Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Lexington, VA — Hotel in Lexington

My family and I booked this trip as a place to stop and swim to break up a 10 hour drive for our kids. The day of the reservation we considered pushing through instead and called to ask if we could cancel. We were told no based on their 72 hour cancellation policy. Understandable, and we figured this was the universe's way of telling us that our kids needed a break anyway. Upon arrival, I checked in at the front desk. AFTER I checked in we were told the pool was broken which was the whole purpose of stopping. I asked the front desk person, "Sam" (I won't reveal her/his name as she/he was an innocent employee just doing their job), to cancel and refund our stay as the pool was unusable. Sam said they could not do this. I decided to call corporate to explain our position and ask that as a show of good customer service they refund our money. For the next hour I was on the phone with two different customer care people and Sam talked on speaker phone with me, with no resolution (for the first half hour they could not even find my reservation even though I was checked in). Throughout that time we did not enter our room; my children and husband sat in the hallway by our hotel room. After an hour of frustration I realized there was nothing I could do and gave in. We went into our room, were inside for 5-10 minutes, and my kids complained of being bored. So we checked out, left, and pushed through the rest of the trip. My biggest concern is how the general manager, Sara, handled this problem. When we talked on the phone the following week, her tone was accusatory and rude for the entirety of the call. At no point was she empathetic to the frustration of my hour+ trying to handle the problem at the hotel. Her tone and words indicated she was accusing me of lying and when I said that she told me not to put words in her mouth, but there was no other way to interpret what she was saying. She mentioned several times that she has been doing this job for over 18 years and "knows what people try to do." I guess implying that I had nefarious intentions? I tried to explain that I'm just a normal person who was in a frustrating situation and being honest about my experience but that did not help. She told me that I knew the pool was not working and shouldn't have checked in in the first place; I explained the OPPOSITE happened. I checked in and THEN was told it was not working. She told me that a normal person would not have left the lobby until my reservation was cancelled. I told her I tried for an hour to resolve it with various staff members. She questioned why my family sat outside our hotel room and "bothered guests." I apologized if we bothered anyone, we were quiet when I was present but then I left to go back to the front desk, but if so I sincerely apologize. I explained I just didn't want to enter the room hoping that the matter could be resolved. She said a normal person would not have brought in their luggage and unloaded it; we brought it in because we were checking in before we knew the pool was closed and then we never unloaded it...it was on the luggage cart the entire time. Several times she brought up video evidence of things, but in actuality what she was describing in the video matched what I was saying all along. I was shocked by her tone of voice and accusations throughout our call. At the end, I told her I was deeply disappointed by her lack of customer service and that I would be writing a review to reflect my honest experience of this. She told me I was blackmailing her. I was shocked. I didn't call and say "give me my money back or else I'm writing a bad review." I, in good faith, spent 15 minutes (which she reminded me of several times how long she had to keep talking about the "same problem" with me) trying to have an honest conversation with her and feel heard and respected. My review is a reflection of my honest experience knowing that my money is gone either way. At this point I am just hoping her manager can help her with customer service and empathy, because no one deserves to be spoken to in...

EDIT June 2025 Second review. I typically travel I-77/I-81 quite a bit so I often stop at some of the same towns overnight. This stay cost a whopping $191.97 after taxes/fees. Yes it was a Friday night, but I find that price to be absurd. Upon checking in, I asked if they had any hot tea set out, in which the desk clerk told me they didn't offer that anymore, because management found it to be not utilized and wasteful. I'm really still trying to figure out how having hot water out for tea is wasting anything. They also didn't have cookies out for the kids but when i asked about that she "found" some. Regardless of all this, we were tired, it was late, and we headed up to our room. As i pulled my bedspread back, I saw my sheet had numerous hairs and what looked to be a handprint (probably stained in but who knows?). I was on the verge of marching back downstairs but based on the time of night, just elected to remove the hair myself with a hand towel. I will ENSURE on future trips I remind myself NEVER to stay at this location again.

