Millennium Hotel Durham

I spent a quick night in Raleigh-Durham (arrived very late evening and left early next morning) and chose the Millenium because I am familiar with the NYC property. The hotel is very large and rambly and seems half renovated. I was assigned to the unrenovated half. The room was large but shabby -- and of questionable cleanliness. I would have complained but was too tired to do so. I did wonder however if I was put this room because of the discount Orbitz rate, regardless of whether better rooms were available.

The staff would not accommodate our needs whatsoever. I will be visiting Duke for many years to come, and will stay anywhere but here.

At first glance,, Millenium Hotel looks nice and upscale. But once inside....the lobby couches were worn and faded from the sun. The room-the carpet was pulled away and fraying from the tile. There was black and pink mold on tile grout and black mold growing under the poor caulk job in the shower. The vanities were extremely low-faux granite. The bath and sink stoppers were black from the chrome being worn off. Wifi was $9.95 for twenty-four hours-what hotel charges for wifi anymore? Not impressed at all!

This hotel is a 25 minute drive from the Raleigh/ Durham airport. If you're looking for close to campus and not much else, this is just fine. However, if you are looking to stay somewhere that you'll actually enjoy, I would avoid the Millennium. The only good experience about this hotel was the food. Otherwise, the place is dingy, the staff is rude, and there is no continental breakfast to speak of. There is nothing within walking distance and it is right off the freeway. I just had a bad experience overall. AT&T gets absolutely ZERO reception there, and the room phone didnt work to boot. The internet is not free, either.

The best thing this hotel has going for it is how close it is to Duke University. Other than that, there's not much. The decor is outdated and, in some cases, broken. The AC did not work well. It is a long walk from one part of the hotel to another. The Internet access was on the expensive side for me, at $13 a day.

check in was easy but not very friendly. rooms are dated, hallway was not very clean

Let me start by saying, I am picky when it comes to cleanliness. I don't want to see evidence of anyone that had been there before OR evidence of not cleaning by paying attention to detail. So, with that said, make up your own minds on what I saw....... This was our second visit and I would NEVER have paid the full price for this hotel. Everything needs a major facelift. Cracked paint, tile in bath lifting up, caulking missing or needing to be replaced, furnishings and drapes are just old. I made the mistake of touching the inside of the shower cutouts for bottles and stuff - black mold. (But, as we were leaving, I did tell "our" maid and she had cleaned it when we returned) Then on our last day, I pushed back the shower curtain and the bottom of the tub next to the floor - MOLD. Black and thick. From the floor up about 4 inches and the entire length of the tub. Bleach people - BLEACH. Now I know why after two days my throat started hurting. I found a hair in the bathroom floor when we first walked in. We paid 1/3 of normal rate for our room. I saw the price for that weekend because the bill for our neighbors room was slipped under our door. Now as my husband said, we have seen worse. Didn't stay in them, but saw worse. I think a good facelift and refurbishing will go a long, LONG ways. The location was great for us. But, unless I call and find out if they have had any updates or refurbished, I WILL NOT GO BACK. I will say on the positive side, staff was friendly, we enjoyed the inside pool, our room was quiet and the AC worked fine. But, I think the health inspector needs to check out the mold problem. I'm sure it wasn't just our room. Our shower curtain let water out and we tried very hard not to let that happen. So, I'm thinking more than one room may have this problem. Beds were comfortable and the pillows were VERY fluffy and big. You will need to decided what's important to YOU.

The hotel is located close to Duke, but not in a great neighborhood. They do have a shuttle to Duke campus, as you may not want to walk the 5-10 minutes to campus. Wireless was flaky. No cell reception inside building.

Air conditioning didn't work, fitness center is a joke, and my shower had hot flashes continuously which had to attributed to more than other guests' use. Until they make that up as I have reservations later in the month, I can't really recommend despite very pleasant staff.

The hotel was nice as usual, but there was an issue with the power. During our stay, the power went out one night and made for a horrible evening. It would also be nice if you could get some cell phone service in the hotel. At this time you cannot use your cell phones while in the hotel because of no service.