We stayed at the Ashley for two nights last weekend when we were visiting Charleston for a friend's birthday. I chose the hotel, because I wanted to stay somewhere with historic charm (I wanted to feel I was in Charleston)! It was an all right stay. T
he building (a historic house) was beautiful - especially the porch, where you can sit and enjoy your coffee in the morning. Our room was nice (it had the wallpaper and wood features I really wanted), especially the bathroom. But the room had seen better days (peeling wallpaper), wasn't the most functional (no outlets near the bed for charging phones), and had a strange basement room (down the stairs was a basement room with a TV, bar, and couch - it was a little creepy, but more than that, I just didn't think it was safe to have those steps so close to the bathroom door - someone who'd had a few too many drinks might just fall right down those steps.
The location was okay/pretty good - not really in the heart of things, it was about a 15 minute walk to King Street. This worked for us on Saturday, because it was a lovely day and we had a chance to see a bit of the city (the 15 minutes is a great walk past restaurants and shops), but the weather on Sunday made the distance not so great. And FYI - the walk to the Battery would probably be an hour, but you can obviously Lyft/Uber or pedicab. The location was great if you want a little separation from the more touristy parts of downtown or a quieter neighborhood, but we did Uber more than we normally would on a weekend trip.
My biggest gripe is that the hotel is a no-staff or self-service hotel (there's no one to check you in and you are sent the information you need to get into your room ahead of time by text). I've stayed in no-staff/self-service hotels on two other occasions. Sometimes it works out fine, but it really turns a hotel into an airbnb. You can't leave luggage with the front desk if you're checking out hours before your flight nor are there the amenities you might expect at a hotel with front desk staff. I didn't realize from the description on hotels.com that The Ashley was a no-staff/self-service hotel, and I probably wouldn't have booked it if I had known (because we had a 6pm flight and ended up having to store our bags in our friends' hotel). The staff (not on site but available by text) were responsive and helpful, but I think I just prefer a standard hotel.
Overall, our stay was fine, but I probably wouldn't stay again. read more