"Why did this hotel catch your attention?Hotel Bella Grace is a blend of old and new. Local developers restored one of the few surviving historic “Charleston single” houses on the block, adding a contemporary, L-shaped extension to echo the original home. Leased to a prominent local restaurant group (the geniuses behind Husk and McCrady’s), the building also houses Delaney Oyster House, where diners enjoy cocktails, seafood platters, crab rice, and savory beignets. Inside, the lobby is intimate and stylish, featuring portraiture with butterflies emerging from Botticelli hair. Guests are encouraged to rummage through the parlor drawers to find treasures and relics unearthed during construction, on display beneath protective glass: porcelain, antique bottles, the remnant of a slave tag (the identity tags issued to skilled enslaved laborers before the Civil War). What's the backstory?Although Hotel Bella Grace is independently designed and managed, it falls under the Marriott umbrella (complete with Bonvoy perks). Thirty-five of the hotel’s 50 rooms include European-style kitchens. The developers enlisted an all-woman design trio: the architect, interior designer, and gallerist. Importantly: Tell us all about the rooms.Our King studio felt warm and modish by night but a little cool by day (there’s lots of gray). A chain-mesh chandelier cast starlight patterns on the ceiling. An amorphously shaped smoky mirror echoed marbleized wallpaper. A suede settee mimicked ink droplets swirling through water. Gauzy curtains billowed in the air-conditioning. Lighting was everywhere, with backlit mirrors, vivid crystalline lamps, and nifty little fold-out spotlights built into the headboard for reading oneself to sleep. If you're looking to splash out a little more, go for one of the north-facing Governor’s Rooms (larger suites with wraparound windows and great views) or the killer penthouse suite, which has a large private deck at steeple height. Is there a charge for Wi-Fi?Standard Wi-Fi is free, and it worked fine. For longer streaming sessions, there's a stronger connection available for a small fee. Drinking and dining—what are we looking at?Breakfast, included in the room rate, is served in the historic 1830 Delaney House. There are hot and cold buffets featuring eggs, crispy bacon, turkey sausage, oatmeal, gravy-smothered biscuits, and bottomless hot coffee. For lunch and dinner, Delaney Oyster House operates independently from the hotel, so although you can drink and dine there—and you should—you can’t charge it to your room. Anything unique about the service?Most Charleston visitors dine out, but it would be a shame not to put your in-room kitchen to at least some use; if you do, Hotel Bella Grace offers a grocery delivery service. What type of travelers will you find here?Guests run the gamut here, from tattoo-adorned weight lifters and well-coiffed hipsters, to white-tennis-shoe-clad Midwesterners and museum-bound older British tourists. What about the neighborhood? What else will we find here?Calhoun Street, a municipal artery, has plenty of activity: commuter traffic, kids flocking to school, researchers traipsing to the public library. But by night this block feels a bit ghostly. Delaney’s is a major new draw, so that helps; otherwise, the hotel feels somewhat isolated. It is, however, very close to everything: one block from the Saturday farmers market, a block from the Gaillard performing arts center, two blocks from King Street, and four blocks from boat-launching venues on the harbor. Is there anything you'd change?It would be great to be able to charge cocktails or appetizers at Delaney Oyster House to the room. Any other hotel features worth noting?Sundays really come alive on this street, as members of the local African-American community file into Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church directly opposite the hotel, their voices raised in song and prayer. You don’t have to be religious to appreciate this church’s strength and beauty. Bottom line: Why are we staying here?This is a newly constructed boutique hotel with design-forward rooms and fully functioning kitchens, all adjacent to a trendy oyster bar." - Allston McCrady
