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Tags: Anti-View / North Carolina Hotel Reviews / Drury Inns / → All Tags

Room With an Anti-View: Dreary Drury Inn in Charlotte

Where: 415 WEST W T HARRIS BLVD [map], CHARLOTTE, NC, United States, 28262

You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.

Here's what you'd see if you checked into Room 234 at the Drury Inn and Suites in Charlotte, North Carolina. When leinsterman stayed there a couple of weeks ago, they took the liberty of renaming the Drury to be the "dreary", thanks to the very uninspiring nature of the view and of the room trimmings around it, too, we guess.

Interestingly, the Drury Inn of Charlotte scores 4th place out of 155 hotels ranked in TripAdvisor, so dreary views don't ruin a hotel. Average room rates are $118 and they're keen on advertising their free hot breakfast with eggs cooked however you want them, so we're keen to test them out for the perfect soft-boiled egg. If they get the egg right, we don't care so much about the view.

[Photo: leinsterman]

Tags: Hotel Openings / North Carolina Hotel Reviews / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags

Hotel Aims for Five-Star Luxury in North Carolina Of All Places

Where: 100 Woodland Pond [map], Cary, NC, United States, 27513

A five-star hotel for $300 a night in Cary, North Carolina? Yes, that's a reality for this little-known Southern town with the new opening of the Umstead Hotel and Spa, which is marketing itself as a world-class luxury hotel.

The Umstead is the first of four high-dollar hotels set to open in the Triangle over the next two years. The other hotels will be four-star efforts, but the Umstead is going for five-star honors.

So what makes a five-star hotel? Apparently, Italian furniture, wood ceilings from South America and a staff outfitted with customized uniforms. Also, safety as Cary was named the ninth-safest city of 354 large cities in 2004, the only Southern city to make this list.

Oh and course, a pricey room rate. Starting Monday, the hotel rates will be at $295 but in three months the fee will jump to $350. The spa will then officially open on the 28th.

So who will most likely end up visiting Cary? Triangle bigshots, surgeons, biotech execs, and information tech C level folks, no doubt.

Related Stories:
· New Cary Hotel Shooting for 5 Stars [WRAL]