First I would like to say that finding a safe, yet affordable place to stay overnight is growing scarce in today's economy. Perhaps now is the time for businesses to compensate by trying to earn our return business but it seems like they do not want to put forth any extra effort to leave a great impression for the future. I paid $160 for a king room on a "flash" sale online late at night. It was 9 pm by the time I reserved a room to stop overnight within the hour. After taxes and fees, of course, this total was approximately $185.00. Before I booked, I also checked the box for a military rate on the hotels website, but there were no "special rates" available for military, so "flash sale" it was. The regular price AND rewards member price were both higher. Me and my daughter shared the king bed because a room with two queens was more expensive. We checked in about 5 minutes to 10pm and I asked what time the pool closed, which was of course at 10pm. Sure enough, right at ten they were telling the guests that were using the pool to vacate the area (we were walking to our room by then). The room was very clean and we slept well. Since it wad a weekend, breakfast lasted until 1030 so before we went to breakfast, I went to try the hot tub since we couldn't use the pool area the evening before. The hot tub looks like the inside hasn't been scrubbed out or cleaned properly for years. It made the water look a very murky green. The pool itself looked cleaner. The controls and timers for the hot tub also were not clear at ALL and missing labels, instructions etc and it took me several tried.to get it turned on. I was only wishing the amount of chlorine would kill any germs since I was determined to give my tired muscles 5 minutes of relaxation. I guess I got my daughter and I to breakfast right in the nick of time (1015), because promptly at 1030 they hang a little string blocking off the breakfast area and immediately begin tearing down the breakfast stations and removing food. I guess from a business perspective it's great they follow rules and timeliness, but it doesn't give the best impression to guests that they are not willing to be a little more accommodating timewise. No one was friendly particularly the employees manning the breakfast station and front desk. I had to ask for the bottled water meant for rewards members and the desk clerk look surprised that I asked. Be advised, they charge a $50 charge for incidentals and also according to their rules you initial at check-in, if you are "approved" for a late check-out, you are charged $15.00 for that as well. I'm shocked that this is how Radisson hotels choose to do business. I don't feel it was worth the money but it could always...

Well, so much for our 30th anniversary.....We called them from Virginia Beach on September 5, 2024 to book a room for the next night, September 6th, for my wife's and my 30th Anniversary. I did ask for a military discount as I'm a disabled vet & can't afford much, and she gave me a price of $139.00, so I booked the room. We were called back a few minutes later from the clerk on a personal cell phone telling me the price will now be $288.15, this after the clerk mistakenly booked us for tonight, the 5th, rather than tomorrow, Friday the 6th, which I didn't know she did at the time. She informed me VMI is having a reunion (Thank you all for your service) and since the clerk mistakenly booked it for the 5th, it took our room far past the Premium rate when booking it for Friday the 6th. I told them fine, I will pay the higher rate. I was hoping for good customer service, since the clerk made the mistake, wishing they could have honored the first rate and just took the loss. I wasn't happy and said I'd post my review. She seemed upset and I mentioned we do record our calls. I then posted the review out of frustration after the call, which I guess was a "threat" in their mind. 10 minutes after posting this, the clerk called me back and told me the owner directed her to call us back and advise us that we were no longer welcome to stay there, and they cancelled our reservation for leaving this review. So sorry it has gotten to this. A relative with an MBA in the hotel industry says this happens occasionally and the hotel always makes the customer out to be the bad guy when responding to reviews. But they are the ones who called us back to change the rate after the owner realized their booking mistake. Not sure where the threat accusation came from, (probably from telling the clerk we record our calls and would post a review on Google) but we really are peaceful folks. I'm a medically retired police officer. We wish them well, but I guess this is just what customer service is anymore..... We are just going to drive through the night instead of stopping now. They even generated a cancellation email for us. Thanks for listening.

Update: We see they responded with misinformation; we did not call back to change any date. We were very clear in the first call that we needed a room for Friday the 6th for our 30th anniversary, the 7th, although they accidentally booked it for the 5th.. Additionally, we did not tell them we were there to visit anything, to be closer to. Nicely played response though.... We...