"1"^^ . "3"^^ . "1"^^ . "As other reviews have stated, the hotel's choice in decorations is strange. It really feels like you've walked into an Indian Casino or the large lobby of a retirement village in Florida. We couldn't decide if the decor was chosen for the Motor Speedway (located right up the street) or Convention crowd that are probably the most common guests here.\n\nAll the rooms were suites. They are spacious, comfortable, clean, and have tons of amenities. They've done an amazing job with the curtains in the bedrooms. If you close the door between the two rooms of the suite and the curtains, the room is pitch black, even during the day. Something that we appreciate, because we've been in situations were you need to sleep with the sun out. Our main complaint about the room is the temperature. The hotel is kept at a constant 72 and you can NOT change the thermostat in your room, nor can you open a window. Due to these facts, plus the room doesn't have a fan, it gets really stuffy at times. \n\nWe were stranded in Charlotte (Concord) because the ice storm closed CLT for two days. On our second day, we didn't leave the hotel because of ice, so we enjoyed a staycation in the room and we waited for a maid service that never came. Our room was clean, so we didn't really mind. At 4pm we gave up waiting, I checked the door for notes or signs that might suggest why room service didn't stop by (I didn't find any), and I called the front desk for some clean towels and coffee for the morning. After 90 minutes of waiting, I called the front desk again and our towels were finally dropped off 20 minutes later with a note saying that due to the weather there would be limited maid service. The few services that would be offered were: new towels, coffee/tea/water, and trash removal. We chuckled, because that's all we really needed and felt it odd that it took all day to get them.\n\nThe complimentary breakfast and evening cocktails are a nice touch. They do a great job with crowd control for the large number of guests staying here. Lines sometimes form, but they are typically not that bad. The only night that we were frustrated with a line was at cocktail time on Friday. The bartender didn't know how to make most of the drinks that people ordered, so it was backed-up for about about 20minutes. Our drinks were so week, that we didn't bother standing in line for our second one. However, Saturday night had an amazing bartender and she did a great job of serving people efficiently and quickly.\n\nThe Hotel has a Coffee/Gift Shop (we really didn't like the coffee served on the buffet, so we had Starbucks every morning), a decent restaurant, small hot tub/pool (If one other family is in there, it was too crowded. There was a large family that had taken up permanent residence in the pool, so we never used the facility), and a huge bar between the main hotel and convention center. If you are looking for a domestic draft beer and don't mind paying hotel prices for it, the bar would be great. It has large glass windows overlooking the property/outdoor fireplace, tons of TV's, and standing tables for people to co-mingle around.\n\nOverall, it was a relaxing stay, but this Embassy Suites Hotel just wasn't for us. We think that the place was built to cater to a different crowd and we feel like they probably deserve a higher rating than we ended giving them. If you are here for the races or for a convention, you'd probably have a great time. In our opinion, it is not really a place suited for couples."^^ . . . "2016-01-25T00:00:00"^^ . . "1"^^ .