Candlewood Suites Ft Gregg-Adams - Petersburg - Hopewell, an IHG Hotel — Hotel in Hopewell

There were severe issues with housekeeping and the door key cards were incredibly annoying. In all, I will definitely never stay here again and will question ever staying at another Candlewood Suites anywhere ever again. ||||In the 58 days I stayed here, I went without housekeeping for 23 days straight. It was bad enough that mold and bacteria were growing in my shower, sink, and toilet. It was disgusting. I cleaned what I could with my own supplies, but there's only so much you can do with Clorox wipes. It was not rectified despite me complaining to the front desk every other day for weeks. I was also told it had been cleaned 2 weeks ago, which it blatantly had not. The trash hadn't been taken out, kitchen floor hadn't been swept, none of the towels had been swapped, the mold in the shower was still there, the toilet hadn't been cleaned, the toilet paper hadn't been restocked, no amenities were restocked, and the bed had not been made. I'm not sure what else they would have done that would constitute "cleaning". The only reason I didn't leave is because the person at the front desk in the evening went out of her way to swap towels, take out the trash, and refill amenitites. She did her best to make up the gaps, but she obviously couldn't abandon her actual job to do a thorough cleaning of my room. And even when I did receive housekeeping, they often forgot to replace towels, toilet paper, and trash bags and so I was still contacting the front desk for things on a weekly basis. I thought more than once about leaving but I kept thinking surely they were just having a bad day and it would get better, and by the time I decided it wasn't going to change, I was so close to leaving it didn't seem worth packing everything up just to have to do it again shortly after. I understand that the housekeeping staff was understaffed, but with all respect, as a customer, that is not my problem. IHG promises cleanliness and this hotel failed miserably. ||||In light of the cleaning issues, the key cards seem trivial, but it was still an incredibly annoying problem. The key card system is old and often would not properly program the card. The key cards would get wiped any time it came into contact with a credit card or cell phone, and sometimes it just stopped working for no apparent reason. I was also sometimes told that my card had expired. I'm here for 2 months, why was it set to expire before my checkout date? Regardless of why the card stopped working, it would happen every 3-4 days and I'd have to walk around the building to the front desk to get a new key card and then hope that the card actually worked on my door. Sometimes it didn't and I'd have to come back down, carrying all my work bags with me. I know I wasn't the only one affected by this, several of my colleagues made the same complaint. ||||Other things that were trivial but I feel deserve a mention. There's only 1 elevator, so when it goes down for 4-5 days as it did while I was there, stairs are the only way to access the second and third floor. If you're disabled, I would definitely request a first floor room. And the kitchen is not what I would call well-stocked. I had brought my own plates, cups, can opener, sharp knives, and other various kitchen implements and I was glad I did. They provided two small salad plates, a small juice glass, and a can opener so rusted I assumed it didn't work. I ended up buying cheap utensils to supplement the 1 fork, 2 spoons, and 3 knives provided by the hotel, and mostly used my own equipment (you're welcome to whomever gets my room next, I left what I purchased).||||I was quite busy while I was here and was rarely in the room. So maybe if I had been around more I would've made more noise about the issues or went through the trouble of getting a new hotel room, but I was incredibly busy and most of the hotels in the area were fully booked. So lesson learned for the future. Don't...

There were severe issues with housekeeping and the door key cards were incredibly annoying. In all, I will definitely never stay here again and will question ever staying at another Candlewood Suites anywhere ever again.

In the 58 days I stayed here, I went without housekeeping for 23 days straight. It was bad enough that mold and bacteria were growing in my shower, sink, and toilet. It was disgusting. I cleaned what I could with my own supplies, but there's only so much you can do with Clorox wipes. It was not rectified despite me complaining to the front desk every other day for weeks. I was also told it had been cleaned 2 weeks ago, which it blatantly had not. The trash hadn't been taken out, kitchen floor hadn't been swept, none of the towels had been swapped, the mold in the shower was still there, the toilet hadn't been cleaned, the toilet paper hadn't been restocked, no amenities were restocked, and the bed had not been made. I'm not sure what else they would have done that would constitute "cleaning". The only reason I didn't leave is because the person at the front desk in the evening went out of her way to swap towels, take out the trash, and refill amenitites. She did her best to make up the gaps, but she obviously couldn't abandon her actual job to do a thorough cleaning of my room. And even when I did receive housekeeping, they often forgot to replace towels, toilet paper, and trash bags and so I was still contacting the front desk for things on a weekly basis. I thought more than once about leaving but I kept thinking surely they were just having a bad day and it would get better, and by the time I decided it wasn't going to change, I was so close to leaving it didn't seem worth packing everything up just to have to do it again shortly after. I understand that the housekeeping staff was understaffed, but with all respect, as a customer, that is not my problem. IHG promises cleanliness and this hotel failed miserably.

