Residence Inn by Marriott Richmond Chester — Hotel in Hopewell

I'm normally not someone to write negative reviews, but I think people need to know the state of disrepair this hotel has been in recently. I checked in for a 7 month stay with my cat, and my expectations were working appliances, working A/C, and no mice/bugs. The reviews and location seemed great. I got a studio on the second floor, dropped all my bags, and checked out the room. There were 2-3 ants on the counter, which didn't bug me much. I put away (unopened) dry goods I had brought with me, and went to bed for the night. I woke up to about 700 ants covering the kitchen in a trail up the cabinet where I had put my unopened food. I panicked, called front desk, thinking that they would do something about it. They told me they were sorry for my inconvenience. They said they knew some of the rooms had ant problems, that they could give me some clorox wipes, but otherwise they couldn't do anything about it. I was surprised, and told them to get me out of this room, into an ant free one, or I was moving out.

They upgraded me to a one bedroom on the third floor since there were no more studios left. Couple days later the cabinet fell of the wall. Someone came in the next day and repaired it. I started noticing brown water on the floor of the bathroom, cleaned it up to confirm it wasn't the cat, and the wall felt damp up to the ceiling, where there was fresh paint on the seams. I hadn't showered yet that day, so it was coming from somewhere else. I vacuumed the room after I'd been there a couple days, and there was a solid inch of dust under the bed, and lots of trash. I also noticed in the ground floor hallways there were ceiling drips onto the carpet.

I wasn't terribly bothered until I found an ant on my bed. I looked around, and assumed it was an oddball that had come in on my shoe, since I couldn't find any others. That next morning, I woke up, grabbed my slippers next to the bed, and they were covered in ants. They were in my bedroom, where food hadn't been my entire stay, masked by the pattern of the carpeting. I moved out to another hotel that day.

I was thoroughly surprised by my stay, as I've traveled with the Marriott brand a lot, and even the partly outdoor hotels in Hawaii were very clean. I paid Marriott prices to not deal with Econo-Lodge problems. I just don't want others to have to move 3 times like I did.

I'll admit that the desk attendants were very friendly, and understand they were limited in how they could respond. They were very helpful for other aspects of my stay. The internet was fast. That's about it. Ended up moving to the Candlewood Suites and have been...

Update 10/1/2023: Phoebe was amazing in tending to my inconvenience. She informed her supervisor and i was awarded 2009 bonus points. She was so professional, patient in listening, apologetic and so kind. Thank you so much Pheobe!!

initial post 9/30/2023: I would give this hotel 5 stars but I did not feel valued as a customer with my reservation at all. I booked 2-2bedroom suites weeks ago and also confirmed with a manager on friday at 1:40pm that the rooms would be near each other and the manager confirmed that the rooms would be across from each other . When i checked in yesterday, they handed me the keys to room 132 and 332! It was explained to me that there was a wedding that took place and one of the guests extended their stay in the second suite across from mine. I was livid! Not only did they not value and respect me as a customer, it was handled so carelessly, as if the wedding guests were more important. All guests are important and the proper thing that should have taken place was when the wedding guest asked for an extension, they should have been explained that the suite was prior reserved for Saturday and that they could extend their reservation but they would need to be placed into a different room to respect the incoming guests. Due to our room being on seperate floors 1 & 3, all evening long I was up and down the halls transporting food, bags, drinks and everything for our families, with children!! I had to cook in one room then transport the remaining to cook in the other room. Split the drinks, desserts, then because we were not across the hall after swimming and everything I had to divide the leftovers and transport for the night hours extra food and snacks. It was exhausting as hell and I was so irritated at how they handled this situation and did not follow through with what was requested and promised to me from the manager. Beautiful clean hotel, awesome customer service and staff so it is a recommended hotel but they need to do things properly and accordingly for all guests. That is key! Because i was utterly inconvenienced last night and hell would have rather paid for 3-4 single rooms next to each other at a different hotel if I would have been informed they couldn't deliver...

Terrible Stay, Horrific Follow-Up, Wedding Party Stay Disaster

Reserved large block of rooms, conference room, etc. as a base for guests during wedding weekend. Poor communication and follow up when management changed hands to Mr. Gilbert Capate. Arrived to 2BR suite Friday night, had a heavy odor like Chinese food, shrugged it off. Did not appear very clean/disinfected/wiped down. Shower in BR 1 not functional- completely clogged, as we discovered Sat. morning- day of he wedding. That left 4 adults scrambling to use 1 shower. 3 of the 4 of us were in the wedding, so did not have the luxury of time. Returned late Sat night, go to bed. Arise early Sunday knowing the shower situation, tried to be first to the only working shower to discover it CRAWLING WITH MULTIPLE BUGS. Go down to the front desk to show photos and video of said shower, to have the woman tell me “oh that’s nasty!” but there was nothing she could do since a manager was not on site. So for an almost $500 hotel bill I have 4 people with no way to shower after a late night of wedding festivities. We were so frustrated we packed our stuff and went home feeling gross. After almost TWO MONTHS of attempting to follow up with the manager, Gilbert Capate, he emailed me that he was offering 15k Marriott points (essentially, one night at a lower level Fairfield) for my “inconveniences.” This was more than inconvenience, this was disgusting! He claimed to have deposited the points into my Bonvoy account on May 2. When I questioned him almost three weeks after he claimed to have deposited the points, he went radio silent…AGAIN. Finally, I called Marriott customer service, to be told he’d not deposited anything. They immediately took action and issued me points and apologized for such a poor experience.

Management of this hotel is dishonest and unresponsive. This place is disgusting, please, go elsewhere. If you are hosting a wedding nearby, such as at The Barns at Kanak, seriously, save yourself the trouble and go with another property, even if it means a longer drive. This place was a nightmare. Oh, and the guests that stayed at THIS hotel? We all came home with the bonus of being COVID...