Willis Graves Bed & Breakfast — Hotel in Burlington

Rarely do I write negative reviews about bed and breakfasts. Why? Because I myself own a BnB and I do BnB consulting (I help other BnB's become more successful) for a living. If anyone knows how hard it is to build a 5 star property consistently, it is me. I have run three BnB's (all top rated) in three different markets.

My issue with Willis Graves is this. I made a reservation back in January for one of the two luxury cabin rooms. (In my opinion these are the two rooms that clearly stand out). The night of my reservation I called Jennifer from the airport to say that my flight was delayed and that I would be arriving later than anticipated. She said that wouldn't be an issue and proceeded to give me instructions on how to access my room. As I listened carefully to the instructions, it became obvious that my room had been changed. (I was downgraded to a room inside the house and no longer in the cabin). I questioned her about this and she said she had changed my room to the house because two quests from AirBnB (I subsequently learned that these two guests were from AirBnB management) were staying three nights and she didn't want to have to clean my room the next day and force the guests to relocate. She never asked me whether I was ok with changing rooms. She never apologized and she never offered to comp my room. I was appalled. At that point, I decided I would not confront Jennifer but I would stay at another property, one I had already booked for later in the week.

When I texted her to say that I was changing my reservation to another property, she finally offered to move me back to my original room. But by then, it was too late, I had already booked another BnB (the Gaslight Inn which I would highly recommend) and the excitement for staying at Willis Graves had been tarnished.

To date, Jennifer has not apologized. What's more, she has maintained my deposit and closed out my reservation.

Maybe this is an amazing property. The reviews suggest it is and the website surely reinforces that. But as a professional in this industry, I know that hospitality is the cornerstone of our industry. What happened to me should never happen to a guest. Not once, not ever!

What's most ironic is that in the confirmation email I received from Willis Graves it says this, "The world doesn't revolve around you ... except when you are here." It appears that is more motto...

First off, the breakfast and staff were amazing! However, I was not impressed by my room, location, or amenities.

My room defined as deluxe was small and contained but a queen size bed. Sure, the bathroom contained an oversized jetted tub but that was the only highlight of my room. The room felt more like an ordinary bedroom than what I would expect for a "deluxe" B&B room. More disappointing was the room contained no thermostat meaning no personal temperature control. In the afternoon I wasn't cool enough even with the desk fan provided. Overnight the fan was too noisy and I eventually turned it off because my room became too cold. While I was provided with two delicious homemade cookies, the snacks and canned drinks in the fridge were advertised as $2 each. Too expensive, especially considering Krogers is up the road. Many other bed & breakfasts provide free snacks and drinks all day. Water was provided downstairs but it's quite annoying to have continually go downstairs for water. The location only made the issues I had more glaring. I expected to get some R&R in a deluxe room, never wanting to leave. With the issues I had with the B&B all I wanted to do was leave but there was nowhere really to go. Local restaurants and shopping are scarce. If I wanted to visit Cincinnati, I would've just stayed there.

Overall, I was unimpressed. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. In comparison to other B&Bs it was mediocre. If the price for my stay was lower I may have been less critical because my expectations would've been lower. Other places with similar prices have been better and offered more which is unfortunate because I loved the staff and breakfast. I won't be back anytime soon and undecided whether I would give it...

The owners (Nancy & Bob) and the staff, were simply amazing! I have never experienced such wonderful, accomodating, hospitable, generous & friendly hosts as we experienced at Burlington's Willis Graves B&B!! We were fortunate enough to get the experience of an evening's stay in the Willis Graves suite and all of the amenities it has to offer. It is impossible to decide which amenity was our favorite!!! The steam shower, luxurious bath robes, enormous zaccuzi tub, dimmable bathroom lighting, personal espresso machine, fireplace, luxurious canopy bed & linens, emmaculant, gorgeous landscaping, immpeccable back porch overlooking the marsh leading through the field with surrounding wild life, the heavenly fragrance of lilac bushes wafting through the air, the delicious gourmet breakfast of fresh fruit & Crème Brulee French toast served exactly to our liking along with friendly conversation among the guests & staff or the plate of freshly homemade chocolate chip cookies that Nancy greeted us with, when we arrived! I felt so pampered and even though we only stayed for one night, I felt refreshed as if we had stayed a week! We have stayed at many B&B's, Inn's, Cottages, Chalets & hotels throughout the years but Willis Graves is by far, the best place we've ever had the privilege of staying! I can't say enough about how amazingly, awesome this place is! And even though it's well worth any distance one would have to travel in order to experience what Willis Graves B&B has to offer, I love the fact that it is only 20 minutes from our home...