North Charleston Hotels

The Inns of Charleston: Air Force Base Accommodations

When we go to visit our son in Summerville, we often stay on the Charleston Air Force Base. This is an option ONLY for military or retired military with priority for active duty people. We are usually there 'off season' (i.e. in the winter).

On the first visit, we couldn't find the office, so we stopped in the parking lot of the housing office, and I phoned. The initial phone message comes on with a lady with a VERY deep southern accent who says that they don't accept collect calls (which always takes me aback because I'm not making a collect call). When I actually get someone alive on the phone, we found out that the Inn office is just around the corner.

At that time retirees could only stay 3 nights. The buildings are old, and have no elevators. Sometimes there are maintenance issues. But they are really cheap in the winter, for a room with a kitchenette.

$30 for Visitors Quarters (VQ)
$36 for Standard TLF (TLF)
$43 for TLF houses (TLF)
$38 for all Suites (BVQ)

The DV Suites include a living room, a bedroom with a queen sized bed, two TVs (one with a DVD player - DVD's are available for rent from the front desk), a kitchenette with mini refrigerator/freezer, a microwave, a coffee pot, an alarm clock, and a private bath.

The majority the standard rooms include a queen sized bed, a private bath, a kitchenette with a microwave and mini refrigerator/freezer combo, a coffee pot, an alarm clock, and a TV with an attached DVD player.

On our first visit (Nov 2004) our room had TWO kitchenettes although one of the refrigerators was out of order. There was also a very nice bathroom between the bedroom and the living room. The room was $36.50/night We could have had a cheaper room if we had wanted to share a bathroom, but I didn't want to do that. They charged $1/day for internet access. According to their website, they now have free wi-fi

Unique Quality: The second time (Feb 2005) the room was on the second floor and there was no elevator. We had a living room with a TV and a kitchenette, a bathroom which passes through to the bedroom with another kitchenette. No utensils or plates. In the morning Bob explained to me that all the water sounds that I've been hearing is because there is a leak in the toilet and it flushes every 6 minutes. He looked at it and said the flapper was too small. We were completely miserable on this trip because the car wouldn't start (and we couldn't get anyone to fix it) and because of the cold (it was winter) and we were both sick with a terrible cough which made the stairs particularly troublesome.

On our third visit (December 2005) the room was a very nice single ground floor room with a microwave and refrigerator and toaster but no utensils or plates. Of course there's only one TV (before we had 2 rooms so Bob could watch different TV than I did) and the phone and the phone jack is on the other side of the room at a desk. We are paying $26/night so I guess we can't complain. The price varies with the season - it is more in the summer. The room was so hot I turned off the heater.

Bob programmed the TV and the clock radio to go on at the same times as at home (6:45 for the radio and 7 for the TV), but he got the radio an hour early and the TV for 7 pm instead of 7 am. I downloaded email but couldn't really read it all, and was watching Monday night football. I set the TV to go off on the timer, and just went to sleep very shortly afterwards.

The next morning, the radio went off at 5:30 and Bob did the snooze alarm once and then eventually turned it off and we both went back to sleep until almost 9. We got up and dressed, and Bob had breakfast, and I downloaded some more email

Our last visit was January 2007, and this was the first time I thought to take some photos

Of the four visits, one was miserable and the rest were OK.

• Opinion of Price: least expensive
• Address: Hill Boulevard, Building 362, Charleston AFB
• Phone: (843) 963-3806
• Website: http://www.437services.com/Lodging/innsofcharleston/inns_intro.htm
• Related to: Seniors, Road Trip, Budget Travel
• Written April 3, 2007

Buildings from the parking lot

4 more images

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