The Courtyard by Marriott, Steele Creek is a couple of miles to the south of Charlotte Airport, opposite an outlet mall.
As hotels go in general, this is a lovely modern hotel with excellent amenities including an outdoor pool, gym, and most importantly a 24 hour tuck shop in the reception selling snacks and soft drinks. Car parking on site is free.
From a spotting point of view, it is more than adequate.
I stayed one night and rang ahead earlier in the day to
request a high floor room facing east, the request was noted and I got exactly
what I asked for.
I was allocated room 402, which is the room right at the end
of the corridor on the top floor, you couldn’t get any better. Any even
numbered room from 402 through to 422 will give a similar view.
Room 402 is a room with one King Bed with Sofa Bed.
Even rooms with higher numbers than 422 will also get a view, but maybe not quite as good.
Basically, from here, you will easily get half of the action at CLT. If aircraft are departing to the south, you’ll get them all. If they are landing from the south, you will also get them.
Arrivals (or departures) from the north are trickier as these are 6 or 7 miles away. While I was there, I was picking out arrivals on the eastern most runway without too much difficulty, but arrivals from the north on the western runway were at too tight an angle.
If you were on a lower floor room you wouldn’t see anything to the north but you’d be fine with stuff arriving / departing to the south.
Charlotte has no hotels right next to the airport, so I did a lot of research trying to work out where would be best, and I was pleased with the outcome – it was ideal for a one-night stop.
Once the CLT Overlook had opened at 0800, however, I drove
over there for the superior view which you wouldn’t’ manage to get from any
hotel. The two locations complemented each other quite nicely.
The second image shows the view from the room giving an unobstructed view to the east for any arrivals or departures from or to the south.