Expect average
Written: Aug 09 '03 (Updated Jul 31 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice room, great location, nice pools
Cons: Noisy hallway, lackluster maid service
The Bottom Line: Be wary of rooms numbered 280s due to closeness of indoor pool.
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| rrogersweather's Full Review: Quality Inn Historic Area |
Jan. 2005 Update: This hotel has been converted to a Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott. This is not a review of the current Quality Inn Historic Area on Bypass Road. The company that now owns the former Quality Inn Historic Area also runs the Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, and the 1-year old Holiday Inn Express in Williamsburg.
ORIGINAL REVIEW
Our seven-night stay at the Quality Inn Historic Area in Williamsburg, Virginia, occurred in August 2003.
We reserved one of nine two-room suites in the hotel that included two bathrooms, two TV’s, two double beds, a sofa-bed, a microwave, a small refrigerator, iron and ironing board, and two heat/air units. The room was on the second floor adjacent to the indoor pool. The suite appeared to be two regular rooms that had been combined together to make a suite. Having two bathrooms, despite the fact that the bathrooms were rather small, helped tremendously and is an amenity not found at most lodging facilities in Williamsburg.
As I mentioned, our room was near the entrance to the indoor pool. The first thing we noticed when we arrived and got off the elevator to go to our room was a strong smell of chlorine and high humidity in the hallway. We became very concerned that the room would be similar, but our fears dissolved when we opened the door to the room and everything was acceptable. The bedroom portion of the suite was separated by two doors from the living area. Each room came with its own set of keys, also. By the way, the locks on the doors are electronic.
MORE INFO ABOUT THIS HOTEL: The Quality Inn Historic is run by the Newport Hospitality Group (as of August 2003). The homepage for properties run by this group in Williamsburg is www.williamsburg.net. An unnamed source told us that the Quality Inn Historic is going up for sale soon, as was evidenced by the surveyors who were surveying the outside of the building while we were there. The Newport Hospitality Group recently sold the Clarion Hotel in Williamsburg, which was widely known for poor quality. Currently, NHG runs the Quality Inn Historic, the Quality Suites, Ramada Inn 1776, Hampton Inn & Suites Richmond Rd., Howard Johnson Hotel on Pocahontas Trail, the Comfort Inn & Suites (which is very close to the Quality Inn Historic), and the Quality Inn Lord Paget. The NHG office is located on the first floor of the Quality Inn Historic.
The Quality Inn Historic connects to the Quality Suites via a crosswalk from the second floor of the inn to the third floor of the suites. Quality Suites guests have access to the indoor pool at the inn through the crosswalk. However, guests at the inn do not have access to the new, but small exercise room at the Quality Suites. (Williamsburg.net advertises that the Quality Inn Historic has an exercise room, but it does not.) Therefore, the indoor pool was always very crowded as it was being used by guests at both establishments. This contributed to the noise in the second floor hallway. The indoor pool was nice, however, with a whirlpool tub as well.
The noise in the hallways was nearly constant from about 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. For one thing, the doors to the room have a gap underneath that allows the sound to penetrate into your room. Even people walking by talking at a normal level can sound quite loud when you’re in your room.
The building that our room was in appeared older than the front building. The front building houses more rooms and the front desk, and is most visible from Richmond Rd. It was very difficult to walk from the lobby to our room without going outside as the only connection between the two buildings was through the indoor pool. When the pool closes, you must go outside to get to or from your room if you are staying in the older building. With the pool closing during thunderstorms and the usual closing at 11:00 p.m., we found ourselves walking out in the rain a few times to get to our room.
The hotel is also home to Rosie Rumpe’s Dinner Theater (http://www.rosierumpes.com), which we did not attend, so I cannot comment on it. However, the theater does cause the parking lot to fill up. The parking problem is alleviated because the lots of the Quality Suites, the Quality Inn Historic, and the Comfort Inn & Suites all connect.
CUSTOMER SERVICE: The service at the Quality Inn Historic was generally above average. The front desk attendants were almost always very helpful, both over the phone and in person. When we first arrived in our suite, we noticed that a few of the light bulbs had burned out, so we brought it to the attention of the front desk, and someone came to fix it within 30 minutes. The maid service was lacking in some areas, however. For example, they did not always replace our coffee packets each day, they did not vacuum the room during our stay, they did not always leave hand towels, and one day, they did not leave enough toilet tissue. The beds were always made up, though, and I would not rate the maid service as poor because we always had enough soap and shampoo.
CONDITION OF THE ROOM: Our suite was rather nice with excellent furniture, nice wallpaper and carpet. The two TV sets were smaller than you would expect in a suite (about 16 or 19”), but there were two, and that was a bonus. The bathtubs did not appear to have had a thorough cleaning when we arrived, but they were not exceptionally dirty, either. For example, there were calcium buildups on the faucets. Each tub had a soap dish hanging on the wall of the tub in a rather odd location—it was about five feet above the floor of the tub. I hit my shoulder on it the first night, and on the last night after I had turned the water on, I stood up, and hit the side of my head on the corner of it. I have never seen a soap dish so high!
AMENITIES: As stated above, there was a nice indoor pool. In addition, there was a clean, gated outdoor pool and a nice, but small playground, also. The outdoor pool and playground are also shared by the Quality Inn Historic and the Quality Suites. The outdoor pool’s deepest end was only 6 feet.
All rooms are located off of interior hallways. They lock the entrance to the building at night so that anyone without a room key cannot enter the building. The free continental breakfast exceeded my expectations. The only hot food was biscuits and gravy, but there were plenty of other foods to choose from—orange juice, apple juice, yogurt, instant grits, instant oatmeal, muffins, Danishes, cinnamon rolls, cereals, and coffee. The breakfast staff worked hard to make sure that nothing ran out.
LOCATION: The location of the Quality Inn Historic is one of the best in Williamsburg. It is convenient to all the major activities—only about a mile from the edge of Colonial Williamsburg and the College of William & Mary, about five miles from Busch Gardens and Water Country USA, about 8 miles from Jamestown, and it’s right on the main strip of Richmond Rd., where most of the restaurants and shops outside of Colonial Williamsburg are located. It is also near Bypass Rd., which has a few shops and a Cracker Barrel, Golden Corral, and miniature golf. Restaurants on Richmond Rd. near the hotel include Denny’s, Friendly’s, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Fireside Chophouse, Aberdeen Barn, Applebee’s, Pizza Hut, IHOP (right next to Quality Inn), and the list goes on. And, the restaurants in Colonial Williamsburg are not far away, either. The only problem with the location is that it is very close to the unusual intersection of Bypass Rd. and Richmond Rd. Therefore, it was often very hard to take a left out of the hotel’s entrance because of its close proximity to the traffic light.
Overall, I would say that the hotel is average--it excels in some areas and falls short in others.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
rrogersweather
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Location: Georgia, USA
Reviews written: 28
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
I like to write reviews about travel and electronics!
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