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| - Stayed here New Year's Eve, and even though it's only been open a few months, it's already incredibly solid in every respect. The lobby can best be described as sleek and contemporary, even though those words are probably overused to describe hotel lobbies. I liked the mix of backlit abstract drawings and large photographs decorating the lobby walls.
The lobby lounge is wonderfully comfortable, with a very nice southern-influenced snack menu. The pulled pork in corn biscuits with sweet potato fries is an amazing dish. They serve cocktails most of the day, which are kind of pricey but you can't beat the ambiance.
BLT Steak [see separate review] made me a little nervous, since I'd read mixed things. But they came through on New Year's Eve, even though it was packed, with a fine meal and very good service.
The rooms are spacious [500+ square feet] with nice design elements like textured carpets with pale blue and green patterning and tons of storage space in the double wardrobe. The wall art is unusual as well, like a large photograph of an antique doorknob done on an angle, casting a shadow. Lots of interesting details--it definitely doesn't look like the same old hotel room you've seen a million times. The bathroom also has a layout I'd never seen before, with the sinks immediately inside the door with the WC behind the sink wall and the shower and tub to the left. Minor quibble would be that the water pressure in the sink and the shower is a shade less than I would like. Don't know if this has anything to do with the requirements for the hotel's LEED certification. The minibars only have water and sodas, but there's room to add things if you want. The corkscrews are pitiful, so bring your own if you need one. Even though the hotel was full, the hallways were quiet--the building is eighteen floors tall but only has 140-some rooms, so there aren't many rooms on each floor.
The top floor has a superb fitness center--two rooms, with plenty of machines [overlooking the city] and ample weight machines. There's also a separate cycling studio and a movement studio. Next door is a large indoor heated pool, which was plenty warm. There's also a hot tub in one corner. There's enough room for probably twenty people in the seating areas. You can order food and drinks through room service to be delivered to the pool.
The location is convenient to everything in Uptown Charlotte. There are literally dozens of restaurant choices in all price ranges within a ten minute walk should you want to venture out of the hotel. Many have complained about the noise from Epicenter, but as it was New Year's Eve, we were up late anyway, and didn't have a problem. I could see it might be a consideration if you needed an early night.
Service everywhere was efficient and polished. If you want to contrast this modern luxury hotel with something old-school, the Dunhill is a couple of blocks away and has a gracious, classic lobby bar.
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