We were in Hickory for a conference over the weekend. Our room was booked by our company, so I did not know where we were staying until the day we left. When I heard that it was the Crowne Plaza it made me a little nervous. I have visited Hickory several times for this conference and heard not so very good things about this hotel. The outside of the building and the parking lot is a little odd. The lobby was nice when you first walked in and the people up front were polite. Our company also was suppose to had sent payment for our rooms, but were told that they havent received it. We found out at check out that it was received, But I guess the staff up front was uninformed of this. Our rooms were outside rooms which I wasn't expecting, but could deal with. When we tried to get in our room, we found out that you had to literally push your whole body weight on the door to get it to open. When we walked in to our room there was hotel notepad with a pen that someone had been scribbling there name and some numbers on. It also had a room key next to it. We thought at first that they had given us someone elses room, but we didn't see any luggage. We checked the room key to make sure it didn't work on our door. The room seemed clean,even though we did find a man's sock under the bed, so we just kind of shrugged it off. There were alot kids there for one night of our stay that were part of a soccer team. I expected there to be some noise from that but luckily they didn't stay up too late. It did though, make us realize how thin the walls were. You could hear what was going on next door and they didn't have to be loud for you to hear it. We had breakfast only one morning while we were there because we thought $12.00 was kind of steep for breakfast. It wasn't a horrible experience, but it wasn't a good one either. I do not see us staying in this hotel again.

NOT impressed! Staff not friendly or helpful. Our room was not cleaned on Saturday. They took the dirty towels, that is it! Did not leave any clean ones, had to go ask. Bed not made, nothing! Took our own trash out. Next morning, woke us up at 8:30 for cleaning service although check out is at 12:00! The restaurant staff was rude. Was promised a small table for our room (after being tipped graciously) and never got. When we checked out, the bill was incorrect. We nicely told them the problems we had while staying there, no response...guess they didn't care! Would NOT go back. Never had problems when it was Holiday Inn.

I stayed here for a small conference this past summer. The hotel staff was friendly, but did not go out of their way to make you feel welcome. The lobby area is very nice, and has a very nice bar area. I am sure the rooms in this part of the hotel were nicer, however we ended up staying in rooms in a separate building. The hallway to the rooms smelled a bit musty and the carpet needs to be replaced. The rooms themselves were a bit small and dated. I did check for bed bugs, before bringing my stuff into the room.
The meals we had as part of the conference were pretty good, not bad for hotel food.
The pool and fitness facility was very small, but adequate if you were there for a night.
Overall ok for an overnight stay.

We searched for a hotel to stay at while visiting Hickory's October Fest. Our daughter's sticking point was that it had to have a heated pool, preferably indoor. We finally decided on the Crowne Plaza. The building was a little industrial looking with many of the rooms having exterior access. We chose to pay a few more dollars for an interior room in the executive wing. The room was fine and the beds were comfortable but the layout was just a little strange. Some of the rooms had sliding glass doors that opened onto little interior balconies overlooking the reception area of the hotel. The restaurant was good and the bar was quiet with plenty of seating. Overall we enjoyed our stay and will return if traveling to Hickory again. If staying on a Sunday make sure to try out their Sunday Brunch, great food choices at a reasonable price.