Woodlawn Inn, Charlotte

I wish I had read these reviews before booking online! It is everything bad mentioned in the reviews below. It looked like a cheap place for illegal business. The first non-smoking rooms we were given smelled like someone had just smoked a cigar. The air conditioner didn't cool, just blew musty, moldly smell in the room. Light bulbs needed replacing--one lamp worked between the two rooms. We went to the front office, and they moved us upstairs. The smoke smell was still very noticeable, same problems with lights, and linens and carpet did not look or smell clean. After getting our things in the room, I used the bathroom--commode didn't flush! And they must have known this because the lid had been broken! Front office again--she said she would call the man who handled repairs. She spoke to him as I stood there, and then told me he would come right back. Time passed, we waited, the kids begged to swim, we waited--finally went back to front office. She called the man again--he was just about to leave!!! It had been an hour! We said thanks, but no thanks, we were leaving. The woman at the desk said we would not be charged--we were and we didn't even stay! So we called the manager, called customer service, even called corporate headquarters. Got the run around, were told repeatedly that someone would call with a resolution--no one ever called! I then mailed out six letters to the top people of this company including the president and CEO--two of those letters were ceritfied mail so I know they were received--but they never contacted me. They do not care! Howard Johnson's still has my money and I filed a fraud complaint against them! Don't get Ho'ed by HoJo!!!!

I booked the hotel online and thought it would be ok because it had the HOJO name on it. Bad assumption. The room we were in was dirty, there were cracks in the walls by the baseboards, and the ac didn't work AT ALL. This was in August and it was 40 degrees C outside, rather than giving us a relief it seemed to spew out more hot air. We complained and were told that someone would check it while we were out that evening. We came in late to find the same conditions and no one at the front desk. We barely slept that night, the heat was unbearable, and when we went out in the morning it was cooler outside. At the front desk we were told that the ac was working but couldn't keep up with the demands of the heat. We asked to be moved and were told the conditions were the same in all the rooms, and for that case all hotels in the area. We went back to the room, called some hotels downtown and made reservations for the next 3 nights, packed up and checked out. To their credit the hotel refunded us half of the room rate for the one night - though we felt we should have been paid to endure what we went through. The breakfast room was also very hot, and the breakfast was lame! The lobby though was a very comfortable temperature.

The room smelled horrible. We ask for another blanket,because our room just had 1 on 1 bed. They said the blankets were locked up. They couldn't give you directions to anything. I'm glad we were just there for 1 night. I wouldn't of stayed another night there. I would have tried to find another one if I would have had to drove extra miles to get where I was going. Wouldn't recommend it to anybody. We got air freshener out of the car and sprayed in the room to help with the smell. The Tv wouldn't get out good,was real snowy. They need to remodel the whole motel,instead of only the 3rd floor.

This Hotel is horrible it really needs to be closed down the owner has a very bad and nasty attitude. We arrived about 2am and we checked into hell I have never in my whole life stayed in a place as horrible as this place. After we checked in we went riding around trying to find another hotel but everything was sold out. I didnt even want my kids staying in a place like that. There was a horrible smell in the room our eyes were burning and the room was dusty. It seemed very unsafe the locks on the doors were broke holes in the bed spreads and walls stains every where. the Air conditioner didnt work well people it was horrible. I could not belive it was a Howard Johnson. Yes there is a IHOP Next door but who wants to smell food cooking all night. It was the wosrt experience in my life. We were booked there for two nights we checked out 6am the next morning. I would never recommend this hotel to any one. (Wait yes the staff was nice I have to give it up for them)