The Omni makes a good first impression: marble floors, airy lobby, very pleasant staff. The same was true with our room: immaculate, nicely appointed, crisp linens. We had only a few minutes to go downstairs to the connected shopping mall area but I was pleasantly surprised by the shops there. That was a convenient treat.

We did have some complaints: The bathroom was really small but I liked that the sink was outside. I found the bed to be hard -- lots of nice pillows and linens but an unforgiving foundation.

Then we had problems with lighting. Two of the three lamps would not turn on in our room. After testing the light bulbs (they were fine) and moving lamps around, we finally got them to work. They were not controlled by a wall or desk switch anywhere that we could find. The next morning, after being turned out all evening, they did not work again. We unplugged, re-plugged, and amazingly they came on again. Something was just weird there.

Finally -- minor complaint -- the access to the parking garage through an entirely different set of elevators was a bit confusing. It could stand to be better marked.

But the Omni is in a great location and we enjoyed our stay very much. I felt it was a good value for our Priceline bid (which, after reading these reviews, was apparently higher than it needed to be!).

I enjoyed a 2-night stay at the Omni Charlotte in Mid-September. I was in town for a conference and traveling by myself. I actually got the room through Priceline because the hotel block for my conference were already booked (another hotel).

I would recommend the Omni Charlotte for anyone in town for a short stay in the Uptown area, but it would be best-suited for business travel. It was a quick and safe walk a few blocks up to quite a few restaurants and night-spots. It is also about a 7-10 minute walk south to the Convention Center (4 blocks I think).

My main complaint is that there was a "stale cigarette" smell in my room. I could not figure out if my room was smoking or non-smoking- there was not a sign on the door, but there were not any ash trays in the room, either. I did not call Housekeeping because I did not want to breathe some flowery air freshener, but the smell was annoying until I got used to it. Also the only plug I could find for the iron was on the strip on the desk, so I lugged the board across the room to use the iron. Not a big deal, just an observation.

The hotel is an older property, so the rooms are standard-issue and the bathrooms are small (sink outside, with toilet and tub in a small room). However, the very recent renovations made the room very attractive and I found the beds to be very comfortable. Beds are done in white duvets with plenty of pillows and the overall color scheme is gold/brown. There were also plenty of towels and 2 robes in the closet.

I valet-parked my car after reading a comment about the sketchiness of the parking garage. $24/night during the week.

The fitness center is small- 4 machines and a small weight bench, but I really appreciated the abundant towels, cold bottled water and fresh fruit that were available there. I had the place to myself at 4 in the afternoon.

The lobby is open down to an atrium area that connects to Charlotte's Overstreet Mall complex. There was a Starbucks, Einstein bagels, and several other sundry-type stores right at the bottom of the escalator.

I would stay here again, especially at a nice Priceline rate.

Stayed on a Friday night after a football game. Pluses: location, checkin, parking only $8 (reasonable compared to football game parking of $15+).

Negatives: took 3 calls before we could get someone to answer the phone at midnight to schedule a wakeup call, and most disturbing when leaving we were approached for money by a panhandler in the lobby on a Sat morning.

It's fine if you can get a Priceline deal (I got $70), but I'd be disappointed if I had paid full price.

From start to finish, my stay at the Omni was by far the worst hotel experience I have ever had. First, the hotel refused to honor my AAA discount. When I requested to speak to a manager to straighten this out, I was told no managers were available to help me (a line repeated to me 3 other times during my 3 day stay). It was as if the policy of the hotel was for guests to be prevented from speaking to the only people who have any power to assist them with their frustration. I was told the manager of the hotel is also the manager of the restaurant and is very busy. Throughout my stay, noise was an issue. Security was sent to deal with it and, after suffering prank calls, calls to my room were blocked. However, the desk was unable to figure out how to unblock the calls- an excuse used for why a manager had been unable to reach me. Upon check out, my bill was wrong. Leading to more aggravation. The entire weekend was overshadowed by the stress of pure incompetence. Additionally, the rooftop pool they show pictures of is a tiny, dirty pool on the 2nd floor. Trust me, stay away.