HarbourView Inn

We have been visiting Charleston every spring and fall the last four years and always stay at Harbourview Inn! We are always made to feel like family and treated attentively! They never disappoint! Location is great! Rooftop is great any time of day! Complimentary cocktail hour with cheeses/meats/fruit are VERY NICE selections, as is breakfast!! Always look forward to our next stay!

Harbor side room in beautiful boutique hotel. Very well located and wonderful amenities. You pick your own breakfast and can eat in your room, atrium etc. Free wine and meats/cheeses etc 5-6 pm then cookies and milk 8-9 pm. Staff all so friendly and helpful. Highly recommend this Inn if you are in the area.

I really debated whether I wanted to say anything about this place, but in the end I don't want anyone else to have the high expectations we had only to be let down... I do want to preface my review and say that we're from New York City and we're pretty spoiled when it comes to luxury accommodations so maybe our idea of luxury is warped but I honestly don't think so. Brenna L compared this place to the Holiday Inn and I must say, Brenna L is spot on! The rooms look nothing like the pictures posted on the website. Brenna L, I am apologizing to you because you were the one negative review in all of the ten pages of reviews that I read and I dismissed your review as some nutcase traveler because you couldn't possibly have been right about anything given that everyone else raved about this place. How horribly wrong I was... We arrived some time in the evening as the sun was setting and were just so excited about being in this charming city. The lady at the front desk was super friendly and welcoming and we couldn't wait to check in and shower and change. As we were checking in, another couple was at the desk asking to switch rooms and I did hear the lady say they were booked pretty much to capacity but she'll see what she can do for them. I should have already known... We got to our room and were a little disappointed that we faced the back of the building overlooking the inn's generators and just simply a decrepit area behind the building. We didn't want to make a big deal out of it since we figured we wouldn't be staying in our room much anyway. We must have gotten a room that they don't usually put people in. It smelled and looked old. The room overall felt grimy. I felt like I was walking into bad juju! It was covered in dust, I literally was able to run my finger across the bedside table and draw a line in the dust. There were weird brown spots on top of the bedding and grime on the bottom of the curtains. I noticed because I like to put my suitcase on the floor and the dirty spot caught my eye while I was unpacking. Our bathroom mirror was cracked and then messily patched up. Two robes were left out - one looked newish but the other one looked worn out and worn through the cloth... We woke up the next morning both with terrible back aches (we're in our early thirties btw), we again didn't say anything because we figured we just weren't used to a new bed. We decided to have our complimentary breakfast up on the rooftop thinking it would be really nice to watch the sunrise over the water. Once again, I expected too much. The rooftop was too cold and damp in the morning, we were the only ones up there, along with the massive seagulls, circling for our food. Again, my fault for thinking it would be nice. I must say though, for a place with the name Harbour VIEW in its name, the rooftop didn't even offer much of a view. The facade of the building is built too high and you can't really see over it. You have to go to one of the corners to look between the space where the two triangles meet in order to get a good look. I guess they can't change the structural integrity of their building but why would you possibly want to cover up that view?! We stayed a total of four nights and decided to give it a second chance on the second night. However, our back aches just got worse the next day. The mattresses were uncomfortable and on top of that, the old four poster beds creak really loudly every time you moved... we kept waking each other up with the slightest shift in movement and since the mattresses weren't comfortable we were tossing and turning all night. We finally said something to the front desk and were told that they were fully sold out for our third night but could possibly move us for our last night to which we said don't worry about it, we don't want to move for just one night, but if they have anything for two nights in the same room, it would have been nice to get two full nights of rest. The lady at the front desk said she'd check and let me know, but I guess we miss-communicated when I said don't worry about it we don't want to move for just one night because we never heard from them after, we just assumed there weren't any available. On our last day, my boss had my manager send us a bottle of champagne to our room. There was so much confusion as my manager specifically said she paid using a credit card over the phone, however, no one at the front desk had any clue what I was talking about. I asked multiple times and spoke to multiple people at the front desk but no one had a clue as to what I was talking about. In the end they offered to just give us a bottle of champagne to appease me but I specifically said no but if they did end up finding the order to make sure my manager was not charged for the unfulfilled order. Lo and behold when I returned to work, my manager's credit card was charged for the full amount for the bottle of champagne that we never received. With all this said, the staff were super friendly, and the one window that faces the harbor right by the front desk with the two sofas facing the windows was the nicest part of our stay. The ladies at the front desk were always super friendly. When we sat down by that window to relax, one of the ladies actually came over and opened up the window for us, which was so nice of her that I actually felt pampered at that point. One last time, there is no gym. We thought there was a gym, but the gym is not on location, it is about 12 miles away, walkable but a huge hassle. I hope people looking to book this inn can read this and tone down their expectations. This isn't a high end boutique hotel, it is the Holiday Inn with a great location and excellent staff. Buyer be warned!

My daughter and I stayed at the HarbourView Inn last week. The entire stay was amazing. We loved the location by Waterfront Park, breakfast in bed, wine and cheese every afternoon and milk and cookies at night. The staff was always very helpful answering questions and making recommendations. Rachael and Arlonzo were outstanding. We will definitely plan a return trip.

We stayed at this lovely Inn for 5 days and found it wonderfully relaxing with afternoon tea and evening cookies! Great staff and perfect location! In-room breakfasts a treat! Evening roof cocktails could benefit from more seating and shade!!