City: Charlotte, NC

Category: Accommodations

Telephone: (704) 364-8220

Address: 2200 Rexford Rd.

Description: This was Charlotte’s first true luxury hotel, operating for many years as the city’s only four-star option as The Park Hotel. Now owned by Marriott, the hotel still exudes grace, elegance, and exquisite taste in the refined SouthPark community. Guests arrive at the tucked-away hotel to see a beautiful three-tiered fountain in a circular drive. Uniformed bellmen handle bags and a valet parks the car, while visitors check in and relax. The six-story hotel has 194 rooms and space for small meetings, and there’s an intimacy here you won’t find in a regular hotel. The recently renovated guest rooms are decorated in beautiful combinations of color and fabric with 18th-century pieces and original lithography. Formal and elegant with dark wood and soothing colors, the oversized guest quarters give the feel of a private residence. Guests dine in The Grill or enjoy a drink a Smoky’s Lounge, both of which are adjacent to several other restaurants, shops, and a spa at Specialty Shops on the Park. A nice holdover from its days as The Park is the 1,100-sqaure-foot Presidential Suite, with its dining room table, chandelier, separate living quarters, and floor-to-ceiling windows.The hotel also features 24-hour concierge and room service, a full-service fitness center, an outdoor swimming pool, complimentary daily newspapers, high-speed Internet access, airport limousine service, and turndown service with chocolates left on the down pillows. You could get used to this kind of treatment.