Extended Stay America – Charleston – Mt. Pleasant

My husband and I stayed here for 2 nights while visiting Charleston, and overall had a nice experience.
We checked-​in in the evening after wandering around Charleston for hours. The woman behind the counter was a little akward, but friendly. When we got in to our room it was clean and, for the most part, comfortable. No smells, bugs, dirt or anything of that nature. The bed could have stood to be a little softer but that’s just my own personal preference. The «Grab & Go» breakfast in the morning is just that. Some fruit, granola bars, muffins, instant oatmeal and grits and coffee. Nothing fancy, nothing too delicious. If we had paid full price for our room I would have been a little let down by the fact that our much cheaper hotel back in Savannah offered much more as far as a free breakfast goes. But, we didn’t pay full price, so I can’t complain too much.
The hotel was a super easy drive from downtown, and driving across the bridge was fun. We got to Charleston with half a tank of gas remaining in our car, and after two days of driving back and forth from the hotel to downtown, we still had ¹⁄₃ of a tank remaining. Can’t complain about that!
Right across from the hotel there are several different markets (A Whole Foods, Trader Joes and another one who’s name elludes me at the moment) as well as a few restaurants and fast food joints, which were nice to have so closeby.
We got a great deal on our room through a Priceline express deal (the kind where they don’t tell you the name of the hotel until it’s booked) which worked out to be about half of the price it’s advertised to be on the hotel door ($ 150 a night). I certainly wouldn’t have paid $ 150 a night for this room, but it was decent for the $ 74 a night we did pay.

Stayed here for two nights. When we went to our room, it REEKED of smoke. We went downstairs and asked for a different room. The front desk girl says, «Oh, I thought that would be a problem because your neighbor also complained.» WHAT THE HELL?!? 1) If this place had any sort of working team, the cleaning lady should have reported the smell to management and 2) management should have came up with a solution before we checked in.
So, the front desk girl says that the hotel is booked for the night so we have to deal with it and management will work with a way to reimburse and they will change our room the next day. We’re given a bottle of febreeze and told to deal with it, essentially. Had I not prepaid on Expedia and had it not been MDW, I would’ve just left and found a different hotel. We deal with it by keeping our bags in the bathroom and taking them out to the car the next morning.
And as we are doing that, I notice a pair of gray boxer briefs far under the sink that do not look familiar to me. My fiancé confirms that they are not his. So so gross.
We go talk to front desk girl on the morning of day two. She hasn’t been briefed before on our issues. Says she will have the manager call my cell phone during the day. We head into town.
At 5 pm, we realize we haven’t gotten a call yet. My fiancé calls their front desk. The woman says that they can’t give us a refund because it was an Expedia booking, but they will give us a coupon for a free night. He says that’s unacceptable — we want a refund or we want two free nights. The woman says she will see what she can do.
We get back to hotel a few hours later. Different front desk worker. Has no idea what we are talking about, but she hands us one coupon for a free night that the manager left for us. She also tells us that the manager might be in tomorrow and we can ask for an additional coupon then.
We check out the next day, front desk worker has not been briefed on our situation. She tells us management won’t be in the for the next week.
ALSO — this hotel has an identity crisis. It’s neither a normal hotel or an extended stay hotel. They’ve taken out the amenities of an extended stay hotel (pots, pans, plates, cups, silverware) and you have to specifically request them. They’ve also taken away the amenities of a normal hotel (daily room cleaning, hair dryer, coffee pot) and you have to specifically request them — or in the case of daily cleaning, pay for it. Additionally, breakfast is just coffee, oatmeal, some fruit, and granola bars. And they take away all of it (including coffee) at 930 AM.

This little place is great for the location and easy access onto hwy 17 if you’re headed to downtown each day. Clean, friendly staff, and affordable. Plenty of parking, small little kitchen with a good size fridge, and it’s less than a half mile down to the peir under the cooper river bridge. A perfect little stroll if you’re wanting to see the sunset on a evening walk.
I’d stay here again.

