Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Fredericksburg South (I-95), VA — Hotel in Fredericksburg

Continued from KC.HIETT:

At one point, we requested a different office chair for our room since ours was broken and our children attend school virtually and needed a place to do their schoolwork. I didn’t feel like this was a big ask but was told by the cleaning staff that she couldn’t swap our chair out with another room and that I needed to ask the main desk. I then wheeled the chair down to the managers office to which I was met with multiple questions from Amy King to assure we knew the proper way to operate an office chair before deciding that the chair was in fact broken.

When I further inquired about the temperature of the pool, she abrasively maintained that the pool was 82 degrees but said that she would have maintenance check it out….

However, considering the condition of our room as well as the lack of professionalism and hospitality, I honestly didn’t have much faith that it would be resolved during the remainder of our stay. My children were extremely disappointed because we actually canceled another reservation at a hotel in Stafford (which was much closer to where my husband was actually working) on account of the larger supposedly heated pool & jacuzzi (by the way, the jacuzzi is also drained and not in service and apparently hasn’t been for 6months. There is also no hot water for the pool shower, the heater for the room is broken and the phone in the pool area has no dial tone) and seemingly more reasonable pet fee which I’ll get to shortly.

The maintenance man later assured me that it was 82 degrees and decided to give me a mini condescending lecture on body temperature and how water can feel cold when our core temperature is 98 degrees…

I feel that I should mention that I am originally from Florida & grew up swimming in springs, we currently reside in coastal Nc, we have a pool in our backyard and I have been a caregiver and worked in home health. I am educated and very familiar with swimming in chilly water as are my children and I need very little council on body temperature nor the effects of over exposure to cold water. The temperature in the windowed room was 72degrees (the outside nightly temperature was in the 40s-50s) and the pool heater wasn’t turned on. The water was dangerously cold. Do not allow your children to swim in it without checking it yourself first.

We made a call to the reservation number to report the pool and were assured someone would be sent out to fix it. With all things considered, I was glad to see it fixed by Thursday evening and enjoyed being able to safely swim as a family.

As for check out, we received our bill and a $25 per day charge for our pets totaling $150. When we booked, we asked multiple times and were told it was a one time fee (which was a deciding factor in our stay as I mentioned above). This was double the amount of the other hotel and had we known, we never would have made the reservation!

We of course tried to peacefully dispute it on our way out and were told that it was Sunday and that the manger Amy King could not be reached at that time because she doesn’t answer her phone on the weekends. We of course called to leave a message for Amy in addition to the number we made the reservation with and took the necessary steps for our call to be reviewed. They said it would take 4-6days and they would get back to us.

Amy however left a message today saying that she wasn’t willing to negotiate any amount of the pet fee.

To be clear, we aren’t asking for our stay to be compensated. We are solely committed to never staying in another one of these hotels again (especially this one).

We are however hoping that someone within this corporation has enough integrity to allow us to pay the fee we were originally told. In our opinion, it’s the very least they can do after ruining what should of been a relaxing week...

