I am so excited about this hotel in Charleston. For myself and our staycations, and for my luxury travel agency clients to have somewhere truly Jetset-approved to point them to in Charleston! This is the hotel Charleston has been missing! We have the historic grand hotels, we have the charming boutique darlings, we have the designer hotels with big rooftops but teeny tiny rooms. But what we did not have, until now, was a true waterfront luxury property with a rooftop infinity pool, a serious spa, four genuinely great restaurants, and a marina lined with beautiful boats sitting right outside. The Cooper changes the entire luxury landscape in Charleston, and after a few days staying here, I’m fully convinced this is now both easily the best luxury hotel in Charleston AND the best staycation spot in the city. And yes, I’m going to compare it to the other luxury favorites in our area – Kiawah, the Dunlin, and Wild Dunes so you can pick the absolute best spot for you, all below.

These photos by Sarah Aldridge Photography

So here’s everything you actually need to know before you book, including the VIP perks I can get you if you book your stay (here, or anywhere!) with Jetset Christina Travel

The Newest Luxury Hotel In Charleston: The Cooper

The Cooper sits at 176 Concord Street, right where the French Quarter meets the harbor, on a sliver of waterfront real estate the city has never developed before! It feels very Charleston-esque with a pretty Colonial-cream color and shutters and balconies, right at home with the historic homes surrounding it!

Inside, Champalimaud Design (the studio behind Raffles Singapore and The Carlyle in New York) leaned hard into French Quarter references: airy ceilings, soft greens and creams, a lot of natural light, modern Nautical-chic details mixed with clean modern lines. It is not stuffy, at all. It is not Disney-Charleston either. It is exactly what Charleston needed: elevated, very pretty, and actually feels like Charleston!

The vibe feels like a very chic yacht club. The Cooper is part of the Beemok Hospitality Collection (the group behind The Charleston Place), and the service is great!

The Cooper Location

When you stay here, you are truly walking distance to everything you actually want to do downtown. 

From the front door you are about a two minute walk to Waterfront Park and the Pineapple Fountain (which my kids love), five minutes to Rainbow Row, ten minutes to the King Street shopping (think Croghan’s, Kenny Flowers, Estelle Glass, Hampden, all the good stuff), and a few blocks to my favorite local coffee shop, Harken Cafe over on Queen Street. Your morning walks back to the hotel pass the beautiful pink French Huguenot Church, the cobblestone streets of the French Quarter, and the prettiest flower boxes in the city. It is genuinely the kind of location that makes a Charleston trip.

The Cooper Rooms: My Honest Take

The rooms at The Cooper are cute, modern, very Charleston in feel, and beautifully-designed. The beds are also SUPER comfortable, the linens are beautiful, the bathrooms are clean and current with great walk-in showers, and the design is calming without being beige and boring (TG!). They put little baby robes in the room for our toddlers (and yes, it’s possibly the cutest hotel detail I’ve ever seen).

What I’ll tell you that the hotel won’t: the standard rooms are a little small. We booked a Waterfront room without a balcony for the four of us and it was tight. Beautifully done, but tight. If you want a little more space, I’d urge you to do a Waterfront with Balcony, or, if the budget is there, a Waterfront One Bedroom Suite would be ideal. The square footage difference matters!

We were upgraded to a gorgeous view when we checked in (a perk you’ll likely get too if you book with me, more on that at the bottom), and waking up to that harbor light pouring through the windows is so amazing.

Room Categories at The Cooper

The Cooper has 191 rooms total ranging from entry-level rooms to the Presidential Suite. The categories I’d actually consider:

For couples or solo travelers: a Waterfront King with Balcony is the sweet spot. You get the views of the harbor, the beautiful balcony with French doors, and the room is plenty for two.

For families: skip the entry rooms. Go Waterfront Double Queen with Balcony or a One Bedroom Suite. You’ll be glad you have the extra space.

For a special occasion: the Waterfront One Bedroom Suites are stunning, and the Presidential Suite at 1,475 square feet is of course, incredible!!!!

