Residence Inn by Marriott Charlotte Piper Glen

The staff were friendly and helpful, and I appreciated how patient and professional they were when dealing with some difficult guests. The location is pretty good, close to everything and almost walkable. The hotel is dated, though clean overall, with signs of age and a few minor bug problems. The air handler above our room was loud, and it took me a day and a half to get used to it. I didn't switch rooms because check-in had been extremely late and a wedding party was having issues. The gym was small, with five machines, one of them broken, and there were no water coolers.

The two outdoor sitting areas were nice, and we enjoyed them. The furniture in the room needs updating, though, and breakfast was below Residence Inn standards. The bigger problem started when I checked in through the BonVoy app in the morning while traveling to Charlotte. I used the app's messaging feature to tell the hotel I'd arrive late, but my reservation had disappeared. When I called, they said their policy is to cancel reservations if occupancy is over 80% and there isn't a card on file. I checked the app and had three cards on file. Systems can glitch, but the hotel emailed me that day and said I had to contact them to fix the card issue or lose the reservation. When you're driving, you may not be checking email. A call or text would have made more sense. I'd already checked in through the app, which has a direct message option between the guest and hotel. Why didn't they just message me there? This was one of the strangest experiences I've had at a Marriott.

The room was dated, though clean, and the HVAC didn't work, leaving it stuffy. I couldn't even run the fan to cover up the traffic noise. The interstate noise is extremely loud around the clock, and 485 is very busy. Unless you're an extremely heavy sleeper, I wouldn't book here. I'm a Marriott Bonvoy member and had never had a bad stay at a Marriott before this one. With the noise and no working HVAC, we left at midnight for another hotel after only four hours. Marriott still charged us for the full stay. Don't book this location unless you have no choice.

It was my son's birthday trip, but we arrived at 9 p.m. with my small children and found our room had been given away after the reservation was cancelled. We had to find somewhere else to stay late at night. Unacceptable, especially as a Marriott elite member, and the first horrible experience I've had across all my Marriott stays. The cancellation was because of an 80% booking policy that wasn't shown in the app when I booked. The property never called. Jerry sent an email around 10:41 a.m. requiring a reply by noon, when we were already on a nine-hour drive. Who's checking email while driving? With less than 24 hours' notice, they needed to call, not email.