bed at home but this was somehow better. I think there was a memory-foam type pad under the regular mattress pad even though I didn't pull it up to look. I felt snuggled into the bed but not like I was drowning in feathers or anything. The pillows were likewise comfortable and large.

There were only two drawbacks I found to this hotel. First, the parking was $9.00 per night. That's a lot for this area. Most hotels around here don't charge at all but I'm also not sure any have an actual parking building. Second, I didn't find any indication that wireless Internet was available in the room and the wired Internet wasn't equipped with the proper wires. I could have called down and asked for them but this was a fairly Internet-free weekend for me so I just did my basic communication tasks using my iPhone.

Overall, I'd recommend this hotel again OVER AND OVER. For the $51 per night I paid ($65 including taxes), it was an absolute steal.