The Pool at the Cooper:

The STUNNING waterfront, elevated infinity pool at the Cooper is the best pool in Charleston, hands down. It feels more like you are in Europe at a chic beach club, than in Charleston! It floats out toward Charleston Harbor with green and white striped lounges, scalloped cream umbrellas, real palm trees, and lavender flower beds! Aesthetically it’s giving French Riviera energy with a Southern soul, and it works!!!!!!!

It is strictly reserved for hotel guests, which I love. There were always plenty of seats! This isn’t where you’ll have to fight for a chair.

The pool has a great shallow entry for little ones to splash around in, which made it a dream with toddlers. But don’t get me wrong, it’s perfect for adults and adult groups, too.

But as a family, I loved that there were a few other babies poolside the days we were there, and the lounges (with real cushions, PLUSH cushions!) were a dream.

The poolside service was flawless. Cooper-monogrammed towels, food and drinks from Bar Marti are unreal, it’s just a 12/10 experience all around.

The Best Cocktail in Charleston

The Battery Rose Margarita (avail at Bar Marti, AND at the Cooper bar downstairs at the Crossing), may be my new favorite drink in Charleston. It’s SO good. Like seriously a perfect marg. served with a little Bar Marti flag in the glass. Order one, do not skip it, and then report back to me.

The Spa at The Cooper: Small, Mighty, and Worth It

The Spa at The Cooper is 7,000 square feet with seven treatment rooms and seven private relaxation spaces. It is not a sprawling resort spa. There are no traditional locker rooms (you change in a changing room), which surprised me at first.

But here’s what I loved: they don’t ever overcrowd the spa. There’s a co-ed sauna (that we had to ourselves) and there are hot and cold showers. There’s also a red light room you can reserve in advance (costs extra) a cryolounger, zero-gravity bed, compression therapy. It feels less like a traditional Southern hotel spa and more like a high-design wellness space.

My massage with Lauren was excellent (EXCELLENT!!!) Easily the best massage I’ve had in Charleston. Tell her I sent you!

If you are someone who books a spa day expecting a giant locker room, robes-on-the-pool deck, full-day-circuit kind of experience, set your expectations, because it’s not that. This is a tight, beautifully done spa designed for personalized treatments and recovery. If you’re in for that, you’ll love it. I did!

The Fitness Room 

The fitness room at the Cooper was SO COOL! There is a live moss wall that you have to see to believe – it’s goooorgeous. It’s hard not to want to work out every day on vacation here.

Eating at The Cooper!!!!

This is the part where The Cooper genuinely surprised me. I’m a Charleston local. I know the food scene here is wildly competitive. Our restaurants are the best in the world (I said it, I’d put us against anyone!) and I did not expect the hotel restaurants to be this good, right away!

The Crossing

The signature restaurant, led by Chef Nick Dugan, the talent behind Sorelle (one of Charleston’s most acclaimed Italian-leaning restaurants and another BHC property). The menu at The Crossing is coastal Mediterranean, and it is honestly fantastic. Light, fresh, very Mediterranean ingredient-driven but with Southern produce woven in. The waterfront views from the dining room and patio are amazing!!! 

Breakfast (at The Crossing)

Breakfast was SOOO GOOD! I’m still dreaming about it. You can order it room service or at the restaurant. And if you book through me you’ll have it included for free 🙂 

Bar Marti

The guests-only poolside spot. Casual lunch, beautiful drinks. The perfect poolside-vacation food. One thing to know, though, is they DO NOT have a kids menu (they definitely could have used some chicken fingers on that menu given there were definitely toddlers at the pool!) maybe that will change, but for now we had to order an adult sliders order and have my kids share it. The fries were unreal, btw.

Is The Cooper Good for Families?

Yes!

The Cooper is great for families visiting Charleston looking for a luxury hotel experience. The walkable location that means you can do real-life Charleston (the carriage rides, the Pineapple Fountain, ice cream on King Street) without the logistics of car seats and parking!

My kids thriiiiived. They wore their little robes around the hotel, splashed at the pool, and slept hard after so much pool time. It is a wonderful family hotel as long as you go in knowing it’s a luxury hotel that welcomes families, not a family resort with a kids club kind of vibe.

Jetset Tip for Families

Book the bigger room than you think you need. The standard rooms are DOABLE, but not roomy enough for four people plus luggage plus a stroller. 

