The Commonwealth — Hotel in Richmond

In respect to the staff and overall management of the hotel, I have concerns. Some of the staff could be far more friendly - over the phone and in person. I sometimes had the impression that I was inconveniencing them by asking questions that anyone would ask, especially during their first stay at a property. The parking situation is confusing, and I understand that hotel staff has no control over outside construction, but they should expect to receive questions from guests - especially new guests. Had I been new to the city, this hotel’s location, along with the numerous one way streets would have been absolutely overwhelming. ||||Upon arrival, I was told which floor the ice machine was on, only to find out the next morning that the machine did not work. This is something the front desk 1. should have known and 2. should have communicated to me at check in.||||During the first evening of my stay, I used the bathroom, and the toilet continued to run 5 minutes after flushing it. I called the front desk and was told someone would be coming to check it out. After 15-20 minutes, I was still waiting and had received no updates. After managing to fix myself - which is not my job - I called the front desk, and it was as though I had never placed the original call. Terribly disappointing and unprofessional. I would also like to mention that the water in the shower was lukewarm at best. ||||I also have major concerns with the valet parking system. I needed to call for my car twice during my stay. Both times, I called as instructed, and I was told I could expect my car in 10-15 minutes. The first time, I waited every bit of 30 minutes, and this was especially frustrating as I had to be somewhere. The second time, I waited close to 20 minutes. Both times, I went downstairs only to realize my car had not been called for by the front. My frustration was compounded by the fact that 1. there was no one else other than myself waiting on a car and 2. staff members were standing around and talking, and it was not business related conversation. This is not what I paid for - especially for nearly $40 per night. ||||Additionally, if guests are required to request housekeeping services, I feel it is the job of the front desk to make guests aware of this policy. I was also disappointed that I could not take advantage of late checkout until 1 PM. This is a service advertised by the hotel. It was not until I arrived on the property that I learned that this is up to housekeeping. Again, this should be known to guests before they make a reservation and find out something different at check in, when they can no go longer opt to go somewhere. ||||In respect to the property itself, its perfect blend of history and old Richmond and modern art and amenities make it a true gem in the heart of downtown. The bed is incredibly comfortable, and I enjoyed two days of absolute peace and quiet. I also loved being able to walk a few yards to the state capitol grounds for my morning run. It would be a shame for the above mentioned issues to keep people from experiencing the wonderful things this property has to offer. Additionally, the amount of money a guest pays to stay at The Commonwealth makes these issues absolutely...

Never again.

Stayed there do to its location. Fool me once...

Let's start with the $12.99 breakfast buffet. I'm a big fan of breakfast, and had eagerly anticipated a delicious breakfast in the hotel's own restaurant. This turned out to be a HUGE disappointment. The breakfast potatoes were cold, as was every single item on the "hot" menu. The French Toast was beyond pitiful. I took one bite and dropped it on the plate in disgust. I asked my husband about his waffle.

He said, "It's awful. Just awful."

So then we moved on to the muffins. They were worse than the French Toast and waffles. We both had orange juice and I told the hubby, "I swear, I think we're drinking Tang." He replied, "It's doesn't taste much like orange juice."

An older gent waited on us and whipped up some scrambled eggs for me. They were delicious. But they weren't worth $12.99.

Let's talk about the room. It was cheaply remodeled and that was very evident. The floors felt squishy when you walked across them. They were engineered wood floors, and I think it was just a crummy install job. Plus, the threshold between the bedroom (carpet) and hall (wood floors) had nails sticking up. I made the mistake of stepping on that threshold and impaled my delicate feet on those nails. Very, very painful.

In the bathroom, there was a chunk of plaster coming off the wall, and the bathroom just looked dirty and unclean. The bidet had stains on it. No way my bum was getting close to that thing.

On to the living room: When we pulled out the sofa bed, we found nothing but a bare mattress. We had to call down to the desk and ask for sheets and blankets. There were none in the room.

As to noise - there's a lot of it. The hotel is on a major bus line and it's at the foot of a hill, and there are always diesel buses going by, straining mightily to make it up that hill. The windows are drafty and it sounds like you're 10 feet away from the bus. Loud doesn't begin to describe it.

One last word of warning: If you're not a fan of elevators and/or small spaces, you're in real trouble. The elevators are unlike anything I've ever seen. There's only room for two people on the elevators, and maybe they'll fit three people if you're all really, really friendly with each other.

I'm so very disappointed in this place. It's a beautiful old building, but something happened to it...

We were traveling home from South Carolina and booked and paid for this hotel about two weeks in advance for our last night on our way home. We are a family of five with three kids and we booked a suite with two queen beds and a pull out sofa to make sure everyone can sleep.

We arrived late around 10:30pm after calling the hotel earlier in the day to verify our reservation and notify the hotel we will be arriving late.

We got up to our room on the 7th floor to find out there is only ONE BED in the room. Five people. One bed.

The front desk manager was rude and unhelpful. Said number of beds is not guaranteed (!!!! Five people. ONE BED!!!) and the hotel is booked and there is nothing she could do. The hotel had no rollaway beds and nothing to offer us except two pillows and a blanket.

The room was nice and spacious and very comfortable but spending the night with three children with one bed was not my idea of fun. Neither of us got any sleep and we have an eight hour drive home after a sleepless night.

Tracey was rude and unhelpful and did not even try to come up with a solution. Her only idea of compensation is not charging us the $15 for parking.

The hotel has two TINY elevators and coming down from the seventh floor with our luggage took over an hour. Only three people can fit in each elevator or two with one suitcase. We had to engineer the kids and luggage and they ended up waiting alone in the lobby for over half hour while I was trying to get down with the luggage. The most infuriating thing other than the room fiasco was that 5 elevators passed full of service and maintenance staff with garbage and towels and none of them even considered getting out of the elevator and letting the guests come down. Absolutely ridiculous.

Nice rooms. Terrible service from hell. Rude and unprofessional. Certainly not a $250/night hotel. I’m extremely upset and disappointed. The end of our vacation was ruined and we are now driving home after a completely sleepless night. Unacceptable and unprofessional.

I will never...