Days Inn by Wyndham Williamsburg Historic Area — Hotel in Williamsburg

We stayed here back in December when we went to visit Busch Gardens Christmas Town and had a good experience. We were on the ground floor inside right off of the lobby, room was clean and comfortable. The only thing needing improvement was breakfast but no big deal. So, when we decided to visit Busch Gardens this past weekend I booked with them again. They accommodate the 5 people in our family at a reasonable price. We checked in and were told we had an outside room ground floor and we could park right outside our room. First of all we had to park at the other end of the lot since there was no parking near our room. Secondly the outside rooms, or basement as our son called it, is like a totally separate “motel”. It is run down looking. But we just needed a place to sleep. They knew we had a party of 5 and were fine with it but when we checked in they told us they ran out of cots. So our son would have to sleep in a chair. As soon as we walk in the room there was a piece of trash in the floor but no big deal it wasn’t anything gross. There was no fridge or microwave like we had last time and we had wanted to heat up our supper but we were tired so we just didn’t bother. Then I go in the bathroom. Now I clean houses and I pay attention to detail, I know how things should be done and the basics had not been done in this room. The floor had not even been swept much less mopped. Again, we will deal with it but then my husband turned down the bed and there were hairs on the sheet! Gross!! He goes to the front desk to complain and they move us to another room on the fourth floor still outside. We move everything up and when my son in law gets to the door it’s open! Well we settle in, the tub was disgusting looking and the carpet was pulled away from the wall outside the bathroom. At this point we are exhausted and our pregnant daughter just wants to sleep. So we check the beds, they’re fine so we lay down. We try to watch some tv to unwind but there’s no remote, it’s fine I’ll get up put it on one channel and leave it BUT there was no wire from the cable box to the tv. Husband calls the front desk and is told we can be moved again. We were not up for that at all. So then he gets told oh well we can send maintenance in the morning.... great just in time for check in. We go to sleep and the next morning no one wanted to shower in the dirty looking tub and breakfast was lacking again so we decide to check out and just go find a place to eat and we can shower as we leave the water park. My husband goes to the desk to check out and tells the lady at the desk our experience and she basically just says oh yeah sorry about that like it’s no big deal. I have to say we will never stay at this place again and probably never a Wyndham hotel either. Customer service was awful and so was our stay. I thought Wyndham was one of the better places but...

I will start with the positive, the hotel location is phenomenal. The hotel is beautiful (from a distance), however, immediately upon entering the hotel a moldy smell slaps you across the face. If you look at the vents you can see the black mold seeping through and around specially the vent in front of the elevator. Our room key failed to work almost every time requiring us to have to go back to the lobby and have it reset. Our room was facing the the majestic water fountain that is desperately in need of a power wash and clean water YUCK! The room doors need to be pushed and pulled extremely hard, therefore our sleep was continuously interrupted when the neighboring guest entered or left their rooms. The other reviews are correct, the remote to the tv only allows for you to change the channel, no power no volume control the towels were stained and despite putting up room service sign our room was not serviced. The phone did not work, no mini fridge or microwave in the rooms and when we asked for a follow up on our request for one we were met with attitude. The AC discharged a mildewy smell as well but not as bad as the lobby central air. The breakfast is not worth your time. Coffee was weak, eggs were oily and the other accompaniments were just sad. The toaster tripped the power overtime the two toasters were used simultaneously. The dinning area smelled of..... you guessed it MORE MOLD! This hotel houses two enormous pools one indoor and one outdoor, and to say they were filthy is an understatement. Part of the outdoor pool floor was green and the indoor pool water was foggy. I guess after guest complained and the outdoor pool was later closed for water testing.

I made the reservation with the surprise booking feature on Priceline. We selected a three star Hotel and we were assigned this one. We were excited to get such a deal, but we got what we paid for this was no deal. We paid a 1.5 or 2 star hotel price and that is what we received. This hotel does have GREAT potential with some updates and elbow grease I'm sure it can be restored to its former glory, so please be mindful if you are booking this one. I fail to understand the 5 star reviews, this is not the worst hotel but definitely not a 3+. I suggest ignore the great reviews and read the negative ones as you will be able to see the full story....

Front desk clerk called out my name upon my entrance, so I inquired. We are sold out and you are my last check-in. Makes sense. The property has seen better Days, and the owner isn't putting money in to keep it in shape, things don't work and they are leaving them as is.

The shower control is leaking, upon hitting the tub faucet, it bounces sideways to hit the edge of the tub, where a nicely folded floor towel catches it, usually this linen straddles the middle of the tub but it's strategically placed to solve a problem, except there is a puddle in the corner which I stepped into with my socks on! This will not fly.

The front desk gave me another room's key and asked me to inspect to see if it's acceptable. Not a good sign if they are sold out (I checked online, it's no longer listing on Priceline.com for tonight), yet they have extra rooms for exchange. This one's front door hardware is mounted crooked, the door was ajar when I checked it out and I had to push really hard to close it. But it latches, my wife wondered what if we can't get out. I tried it multiple times, you can open it. The window sill has fabric stuck there to keep the conditioned air inside but the a/c unit is obviously new, not commercial grade for hotels, but residential window type, much smaller and it's having a hard time keeping the room cool though set at 68F. By now it's 9:40 pm, I am going to bed. If they still have another room for exchange, I would be surprised if they don't, since this one is just 3 doors down from mine on the same floor, it's going to have other problems. This tells me, the owner is not keen to keep all the rooms in tiptop shape, with all hardware functioning as they should.

Because most guests are here for only one night, they will put up with the inconvenience if they can get by. In other words, the proprietor just doesn't care, nor takes pride in his establishment, during the weekdays it probably got 50% or higher vacancy rate, so the business model is to stick the guests in those still functioning rooms... But the problem is, what happens on weekends and holidays? Here we are on a holiday, too bad for us late arrival guests, first come first serve! We get the left over no longer functioning rooms. So, never again. Whatever happened to franchise inspection and seal...