How to Book The Cooper with FREE VIP Perks

How you book your hotel is just as important as choosing the hotel these days, because there are ways to unlock free perks like daily breakfast, upgrades, resort credits, etc at zero cost to you.

When you book the Cooper through me by contacting me here or book yourself directly through my travel advisor portal, you get the following VIP perks at no extra cost to you:

• Complimentary daily breakfast for two (and I cannot stress enough how good the breakfast is)
• A $100 USD property credit to use on spa, dining, or experiences
• A complimentary room upgrade upon arrival, subject to availability (this is how we ended up with our water view)
• Early check-in and late check-out, subject to availability
• Personal VIP recognition on property

You pay the same rate as you would booking direct. The perks are stacked on top because of my relationship with the property! 

Fill out this inquiry form here and I’ll help you plan your trip, or you can go directly to my travel portal and see my exclusive travel advisor rates and book yourself with all of my perks included. The password is always JETSETTERS (save this page to your bookmarks for future trips). You can also email me directly at [email protected] and I’ll send you the best rate, all the VIP perks I can get you during your stay, and my personal list of secret local Charleston restaurants worth booking.

Why The Cooper Is the Best Staycation in Charleston

If you live here, you already know we have a slightly complicated relationship with downtown. We love it, we visit it, we hate to park, and we rarely truly relax in it like a tourist does. A staycation at The Cooper is so so fun. and here is why it’s the best staycation spot in Charleston right now.

You are physically downtown but on the water. The rooftop pool feels like you flew somewhere in Europe for the weekend. Without any of the travel hassle! The spa is a true oasis. The restaurants are good enough that you don’t need to leave the property to eat well. And because you live here, you can walk over to your favorite spots whenever you want and come right back to that infinity pool.

It is also surprisingly easy to do a one-night Charleston staycation here. Drop your car with the valet at noon, hit the pool, do a late lunch poolside, check in, get dinner at The Crossing, late night drinks at the bar, breakfast on your balcony, back to the pool, late check out (which I can get you), and leave as late as you possibly can and you’ve effectively gotten 2 full days of vacation for 1 night’s stay.

The Cooper vs. other luxury hotels in downtown Charleston

The Cooper is the only luxury hotel directly on the Charleston peninsula waterfront. The Charleston Place is the grand dame, more classic, more inland. The Charleston Place I always love around Christmas time!! It’s an icon. The historic boutique properties (Hotel Bennett, The Dewberry, etc.) are gorgeous in their own right (and are less expensive) but they simply don’t compare if you’re looking for the best. 

The Cooper vs. The Dunlin

Twenty miles apart, two completely different trips. The Cooper is a downtown Charleston hotel: on the harbor, walking distance to King Street and dinner, nautical-chic in design, four restaurants on property, full-service luxury at scale. The Dunlin is Auberge’s quieter Lowcountry play: located on Johns Island along the Kiawah River (not the beach!!!), Amanda Lindroth super-cute interiors in blue and white stripes and rattan, a working farm, a very lowcountry river marsh vibe experience.

Book The Cooper when Charleston the city is the trip. Book The Dunlin when you want to disappear into the marsh, feel the lowcountry Where-the-Crawdads-Sing vibe, maybe for one night, 2 max. If you have four nights, you could definitely do both: one or mayyyybe 2 at The Dunlin to decompress, the rest at The Cooper to experience downtown Charleston and all the historic charm that comes with it (and the fooood scene!!!) 

(I get you complimentary Jetset perks at both btw, so just let me know)

The Cooper vs. Kiawah

One question: are you here for the beach and golf, or are you here for downtown Charleston? The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort is an amazing, very traditional-luxe oceanfront resort 45 minutes south of downtown, with 255 rooms, ten miles of beach, five championship golf courses, Kamp Kiawah for the kids, and two destination restaurants in Jasmine Porch and The Ocean Room. It’s older, but Kiawah is amazing and we love this hotel. to me, this is a getaway from Charleston, not where I’d stay if Charleston is where you want to be spending your time.

The Cooper on the other hand is the brand new 191 room more modern-style downtown hotel on the harbor: no beach, no golf, no kids’ club, but four restaurants and the entire walkable French Quarter right there.

