We stayed at the Homewood Suites Charlotte North/University Research Park. Booked through expedia. There is breakfast included but the pool is outdoors.
There are a cluster of hotels in the area and a bunch of food options, but not many gas bars in the area. UNC-Charlotte is right there if you're into exploring universities.
It's off of I-85 so it's a slight detour from the I-77 route but I think the prices were a bit lower here versus I-77 so I felt the deviation was acceptable.