Candlewood Suites Charleston – Mt. Pleasant By IHG

Staying in Mount Pleasant worked out great for getting across the bridge to Charleston’s coffee and retail shops. Our family went to blum coffee and wine bar and had a really delightful time, then visited different museums Charleston has to offer. The hotel itself was modern, with clean rooms, comfortable beds, and great staff. Ideal location.

I’ve stayed in plenty of hotels for work and personal trips, and the service here stood out. Kiera, Aiden, and Rachel at the front office were welcoming every time and took care of my requests promptly. Housekeeping kept my room spotless, while the maintenance team stayed on top of the hallways, laundry facilities, and lobby each day. If you need a place around the Charleston/Mt. Pleasant area, I’d highly recommend this hotel.

For the price and location, this is a good hotel. My room was clean and quiet, and the staff were very helpful when I arrived on the wrong date because the website had shifted my booking a month forward when I reran a search. Watch for that if you book late online. Getting in and out can be a nuisance. The hotel is somewhat isolated on the north side of a busy stretch of US 17, and the light can take a long time. If you’ve already crossed 17 and need to turn back for something, you could lose 20 minutes. A couple of things in other reviews make sense: Candlewood is an extended-stay hotel, so weekly maid service is normal. Also, it’s in the South near a harbor and only a couple of miles from the ocean, so a little mold can happen. Let the staff know and ask for another room. I didn’t see any in mine, and there were dehumidifiers in several places, which is about the best you can do.

I had one of the worst customer service experiences of my life. I booked two nights through the IHG website with my Platinum Elite card, but after unpacking I found a toilet cracked from the bottom of the porcelain all the way up. It seemed dangerous. I told Keara, the manager, who was very kind and isn’t the reason for my complaint. She gave me another room key. I checked that room before moving everything and found a bed bug crawling on the pillow. I told the desk, and they said “bed bugs are clear,” which they weren’t. I asked for a refund. The hotel said it would refund me, but explained it was a separate franchise and I’d already been charged by IHG. By then it was 9:30 p.m. I’d driven 10 hours and was sitting in a dark parking lot, needing somewhere to stay. I called IHG and spent nearly 25 minutes speaking to two people, retelling the story twice. They said they couldn’t refund me, but offered to book a nearby Holiday Inn Express. They confirmed my card details and charged me for two nights there, at a much higher rate. I asked for at least that night to be free and was transferred to an unfriendly, unaccommodating woman who said they couldn’t compensate me and didn’t have access to my payment method, even though the man earlier in the same call had taken my card information. She offered 7,000 points, but said taking them would release the hotel from all liability if my belongings were infested with bed bugs. I declined. They told me to go to the Holiday Inn. Despite IHG customer service saying they’d charged my card over the phone, the hotel had no reservation, so the front desk charged me again because I needed a place to sleep. My bank statement then showed two charges at Candlewood as well. The whole situation was insane.