Book The Sanctuary for the multi-gen beach week, the golf trip, or the family vacation that needs a real kids’ program. Book The Cooper for the couples weekend, the foodie trip, the birthday weekend or mini-moon where you want to walk to dinner, or the staycation. The smart move, if you have time, is two or three nights at each. Both are in my travel agency portfolio with VIP perks attached!!

FAQ: The Cooper Charleston

When did The Cooper Charleston open?

The Cooper opened in spring 2026 and is the newest luxury hotel in Charleston.

Where is The Cooper located in Charleston?

The Cooper is at 176 Concord Street, on the waterfront on the lower eastern side of the Charleston peninsula, walking distance to Waterfront Park, the French Quarter, Rainbow Row, and King Street.

Is The Cooper the nicest hotel in Charleston?

The Cooper is positioned as a luxury five-star waterfront hotel and is part of Preferred Hotels & Resorts’ Legend Collection as well as Virtuoso. Its sister property, The Charleston Place, is also under the Beemok Hospitality Collection. The Cooper in my opinion is the nicest hotel in Charleston.

Does The Cooper have a pool?

Yes. The Cooper has a rooftop infinity pool overlooking Charleston Harbor, with cabanas, lounge chairs, an umbrella-shaded deck, and a shallow entry that works well for small children. The pool is strictly reserved for hotel guests.

Is The Cooper good for families?

Yes! However, The Cooper does not have a kids’ club, but it is family-welcoming, has a kid-friendly pool with shallow entry, baby robes in rooms, go to CurrentBurger for easy kids’ meals, and a walkable location. I recommend booking a larger room or suite if you’re traveling with kids.

Does The Cooper have a spa?

Yes. The Spa at The Cooper is a 7,000 square foot wellness center with seven treatment rooms and seven private relaxation spaces. Standout features include the Sanarium sauna, hydrotherapy lounge, experiential showers, and a Recovery Room with cryolounger, zero-gravity bed, and compression therapy. However, know that it is kind of small and there are no traditional locker rooms.

What restaurants are at The Cooper?

The Cooper has four restaurants and bars: The Crossing (signature Mediterranean-Lowcountry restaurant, led by Chef Nick Dugan formerly of Sorelle), Bar Marti (guests-only poolside bar), and soon will open Cooper Coffee & Wine (boulangerie by day, wine bar by night), and CurrentBurger (retro diner with smash burgers).

How do I get free breakfast at The Cooper?

Book your stay through me as your luxury travel advisor and you’ll receive complimentary daily breakfast for two, a $100 property credit, complimentary room upgrade upon arrival when available, early check-in and late check-out when available, and VIP recognition. You can book yourself and get these perks simply by booking through my Travel Portal (password is JETSETTERS) or email [email protected] if you prefer!

What is the best room at The Cooper?

For couples, the Waterfront King with Balcony. For families, the Waterfront Double Queen with Balcony or a Waterfront One Bedroom Suite. For special occasions, the Presidential Suite. Always request a high floor, harbor-facing.

Is The Cooper good for a staycation if I live in Charleston?

Yes. Between the waterfront location, brand new spa, hotel-guests-only rooftop pool, and four restaurants, it is genuinely the best Charleston staycation I’ve done. You can walk to all your favorite local spots and still feel like you flew somewhere!!

Should You Book The Cooper?

If you are looking for a luxury hotel in Charleston with a waterfront view, a rooftop infinity pool, a serious spa, four genuinely great restaurants, and the best walkable location in the city, The Cooper is the move. Full stop. It is the most exciting hotel opening Charleston has had in years.

If you are a Charleston local who has been waiting for a staycation worth the splurge, this is it.

Book it through me to layer on the breakfast, the credit, the upgrade, and all the rest. I’ll personally make sure you’re recognized as a VIP on arrival, and I’ll send you my list of restaurants and reservations Charleston locals actually go to so you can do your trip like an insider.

Ready to book? Fill out this inquiry form here and I’ll help you plan your trip, or go directly to my travel portal (password: JETSETTERS) to book yourself with all my Virtuoso perks included. Or email me at [email protected] for the best rate and my insider Charleston list.

See you on the rooftop!

xx Christina

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