Williamsburg Woodlands Hotel & Suites

We have stayed here many times before but was disappointed with our stay this year. No microwaves or WIFI availability in guest rooms only WIFI access was in lobby area, no working ice machines on any floor, and mediocre breakfast offerings. Front desk staff were awesome and helpful. With the change from free to paid parking lots around Colonial Williamsburg and restaurants in that area, it was more expensive to enjoy Colonial Williamsburg and the shopping and restaurants in the Market Square area so more time spent outside of that area and out on Richmond Rd at those restaurants and the outlets and souvenir shops this trip. Recommend using the free WATA shuttles (9a-9p M-Sat, 9-6 Sun) from the visitor center to Colonial Williamsburg area (Route 15) to save money on parking fees in that area.

The staff I spoke with were friendly and very helpful and that’s about it. The room is in desperate need of an update (that goes for the entire hotel). Sections of the road around the building are littered with pot holes and are hard to see at night. The bed was serviceable had no issues sleeping. The shower was fine however I’m pretty sure they watered down the soap. On to breakfast. I paid an extra $4 on my reservation for breakfast, save yourself the money and time and go somewhere else. Stale eggos and sad hard boiled eggs are some of the few items you will find in the limited selection of breakfast foods.

This was not our first stay at The Woodlands, nor will it be our last. We love staying in a suite, since it gives us even more room during our ten day stay. The perk of receiving CW tickets with our longer stay was great! Also, The Woodlands is the only CW hotel that is next to the Visitor Center and the CW buses, which is very convenient.

Mattress was very, very firm and Continental breakfast is completely cold. Was not a comfortable stay. Location is beautiful and staff is wonderful however.

My family has just returned from our eighth stay at The Woodlands in the last several years and noticed a significant decline in many areas. We would not stay there again unless things change. I did fill out the survey from the hotel and heard back from the manager, who apologized again, as well as escalated our experience in an email to Colonial Williamsburg. I received a confirmation email and was told they would respond in 3-5 business days. Since it has been almost double that time period and I have heard nothing, I am writing this review. In April, we reserved two adjoining rooms for October 3-5. On September 4, we called to see if we could extend the visit and arrive a day earlier with the adjoining rooms. We were assured that it would not be a problem and the rooms would be adjoining. Our daughter has special needs, so it was important to us that the rooms be adjoining – we would not have extended the stay if it was not possible. When we arrived on Thursday to check in, we were told that the rooms were across the hall from each other (they were actually next to each other). When I pointed out that we had confirmed they were adjoining, we were told that no adjoining rooms were available due to the students from William & Mary who are staying there until their dorms are completed. Cameron checked us in, he was very polite but I could see this issue was beyond what he could change. I later spoke with Paula, the manager that night. She was also polite, professional and frustrated that the students were still staying there beyond the original deadline. She told me that the call center took our September call and confirmed adjoining rooms when they should have transferred the call directly to the front desk. Everyone at the hotel was professional and polite and frustrated that their hands were basically tied, which is why I tried to escalate to Colonial Williamsburg. On Friday morning, I returned from breakfast (which has gone further downhill, more on that below) to find a giant cockroach in the bathtub in our room (see picture). After killing it, we went to the front desk and spoke with Jasmine, the manager for the day. She offered to wash any clothing, had housekeeping thoroughly clean the room again and took a night off our bill for that room. If I had been able to find other accommodations, I would have checked out and gone elsewhere but due to family weekend at William & Mary, nothing was available. The morning of checkout, there was a large centipede in the tub (see picture). Just outside the room, there were a number of bugs near the ceiling in the hallway (see picture). I have never experienced issues with cleanliness or bugs before at The Woodlands, but it is gross to stay somewhere and encounter this many. I was very glad we were leaving. We did let the front desk know at checkout. The breakfast no longer includes hot sandwiches, just “hot” pastries held under a heat lamp. The fruit cups are gone, only oranges, apples and bananas. The first morning, there were so many fruit flies on one of the bananas with a gash in it that I showed the woman who was in charge of breakfast and told her I was throwing it out. It made eating any of the other fruit unappetizing due to the amount of fruit flies flying around. The cereals are no longer individual, meaning they also were affected. There were grinds in the coffee and open containers of yogurt in the fridge. Between the lack of quality and cleanliness issues, we didn’t even eat breakfast there the second morning. The Woodlands is very tired, it needs a significant overhaul – our shower head had mold on it, the sink wouldn’t drain properly, the last few rooms we have stayed in have had issues including chipped tiles/counters in the bathroom, wallpaper coming off the walls, sagging baseboard “mouldings” and holes in the coverlets. The fact that there are no king rooms connected to double rooms (the ideal set up for a family) boggles my mind. The beds are doubles, not queens, and not comfortable to sleep in as a couple. I can appreciate that the hotel staff was put into a difficult position with students from the university staying unexpectedly, but we did not receive a phone call in advance to let us know we wouldn't get adjoining rooms nor were we paying less or being compensated in any other way for our inconvenience. It seems that Colonial Williamsburg has farmed out some areas it used to have more control over to the detriment of visitors. The shuttles are now run by WATA with rude drivers and shorter running hours and the restaurants have become so expensive that they are basically out of reach for a lot of families. Very disappointing.