In light of the cleaning issues, the key cards seem trivial, but it was still an incredibly annoying problem. The key card system is old and often would not properly program the card. The key cards would get wiped any time it came into contact with a credit card or cell phone, and sometimes it just stopped working for no apparent reason. I was also sometimes told that my card had expired. I'm here for 2 months, why was it set to expire before my checkout date? Regardless of why the card stopped working, it would happen every 3-4 days and I'd have to walk around the building to the front desk to get a new key card and then hope that the card actually worked on my door. Sometimes it didn't and I'd have to come back down, carrying all my work bags with me. I know I wasn't the only one affected by this, several of my colleagues made the same complaint.

Other things that were trivial but I feel deserve a mention. There's only 1 elevator, so when it goes down for 4-5 days as it did while I was there, stairs are the only way to access the second and third floor. If you're disabled, I would definitely request a first floor room. And the kitchen is not what I would call well-stocked. I had brought my own plates, cups, can opener, sharp knives, and other various kitchen implements and I was glad I did. They provided two small salad plates, a small juice glass, and a can opener so rusted I assumed it didn't work. I ended up buying cheap utensils to supplement the 1 fork, 2 spoons, and 3 knives provided by the hotel, and mostly used my own equipment (you're welcome to whomever gets my room next, I left what I purchased).

I was quite busy while I was here and was rarely in the room. So maybe if I had been around more I would've made more noise about the issues or went through the trouble of getting a new hotel room, but I was incredibly busy and most of the hotels in the area were fully booked. So lesson learned for the future. ...

I was in town to visit the Petersburg battlefield and museums. I did not realize the area was so run down, otherwise I probably wouldn't have stayed here. The room was a decent size, and Jasmine at the front-desk was absolutely delightful. There was plenty of parking, but the hotel is located at the edge of a very run-down strip mall. They even lock the front door after dark. Nobody explicitly said it was a very unsafe neighborhood, but I sure got that feeling. There was a sign on the outer front door stating that the public restroom was not available. I found that odd. Do hotels usually offer a public bathroom?

The room itself was not very clean, but then again it was a 2-star hotel. I wasn't expecting luxury. The hardwood floor on the kitchenette side was sticky, as if someone hadn't wiped it after cleaning, so I kept my white socks on. When I went to bed, I noticed that the bottom of my socks had turned black. There was also a strange smell in the 2nd floor hallway and in the room itself. It was a mixture of dampness and old food. I bought an air freshener at the Food Lion next door and it didn't really bother me after a while.

A few light switches, the coffee maker and TV remote were greasy, as if someone had touched them with buttery fingers. I didn't realize until I touched them the first time, so it was a surprise. The sheets and bathroom were clean though. The fixtures are all really outdated, but the shower had warm water with great pressure. I didn't bother trying the microwave or stove top, but the dishwasher was full of dishes that were cleaned and the fridge/freezer worked fine.

Then the disruptive upstairs neighbors woke me with their constant banging (I can only imagine they were either bowling or dumping bags of rocks on the floor) at 4:30am until well after I finally dragged myself out of bed at 7am. They had already been making a racket when I checked in at 6pm on a Friday. Jasmine texted me right after check in to see how the room was, and I let her know then. She was kind and pleasant and said they shouldn't cause any late night noise.

So when they woke me at 4:30am, I texted the number back. I was surprised to get an immediate response, a very apologetic acknowledgement of the disruptive neighbors. I hoped the other guests were just getting up in the middle of the night or heading out, but it was a constant banging for 2.5+ hours, with the fixtures or maybe the fridge shelves (or both?) rattling and clanking with every bang. I even recorded it on my phone and it was audible on the recording. I have never had such a horrible night's sleep at a hotel.

I have been an IHG member for nearly 10 years and have stayed at several Candlewood Suites. I was quite disappointed by this property though. Jasmine was the only 5-star aspect of my stay. She was...