Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Winchester, VA — Hotel in Stephens City

I stayed here for a little over a week while I closed out a rental townhome in preparation for a move to another state. The staff, from housecleaning to the front desk, are ultra nice and accommodating. Never failed to greet guests with a smile. We stayed in two types of rooms - one with two queen beds and the other a single king - both very comfortable and clean. No problems with the microwave or refrigerator. I never used the coffee pot because I just picked up fresh coffee from the foyer where it was offered free. We kept the air conditioning unit at 70 during the day and 65 at night so we could cover up with the comforter at night (it's beginning of June). The air conditioning unit is loud so we did have to play a game of turning up the tv when it came on and then turning down the tv when it shut off so we didn't blast our neighbors away - but totally doable and only a minor inconvenience. There are more troublesome things to worry about these days. I used the guest laundry room and other than guests leaving powdered detergent in the bleach dispenser, both the dryer and washer worked just fine. You can't add liquid fabric softener to the wash because the lid locks, so bring one of those downy balls if you want to do this. The pool area was very well kept - my son and I had it to ourselves the first weekend we were here which was fun because we could goof off a little more than usual :-) Lots of choices for breakfast and those ladies work their tails off to keep up with the hungry guests on the weekends - at times some of the hot food would run out before the ladies could restock it, but they did so as fast as the food was cooked. The front porch is divided - one side of the door is a smoking area and the other is non-smoking. At times, the smoke would waft over to the non-smoking side, but the hotel staff can't control the wind. There are plenty of restaurants here - Carrabas, Outback, McDonald's, Subway, The Wok Zone and a frozen yogurt place. We ordered take out in addition to eating at the restaurants. We are from this area so have always liked the Alamo movie theater; needless to say, we did catch a couple of movies. There is a 7-11 next door so it's easy to gas up and pick up some $ from the atm. There is also an Aldi discount grocery store if you want to pick up items for an extended stay. All in all, we enjoyed our stay. We appreciate the hard work all of the hotel employees put into creating a welcoming environment. We are a hard-working, down-to-earth family and don't buy into the elitist attitude that demands a spa-like experience, having our every whim met or who buy into the name-brand, pack-driven mind set. This hotel is representative of basic courtesy and great...

I chose to stay at the Country Inn & Suites as it was Tripadvisor's top rated hotel in Winchester. I thought I would have a stress-free stay. When I made the reservation, I requested a top floor room as I always do since my wife and I are in our mid 70's with several health issues. We wanted a quiet room so we could have a good night's sleep for the 3 nights we would be there. We did get a top floor room but were disappointed with the limited breakfast bar they had for the first 2 mornings. For the hot food, they just had biscuits and gravy and potatoes. Not our favorite food so we ate a nearby McDonald's. The third morning they had scrambled eggs, sausage, and cut up fruit. I was told by the GM that the food truck had come in late this week. Based on previous comments by other guests, the food truck has come late on other weeks too. I'm glad we didn't have any kids along as the pool was closed. On the final day we were there, we woke up to ants. They were in the living room but more disturbing they were in the bedroom on the nightstand right next to the bed where my wife had slept. It was disgusting! When I went to report it to the front desk, the only elevator wasn't working so I had to walk downstairs. That was another problem we faced that morning. I talked to the GM about the problems we had experienced especially the ants. I though he might offer us some type of compensation such as additional rewards points since I'm a member of both the Country Inn/Radisson and Choice Hotels rewards programs but he didn't. About 15 years ago when I encountered a similar ant infestation problem at a Hilton Hotel, the management there was very apologetic and I was given appropriate compensation. That's the difference between a first class hotel (Hilton) and one that is just mediocre (Country...

Problems started upon checkin. We asked if a room was available next to our friends, to find that they’d been placed on the floor for guests with pets. We’d been upgraded to a “king suite” with pullout sofa, when two queen beds were requested at time of reservation. The hotel was very full and a switch was unlikely. We took the assigned room. The suite itself is spacious, but the bathtub needs refinishing. Outside of the space, we certainly would not consider this a “suite,” but given the location and price, not worth a complaint - just wouldn’t call it an “upgrade.” A large group of us ordered takeout for dinner and brought it to the pool to eat while children played in the pool. After more than an hour of being in the pool area, two male staff and one female staff member came into the pool. One of the males began to yell so loudly that the roughly 35 people in the pool area (most of whom had food) took notice. He informed us (still yelling) that food is not allowed in the pool and that we all must immediately remove food from the pool or we would be removed. Several of the children were so upset they began crying. This was absolutely not the way to handle such a situation. There are two small signs outside the pool advising no food is allowed. None of us had paid attention. Had we been calmly asked to adhere to the policy, we all gladly would have obliged. There was no need to scare small children, when the matter could have been handled with the adults. While acknowledging we were wrong, this behavior by staff is reprehensible. Were it not so late in the evening when this happened, in an unfamiliar area, we would have just left. Absolutely would not recommend to anyone traveling...