Short Review: Do yourself a favor and stay somewhere else, esp if you have kids! The floors were filthy upon check in, our chair was broken, there was various types of human hair left in the tub, the bathroom fan wasn’t working (causing excessive humidity in our room), there was dog defecation everywhere on the grounds outside the hotel & inside the dog park and no bags available for clean up to which we informed the staff. Thankfully, we brought our own but had to buy more while we were there. In addition, the jacuzzi was broken, the “heated” pool (which was one of our main deciding factors), was dangerously cold the first few days and our pet fee was outrageous. We inquired about the pool multiple times to management & staff to which we were assured by maintenance that it was 82 degrees; it was not. We then made a call to corporate to which they had many people on the grounds the following day and by Thursday evening, the pool was finally warm enough for all of us to swim safely. The front desk & kitchen staff (especially Gill) are awesome & the breakfast is pretty good but not worth returning for. We will never stay at another one of these hotels again. Extended Review: My husband travels for business fairly often and we homeschool so we’ve stayed in many hotels over the years. Most of which have been great experiences with the exception of a couple to include this Country Inn & Suites. I will say that if this rating was based on the friendliness of the majority of the staff, especially that of Gill who prepares the morning breakfast- it would have been a much higher rating! He was wonderful, friendly, professional & accommodating in every aspect and we are so grateful for him. Unfortunately his gift for hospitality is lost on this place. I sincerely hope that whoever reads this offers him a higher position because he absolutely deserves it! This rating is instead based entirely on the quality of the hotel, the lack of maintenance of the grounds and the lack of professionalism of the manger Amy King. With that considered, if it were possible to give negative stars, I would. Upon check in, the floors were filthy dirty and in no time my children’s feet were black. I brought along some cleaning supplies to sanitize our room due to covid but had no idea the extent I would be cleaning. There was dried urine on the back of the toilet and human hair of various sorts in our tub! We are a military family so I am quite use to having to improvise, adapt & overcome so that is what I did. Had I known all that would ensue during our week long stay, I would have made more effort to take pictures and thoroughly document our experiences to submit to corporate office. This place is a dump! At one point, we requested a different office chair for our room since ours was broken and our children attend school virtually and needed a place to do their schoolwork. I didn’t feel like this was a big ask but was told by the cleaning staff that she couldn’t swap our chair out with another room and that I needed to ask the main desk. I then wheeled the chair down to the managers office to which I was met with multiple questions from Amy King to assure we knew the proper way to operate an office chair before deciding that the chair was in fact broken. When I further inquired about the temperature of the pool, she abrasively maintained that the pool was 82 degrees but said that she would have maintenance check it out…. However, considering the condition of our room as well as the lack of professionalism and hospitality, I honestly didn’t have much faith that it would be resolved during the remainder of our stay.

Out of room, I’ll write the rest of my review from my...

Long and Detailed Review from a Fur-Parent!

I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to staying in your Country Inn & Suites, in Fredericksburg, South. I arrived after midnight after a long trip cross-country from Los Angeles, traveling down from DCA, heading back to Richmond. My service dog Bonnie and I were tired and needed a place to rest and your hotel had the most easily accessible accommodations off of I-95. With that said, the 2 wonderful women on the night shift greeted Bonnie and I , with open arms. They were both absolutely amazing and provided excellent customer service and were able to get us into a room in a matter of minutes. I was actually a walk in because I wanted to make sure that you guys had rooms available. They were able to handle and accommodate for us without question, especially at such a late hour. The room was clean and spacious, with a very pleasant smell.

As Bonnie and I woke up the next morning, we had an incredible realization that you guys had a dog park attached to the hotel. As a 25 year retired Army Major and a proud fur father of an amazing service dog, I couldn't be more excited to have an opportunity for her to run around in your dog park. It might seem like a very simple thing, but traveling across the United States like I had over the past few months, it's been a struggle to find a place to get Bonnie some exercise and run around without traveling miles out of the way. The fact that your hotel is so pet friendly should be one of the main advertising points for your business model, especially since you are right off one of the main north/south highways on the east coast. I have never stayed at a hotel that had a dog park attached to it. Please understand that it's such a huge huge benefit when it comes to traveling as fur parents.

The hotel itself is immaculate, I have absolutely no issues with how wonderful it looked, and I've stayed in over a dozen hotels right in the past few months. and thousands over my period of time in the military. I have been a very loyal Radisson member with over a million Radisson points which should give you an understanding of how much I love this brand.

With all that said, Ms. Shawdell Green, the Hotel General Manager, has an incredible hotel staff with an impeccable team focused on customer service. The challenge that most people are running into in business today is the customer are incredibly persnickety and quick to complain versus compliment. Ms. Green provided a deep knowledge on the needs of her consumers and clients and made sure that knowledge and customer care was passed down to her staff.

I hope this review helps with your decision to stop and stay at this hotel, especially if your a fur-parent. If you have any issues during your stay, Ms Green, as she did for me, will address those issues as quickly as you bring it to her and her staffs' attention. And no, I promise, this is a genuine and honest review and I was not paid or compensated for this. Ms Green's care and love for her hotel just moved me enough to share...