Our Market Pavilion check-in was a hard landing. The entrance is on the corner of a narrow street congested with walkers from the adjacent market building. It's like maneuvering into aisle 3 of big box store to reach the hotel entrance. Our arrival was also gummed by photo-shoots (apparently fashion ads) both outside and inside the petite revolving door entrance of the Market Pavilion. This was our first stay so I was unsure about parking options, but the mess outside necessitated valet. I wedged into an opening and asked two uniformed guys if I was in the right place for valet parking. They looked our way but didn't answer, which was odd. At first I thought we had interrupted their viewing of the photo-shoot, but even when one guy approached the car, he was fully silent. OK. I left the keys and we carried our bags in through the crowd. The desk person was surprisingly brusque. She demanded photo ID and credit card like a penal boss. We had been upgraded but the room had no windows, and who would want no windows, she reasoned, so she downgraded us to a room which was not ready an hour before 4 PM check-in (whereas the windowless room had been ready, she told us after the change). OK. Go have lunch, she directed (what, it's 3 PM?), and she'd call us when the room was ready. She didn't. But she did call to ask if we left our car keys. I told her they were in the car (I'd told the silent guys that 45 minutes ago) and couldn't believe our car was still wedged into that busy crowd (with keys!) 45 minutes after our arrival. When we finally returned on our own, our room was ready but the key didn't work and they had to bring another. Look, the Market Pavilion is not a bad hotel. It's just a bit of an inconvenient, sadly maintained hotel (e.g. dirty spots on the hallway carpets) that might be saved by Southern charm but instead puffs fancy and comes off cold and a little oblivious to its pretension. Unless antique furniture styling is your main thing (and some looks more distressed than vintage), you can do better than the Market Pavilion in Charleston, especially for the cost. In a last-minute pinch of availability, it will do, especially if you approach with a sense of humor.