Escape: Accommodations

I’m a fan of hotwire.com—I use them for most of my vacation hotels and have rarely had a problem.  (And the one time I had a significant problem they made up for it in every way possible.)  Earlier this month I went online to hotwire to book one night in Charleston and two in Savannah.

When I did a search for Charleston, a 4 star hotel in the historic district came up for only $80.  I decided to through financial caution to the winds and I booked it.  When the info came to my email it read “Holiday Inn—Mills House, Charleston, SC.”  I was kind of disappointed—I figured how nice could a Holiday Inn actually be?

Well…that was the last time I saw the words “Holiday Inn.”

We arrived at the hotel, which was right in the middle of the historic district in downtown Charleston, and our first decision was whether or not to let the valet park the car for us.  (Of course not—we’re far too cheap for that, or to let him help us with the luggage either!)  We were very impressed with the outside of the hotel, and noticed that they weren’t claiming at all to be associated with Holiday Inn.

Our bedroom was definitely posh—complete with chocolates on the bed.

From our window we could see several upscale restaurants in beautiful old homes.

I happened to notice this sign on the back of the door, and I can’t imagine anyone would actually ever pay this much!

There was a very fancy restaurant in the hotel, complete with a lovely courtyard.  I think this must be just heavenly in the spring. They also had a really elegant pool (all red brick and tile and bright blue water) on a 2nd story patio area above the restaurant, but I never remembered to take a picture.

We couldn’t decide what to do for breakfast on Tuesday, since we were told that not many restaurants in downtown Charleston open before 11.  We eventually ordered room service and it was fast and delicious.  We were especially charmed by the miniature salt and pepper shakers and the midget catsup bottle!

We loved the Mills House hotel, and would stay there again in a heartbeat.  At $80, though…not at $699!

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I may have splurged in Charleston, but I chose the cheapest option available for our two nights in the historic district of Savannah.  Hey, it had 2 1/2 stars (which is what I usually book) and it said it offered breakfast.  And—it was only $30/night!

Here is what we saw when we arrived.

Not that I’m a motel snob, or anything, but let’s just say I was still high off the “upscale hotel” buzz and this was definitely a sharp jerk back to totally different reality.

Fortunately the room was spotlessly clean, the bed was comfortable, (though the pillows were truly the heaviest I’ve ever seen), and we had this little message on a notepad and on all of the shampoo/lotion bottles.

Awesome.

It actually turned out to be an ok place to stay.  It was on a really REALLY noisy street (turns out that Savannah is really a busy seaport, and this translates into serious commercial traffic practically day & night, including in front of nicer hotels than this one) but my earplugs worked well.  The breakfast was only donuts & oatmeal, but they were krispy kreme so we ate those first and then headed out in search of protein every morning.  And the price was definitely right—allowed me to enjoy my shopping a little more!