Stayed here in October 2010 for a weekend. Arrived a little after 2:30 PM and was told check in was not until 3:00 PM. I asked to use a restroom but the lobby did not have one and it was suggested that I go outside and use the «shrubbery». After a five hour drive from Daytona Beach, I was less than thrilled to be told that by a place of business that I’ve already given hundreds of dollars to.
During my wait in the lobby, about ten minutes after my arrival, I was told that they could go ahead and check me in, that way I could go straight to my room when it was ready. Afterwards, I watched two people without reservations get cheaper rooms than me and then go straight to them. Then it wasn’t until about 3:15 PM until my room was finally ready.
Room keys looked like a really big version of those ancient computer punch cards. The longer I stayed here, the more I felt like I was on an episode of the Flintstones. I was shocked to see an actual piped shower installed, rather than a woolly mammoth outside of my window with a large water bucket.
Internet was $ 5.00 a day, which I did without. Pretty shocking that in 2010 there’s still hotels out there still charging for the internet. There was children running up and down the hallways that belonged to the staff. Can’t imagine it was «bring your kids to work» day either. If one can’t afford a babysitter, how on earth can you afford to feed and cloth the thing? Guess the manager did not care.
I filled out a customer satisfaction survey that was e-​mailed to be a day after my stay. I got a response from the manager within a few days. Instead of apologizing for any of the problems I had or offering a refund or maybe a discount on my next stay, she pretty much told me I was wrong about everything I experienced. This was the e-​mail sent to me by her. Note there’s no mention of the bathroom incident.
I have received your customer satisfaction survey regarding your stay here in Mt. Pleasant and was very disturbed about some of your comments. In the hotel industry every hotel chain in America and around the world have check in times and check out times. Those are put in place for a reason. The hotels staff has to have the time to turn the rooms around for the new arrivals for the day. When hotels run full it is impossible to give an early check in. My records show that you were checked in at 2:43 pm on Friday which was before 3:00. Extended Stay Hotels were designed for the long term business traveler and to keep cost down for those guest we offer housekeeping once every 7 days. We do offer free linen exchange at the front desk 24 hours a day. You do not have to pay for new towels or sheets. We charge the $ 4.99 fee to those travelers that wish to use the wi-​fi instead of adding that to the price of the room so the people that do not want it do not pay more for their room than necessary. Your comments about no one speaking English is way off since that is all we all speak here. Each and every one of us are Americans. No one brings their children to work with them and if there was a child in the lobby it was the child of another guest. I do not know what way you drove downtown to Charleston because it is right across the bridge which is 2 miles long. I am sorry that you feel the way you do. We here in Mt. Pleasant do strive to make your stay here as pleasant as possible. We have great customer satisfaction scores and strive to keep it that way. If you wish to speak with me about this please feel free to give me a call. –Best regards, Joy A. Mullins /​General Manager.

I’ve stayed here a couple of times now on my trips to Mt Pleasant. The accommodations are basic. The place is clean enough. The price is decent. And although this place now holds a bit of a sentimental place in my life, after this past weekend, I’ll likely never stay here again and can’t say that it’s a strong recommendation.
The biggest problem is the service. About a month ago I stayed here. I hadn’t checked my receipt very closely when I checked out (other than verifying that the total was correct). What I’d missed is that the guy that checked me in had indicated that I’d paid cash. The manager called me a few days after checkout to ask how I’d paid. I said via credit card. She apologized and said that she’d have to charge my card now, because of the mistake. That was fine, just a bit unnerving until I checked it all out.
The last time I stayed here, I had called my reservations in because I wanted a first floor room. I thought it was the best way to make that kind of request. When I made the reservation, the girl told me that she couldn’t guarantee the 1^st floor, but she’d note it. When I arrived, I was told that they couldn’t give me a first floor, they were sold out for the weekend and that my reservation was on the 3^rd floor. Fine. Then I went into my room. They’d booked me a smoking room. I’m a bit allergic and my wife has asthma. This is not good. On the courtesy call to my room after check-​in (yes that is a nice touch), I indicated that I’d reserved a non-​smoking room. They had to check on that. On callback I was told they were sold out and that this was my room. Sorry, that’s just not good enough.
Couple that with the fact that there was basically a block party on my floor both nights and I’m looking elsewhere for my next hotel in MtP. Thankfully, it looks like that won’t be needed anymore :-)