I have narrowed it down to three hotels in the historic distric: the Hampton (on Bay St.) Staybridge Inn and the Holiday Inn Mulberry. Any comments or comparison of these three hotels?

Love the Hampton Inn - great location, service, rooms. Never stayed at either of others.

Another vote for he Hampton. When we found the Hampton booked for our dates stayed at the Doubletree near the Hampton. It is also very good.

Have you tried the Mansion?
http://www.mansiononforsythpark.com/

My personal favorite is the HI on Bay. The Staybridge is new and the Mulberry is older, but beautifully maintained. All three are near each other. I love the free breakfast at the Hampton. It has a small rooftop pool and good parking.

The Mansion is very nice, but much further away from most of the restaurants, etc.

I stayed at the HI on Mulberry, and while it is older - the service was great, and I didn't mind it. I moved there from the Westin (which is new and gorgeous), so I had a bit of culture shock, but it ended up being so charming, and so nice to walk around from - I got over it. That was a while ago though, so I'm not sure if it's still as nice (could actually be alot nicer....).....

I also stayed at the Mulberry and can recommend it. It isn't your typical Holiday Inn. The rooms were nice sized, the decor is lovely and the staff are very helpful. There is also a restaurant.

The restaurant offers a nice lunch buffet, usually serving fried chicken and southern style veggies as well as other items. The desserts are nice. We often go there for business lunches. The atmosphere is calm and genteel.

We really enjoyed Staybridge Suites, especially having the kitchen for coffee, cold beverages, etc.

We had a great stay at the Mulberry.