Aloft Richmond West Short Pump — Hotel in Short Pump

This was not a good stay AT ALL.... being that this is a Marriott chain, we weren’t not worried at all, however, our experience was terrible the minute we hit the elevators and continues to get worse each day we were there. The ONLY good thing about this hotel, is the location. Day 1-Check In: we checked in, and i reconfirmed with the front desk if the hotel had been deep cleaned again as i have severe allergies to cats and wanted to make sure any possible cat dander was vacuumed up (we stayed in a pet friendly room, as we had our 4 lb. dog with us). The front desk employee informed us that she made sure the maid service re-cleaned but also followed our request to have a room that has not been occupied in 2 days in an effort be extra cautious due to COVID-19. She informed us, that she did move us to a room that was not occupied for 2 days but that I needed to be aware of the view. I didn’t know what she meant until we got into the room. Day 1 (Room): We knew immediately we made a mistake when we saw the food bar, and elevators going up to our room. The coffee machine was out of order, not a problem if due to covid-19, however, this machine, had mold and old coffee beans and water still in it and looked about a year old. The coffee machine that was working tasted like the brew the morning before, and this was each morning. I stopped trying after day 2 of our 3 night stay. The elevators were FILTHY, I mean disgusting. Finger prints and smudge all over the doors, the buttons. When we arrived to the room, the carpet in the hallway was do dusty and un-vacuumed, I was truly shocked at the corners that showed dust and mite-like substance in every corner. We walked in the room, and below are what we encountered: A half open creamer w/ mold on it near the coffee machine that was covered in dirty fingerprints. A BROKEN floor to ceiling mirror that was a safety hazard. Tissue box, with ONE tissue in it. The shower shampoo and conditioner dispensers were filthy! And had product in there from what seemed like 2 years ago, and they smelled. The shower floor has rust on all the lining. NO microwave The mini fridge was NOT cold, and dirty. The view was literally of the roof top, and in front of the AC fans, that we heard all night. The roof was filthy with oil and it truly should have been described what we would have in front of us to be prepared. It literally looked like we were camping on the roof. It was freighting. The phone was broken, would not dial out and would not stop beeping, we had to unplug it for the entire stay (safety issue). The cushion on the bench had a large stain. The bedding was horrendous. We removed the bedding to put our own on, again in an attempt to be more cautious with COVID-19. The mattress cover was stained with yellow and brown. We HAD TO GO BUY pillows, because when I went to put our pillow cases on them, the pillows had HUGE yellow stains on each one of them. We spent an hour deep cleaning, and sanitizing the entire room for our stay and instructed them to not have any room service at all. I had to remind the cleaning service 2x as they would continue to ask me. In a normal circumstance I would have complained and requested to move rooms, but it clear if this was their standard no other room would have been different. This room WAS NOT cleaned by the cleaning service before our stay as we requested. It looked like it has not been cleaned in months. The night before our last day, I received a knock o the door from the front desk person and he informed me my card had been declined. I immediately went down stairs to address as I told him that was impossible. I showed him the pending charges, confirmed with my credit card company in front of him, and he agreed something seemed off and he would have his manager address it in the morning because he didn’t understand what was happening. He said that his coworker was trying to run an additional amount that made...

I got this room on the cheap; I'm happy with my experience for what I paid. I will start with the positives.

Pros: We stayed on the second floor, the same floor as the bar. This is a great choice. The doors that separate the bar from the hallway of rooms must be sound reducing. There was a Salsa party going on and I didn't hear a thing in my room. The beds were super comfy. We were walking distance from a bunch of restaurants and a Whole Foods (!!).

Here come the cons: Upon check in I tell the check in clerk I'm signed up for SPG Crossover rewards as a Delta Platinum Medallion. She looked at me like I have two heads. During that same check in I was fortunate enough to listen to a member of the cleaning staff complain about 'havin to clean ten more rooms.' When i first walk into the room, I was generally impressed. Then I took a look around. The entryway carpet is different from the carpet in the rest of room. It's cheap and reminds me of the carpet in my Grandma's assisted living home in the 90's. Furthermore, the entry carpet is thinner than the rest of the room and as a result the thicker carpet is torn where people have scuffed their shoes. The walls were terribly scuffed. No one's fault, but how much trouble for the cleaning staff to run a damp rag over the walls? The vanity walls and bathroom are wallpapered. At some point the ceiling was repainted. The blue painter's tape is still on the wall between the wallpaper and ceiling. What's worse, there is a TON of paint splattered on the wallpaper. So much it looks like it's on purpose. The fancy new wallpaper in the vanity area is ripped. It's ripped In a place that isn't in a high traffic area; probably done by by the same people who left the painter's tape behind. The door to the hotel room is very heavy. Which would be a good thing. But, there is about a 5 inch gap between the door and the floor. This allows you to hear every heavy door in the hallway slam. Luckily our floor didn't seem too crowded and the slamming stopped at a reasonable hour. I had a headache and went to the front desk to buy some Motrin. All of the toiletries were locked behind a glass case. The one key to open this case was broken and there was ZERO effort made to find another, My "welcome gift" was free continental breakfast in the morning. No one at the front desk knew how to define a continental breakfast. I took two muffins and two OJ's and they seemed ok with that. $9 for a weak mojito isn't cool.

I really did have a great night of sleep. I didn't love the hotel; the lack of attention to detail made me scoff a few times that night. If you can get this room for less than 3...

After driving for twelve hours, we checked in. When I made the reservations I specifically stated we would be bringing our pet. So after the front desk clerk checked us in, in the most unprofessional check in experience I've had, I asked about the area to walk our pet and he stated that he didnt know I had a pet so we had to redo our keys because he gave us a non pet room. We went to our room and it was filthy. We attempted to try and sleep as we were exhausted. However the stench in the room prohibited us from doing so, that combined with the filth you knew you were in made it impossible. We went to the front desk to request another room and he refused, we stated we would be sleeping in the truck and he said alright have a great night. The parking lot ground area is filled with chicken bones. I have no idea where they are from but it's not the first impression I would imagine the hotel brand would want. At 7 am, I spoke with the general manager and he was apologetic and offered us a different room and comped us the night before. We went together to look at the room which we could not sleep in and I was concerned that he said the stench was due to our not operating the air conditioner control correctly, the filth on the wall was dings, however as a guest who stays 300 plus nights a year in a hotel I can differentiate between filth and dings, the filth on the window ledge was chipped paint and the reason for the dirty carpet and the moldy grout in the bathroom and shower was a lack of updates to the room. The new room he offered was better, at least we could breath, a plus, and it wasn't as filthy as the first room. If we weren't in desperate need of a shower and needing to get to our daughters school for the parental weekend, we would have moved elsewhere. We were supposed to stay until Monday but honestly couldn't relax due to the fact that we just felt dirty. We couldn't sit on the furniture, lay in the bed or even shower and feel clean, we spent as little time as we could there- sleeping and showering, and even though its a non smoking hotel every time you get on the elevator it has a strong odor of cigarette smoke, as if someone had just been smoking on it. So on Saturday morning we called the front desk from our daughters school and told them that we would be checking out on Sunday. They informed us that there is a fifty dollar fee if you check out early. this hotel has no incentive to meet the guests...