The Ballantyne Hotel & Lodge

We booked for our family with the request for a roll away bed for my 8 year old. Once we arrived they told us because the room had two queens it would be a fire hazard for a roll away. Their solution was to give us another room and charge us an extra $1,000. My son slept on the floor for his 8th birthday. As someone who will do 80 nights with Marriott I have never been more disappointed. Will NEVER book here again.

Recently, we stayed for three weeks while repairs were taking place at our home. All staff members were friendly, helpful and personable. All aspects of this hotel are top notch. The common spaces, restaurant, and spa all strive to make a lasting impression. A beautiful hotel in Ballantyne.

Evan at the front desk is amazing. Beyond him, the entire property is incredible. The only shortcoming our stay had was at the Gallery Restaurant, where we were turned away for pancakes on my son’s birthday (who was the reason for our trip, and pancakes are his favorite thing.. he specifically wanted to come here solely for the pancakes, so this kind of ruined our entire experience- which, I’ll honestly say was an isolated experience… but because my son is my world, it ruined my feeling for the whole property and we haven’t been back since: writing this in September and still angry they did this to my sweet kid who was so excited to come.. before 11am, which was the time that breakfast was supposed to end, no less…) —- everything else, every other time we have stayed has been dreamy… but this… honestly has stuck with all of us. We weren’t even allowed “to go” pancakes 30 mins before breakfast was supposed to stop. I grew up in Charlotte, and this was a place I brought our family for several years as a tradition… everything else and everyone else has always been incredible, but this experience unfortunately has stuck with us.

We were there to celebrate my 60th birthday and booked using 84,000 points plus paid an additional $737.50 in addition to 84,000 points. We had driven 10 hours to get there and were extremely tired when we arrived. When we did the booking we were transferred to India, I believe, as the booking agent said, "may I know your name." He had a very heavy accent, but was lovely. My key points were... a balcony room, a view of the Bowl, as our grandchildren play there, and a few other key points. When we checked in, the hotel was really busy with weddings. Check-in took a while, the room wasn't ready so we went for drinks outside on a terrace which was lovely. When we were then notified that our room was ready. We were bitterly disappointed with the view especially since we were abundantly clear when we booked. Granted, someone in India doesn't know what the hotel looks like; however, I do. There was no view of the Bowl, and instead, we overlooked U-Haul trucks with a parking lot behind. The trucks were loading and unloading for the weddings. We had dinner plans at 5 pm so we took quick showers, stopped at reception when we were leaving and I asked about the room and the lack of a view. The assistant manager said, "you booked with points and you only paid us $100." I was stunned. I said, booked with 84,000 points and paid an additional $737.50 on top of the points. His response... we don't see that as you booked through points and we only have a hundred dollar deposit. In other words we were punished for booking with points! We had to leave and figured we would circle back again. To make matters worse, the refrigerator is weighted so we couldn't take anything out to store breast milk for our grandson as we had planned to take the kids with us for play dates. Everything is weighted, so if you're a nursing mom, you are sunk! At check out they said... we could have brought a refrigerator to your room but then you have to wait for it to be delivered, wait for it to cool down and it's singularly inconvenient. There were no slippers so we had to use our shoes the room as the carpet was mangey looking. No products near the tub so I had to use the drinking glasses in the room to add products glued to the shower walls and then bring them to the tub area and then hope and pray they didn't slip and fall. To top things off, we were tired the following day and there was no coffee in the rooms! We had to get dressed to go to the lobby! This is advertised as a luxury hotel! There was absolutely nothing luxurious about our stay. The hotel manager, Alan Grant, has yet to respond to my email of August 16, 2026 and today is September 3, 2026. I called him again today and he is rude and combative and hangs his hat on having worked there for 14 years. I'm not sure if the length of his employment has anything to do with our experience. It's a shame really as the lobby of the hotel is lovely, the flowers were beautiful at check-in; however, they lack in civility and fail to understand that a 60th birthday is somewhat special and the consistent monotone voices are... you got the room category you booked. The chap in India obviously got things very wrong and we were suffered the consequences. Alan offered a one night stay; however, we suffered there for two nights, live 10 hours away and it wouldn't be worth our time for one night.

I’ve given this hotel a glowing review before but I had such a negative experience last week, I am wondering if things are changing. Or was it a full moon? I stayed at the Ballantyne for 3 nights from 8/23 - 8/26. I was given a room on the 2nd floor, even though my profile requested otherwise. The first night, there was a cleaning crew with machines outside my room late at night. I learned later they had been hired to clean the marble in the hallways and were supposed to have started at 11:30pm. At 1:00 am I called the front desk to complain, and at first I was told there was no work going on, then they said it was an outside crew and they stopped the noise. The next evening, I came back from a long workday to find police cruisers lined up at the front entrance, supposedly because of an incident! Drama at your hotel is never good. And an event was set up in the atrium not 30 feet from my room door - more noise loading, I thought. These things don’t happen on the upper floors, which is being placed higher up is my standing request. Fortunately I went to dinner with colleagues and by the time I returned the event had subsided. Then, that night just after 3 am, the fire alarm went off, blaring orders to evacuate. It was all just too much. No apology either. I complained to someone on the management team the next day and he agreed to compensate me 20,000 points. However, those points have not been delivered to my account. Another guest mentioned he was not compensated either. How could the management not try to make it right? Needless to say, the whole experience left a very bad taste in my mouth. On another note, the housekeeping was not great either for this stay. The second night I drank a Coke from the minibar and left the glass on the table. When I returned the next evening, the dirty glass was sitting in the center of the desk, untouched. It was as if the housekeeper had cleaned around it. Tissues were not refilled. I don’t use the bars of soap, I prefer to use the little bottles of body wash for handwashing. That at least was replenished. Even the usually welcoming valet service seemed off. When I arrived, between the time I looked up from the back seat of the car and got out, the bellman had disappeared. I will give high marks to Bob, who was his usual cheerful self. The others all seemed… troubled. I am not sure what is happening at the Ballantyne. If I were to hazard a guess I’d say it is low staff morale. Disappointing, though. I’ll have to consider my options for the next business trip.