Spark by Hilton Fredericksburg Southpoint — Hotel in Spotsylvania Courthouse

Around 1:30 AM on Wednesday, July 2, my husband and I got a flat tire while traveling and needed a place to stay until Walmart opened the next morning. I also work remotely and needed a quiet space to work, since we wouldn’t reach our destination before my shift began. We called Spark by Hilton and asked two things: Could we still check in, even though it was after midnight? Could we have a late checkout so I could finish my workday?

The person who answered the phone said yes to both. He told us we could check in that night as long as we came in person, and confirmed—twice, on speakerphone—that we could check out at 1:30 PM, well beyond the usual 11:00 AM checkout time. My husband repeated the question for clarity, and the man confirmed again: “Yes, 1:30.”

With that assurance, we booked the room through a third-party site, drove to the hotel, and checked in. We also paid the incidentals fee. When we thanked the man at the front desk for allowing a 1:30 PM checkout, he immediately said, “No, the latest I can give you is 11:30.” He pointed to a sign showing that checkout is at 11:00 AM and insisted 11:30 was a courtesy. Having stayed in many hotels over the years, I know 30 minutes is typically a grace period—not a “late checkout.” My husband reminded him that we had just spoken on the phone and he had confirmed 1:30 PM. At that point, the employee became irate and kept pointing at the sign, raising his voice and telling us 11:30 was generous. To avoid further confrontation, my husband calmly asked for a refund, and we said we’d leave. While processing the refund, the man continued to argue that he never said 1:30 PM. I interjected and told him, “We’ve already asked for a refund. We’re not staying here. There’s no need to keep debating—just process the refund so we can leave.”

While that was happening, my husband stepped outside to check if we could get our tire serviced at a 24-hour location. Another man had entered the lobby, and I stayed behind to get a receipt. I was told that since we booked through a third party, they could only give me a receipt for the incidentals, not the room charge. They also said that we would have to request a refund for the room charge through the third party. I took the receipt and left.

We later found out that in order to receive a refund for the room, the third-party booking site needs approval from the hotel. This is incredibly frustrating because we were JUST there IN the hotel. And we would not have booked the room had we known they wouldn’t honor the 1:30 PM checkout time they clearly promised over the phone. At this point, the hotel still has our money, and we received none of the service we were told we would get.

Before leaving the parking lot, my husband returned to the front desk to ask for the manager’s contact information. In his frustration, when he got to he car he realized that he forgot to ask for the names of the staff we interacted with. So, I went back inside to ask for them, but the original man was no longer at the desk. I asked the second staff member if he could write down their names. He told me they were not allowed to give out their names and instead pointed to a posted sign showing the general manager’s name. I said, “So, a hotel clerk doesn’t wear a name tag and can’t provide their name to a guest? That’s absurd. I just have to tell the third-party site that two men in gray t-shirts refused to honor their word?” He confirmed, “Yes.” At that point, I walked out—extremely frustrated and disappointed.

We had just driven 13 hours with 4-year-old twins and were simply looking for rest and a quiet place for me to work. Instead, we were given false information, poor service, and unnecessary conflict.

I’ve emailed the general manager and am waiting for a response. I’ll update this review once I hear back. This is one of the few negative reviews I’ve ever written—and I write reviews often. But this experience was...

Spark appears to be Hilton’s new economy brand, offering stripped down amenities for what should be an equally stripped down price. I stayed for 1 night during a long weekend road-trip, and found it adequate, if unlikely to be an offering I will choose again.

This particular location is a renovated Sleep Inn, retaining some of the flavor of that brand. The renovation was done well, with everything appearing new and mostly clean, with the beginnings of wear starting to become obvious through minor staining and chipping on some items.

The hotel is located in a small shopping center with several other hotels of similar age and level, along with several local restaurants, fast foods chains, and a gas station. The area immediately surround the hotel is walkable (if parking lots), however you would not be able to walk to leave the neighborhood due to high traffic and lack of sidewalks. The hotel is well situated at access 95, although traffic is stop-and-go at rush hour.

The combination of the conversion and the Spark brand makes the offered amenities odd. In the room, there is an ironing board and iron, but no closet door. There is a microwave and fridge, but no coffee pot or ice bucket. There’s scent-free, dye-free Zero% toiletries, but positioned too far from the sink to easily use. There is on-site laundry, but no gym.

Where the “budget” really shines is the “bagel breakfast bar”, which was just too lacking. Breakfast consisted of 3 flavors of bagel, 2 flavors of yogurt, prepackaged muffins, and 1 type of juice (orange Minute Maid, not mixed correctly). It’s simply too little variety for me to consider worthwhile. Even the addition of fresh fruit and cold water would push this to an acceptable, if sad, continental breakfast.

Coffee and hot water is available 24/7 at the coffee cart in the lobby (I guess to replace the lack of coffee pots in the room). There’s a small sign stating that they are “proudly brewing Folgers”, which is fine if an odd advertisement. Coffee was hot both in the morning and when I had some at about 4pm.

Overall summary, the hotel was fine, but I’d pay the additional $10 to stay at one of the other...

This was hands down the worst experience I’ve ever had at a Hilton property. I highly recommend staying away from this location. We came in town for a wedding, and the moment we stepped onto the second floor, it smelled like old mop water. The air in the room was wet and muggy not humid, but uncomfortable. We gave it a night hoping the A/C would help. It didn’t.

On day two, I went to the front desk and asked to be moved even offered to be downgraded if needed. I explained I had my sisters wedding to be at by 2 PM. An hour before we needed to leave, the agent finally told us a new room was ready directly across the hall. Completely inconvenient, but we started moving our things anyway.

After moving nearly half our items, he came back to say someone had virtually checked into that room, and we now had to move everything again to a different room. Meanwhile, I’m trying to get ready, and my makeup is already being thrown off. No flexibility, no apology just “you have to move now.”

We went to the wedding and came back to find the new room had a broken bed. At this point, we were stuck too late to find another hotel. The second floor smells awful, the place clearly needs maintenance, and the towels were as thin as paper. The only thing worth mentioning is the coffee it was actually decent.

If I could give this place zero stars, I absolutely would. Hilton should be embarrassed to have their name on...