Fort Magruder Hotel — Hotel in Williamsburg

This is the worst hotel we've ever stayed in, hands down. And we have stayed in hotels in a few third world countries.

Not only is this hotel FILTHY, but it's horribly understaffed. The few employees they had working were rude and could care less when our safety was put in jeopardy multiple times.

When we first checked in, we immediately had to switch rooms because our room reeked of cat pee, even though we were on a 'no pets' floor. The person at the front desk said that the hotel had been fully booked out by a church group, but they had one room left on the ground floor, which was the level where they do allow pets. We took that room because it smelled less than the other room, and it was the only room left.

We booked through priceline, so we thought getting our money back wasn't an option at this point. (But FYI, we DID manage to get a full refund after a month of calling priceline and the hotel!)

This room was also very, very gross. The floor had clearly not been vacuumed. Crumbs and dog hair everywhere. The surfaces hadn't been wiped. Black mold in bathroom (see pics). Toilet not attached to the floor. Shower that would not drain. Then, after we'd brought our stuff in from the car, we noticed that THE BED SHEETS WERE UNCHANGED. And there was no fitted sheet on the mattress!! Just a bare, stained mattress with the flat sheet and a thin duvet pulled up in an attempt to hide the disgusting mattress. The pillows STUNK. We called back down to the front desk, and the front desk girl dug around for some clean sheets, telling us, "They might not have any left that fit the king size bed in our room (!!?). A woman in the marketing department who just happened to overhear our conversation was horrifed, apologized profusely (the only person who ever apologized during our entire stay), and insisted on coming with us to our room and changing the sheets for us. God bless that woman. I was ready to cry at this point, and her kindness and positivity were a godsend.

We eventually just tried to get some sleep. We checked in late-ish (8pm?), and by now, it was almost 11pm. As we drifted off, a thunderous noise began in the hallway. What sounded like hundreds of people screaming, running. We opened our door to see it FILLED with teenagers who were indeed running, screaming, and slamming doors. I was so confused and called the front desk asking why nearly 100 teens were going wild in the hallways. She explained that the church group who had booked out most of the hotel had just let out their last service. I told her there was no way we could sleep. Not even with earplugs (it was insanely loud). She said that there was nothing she could do and told us, "They'll most likely go to sleep soon." This went on for 30 more minutes with no change, so I called the front desk back and told her they needed to send their security to break this up. She did send security, and no change occurred. We opened the door and asked the teens if they could please be quiet. We got dirty looks at no response. My husband eventually opened the door and shouted, "BE QUIET!!", which then lead to several of the male teenagers BANGING ON OUR DOOR, TRYING TO ENTER OUR ROOM, TURNING OUR DOOR HANDLE, AND TELLING US TO F OFF. That is when we called the police. They cops came quickly, thank God, and the teens scattered when they saw the uniforms. We eventually found one of the church elders, and myself and the police told him how serious this had gotten. He apologized profusely, explained that these were "underprivileged kids, from the inner city", and told us that he'd talk to them.

After the police left, the noise started again. We called the front desk again, explained what had happened, and by this point the woman at the desk was straight up rude to us. When I asked her to send security back to our hallway to ask these teens to quiet down, her exact words were, "This is a large hotel, and our security has other places he needs to be. He can't just post up in front of your room all night."

DO NOT BOOK THIS HOTEL. You will be safer sleeping...

Dates of stay 10/10-10/13/24

DO NOT STAY HERE Working with Booking.com to try and get a refund but have been unsuccessful so far.

Floors & Interior After checking in, my group and I went to use the elevator. It stopped on every floor, but not a single person was on the other side. The second floor was super dark and had poor lighting down the hallway. On the fourth floor where the elevator button is, wallpaper was peeling off the wall. Both rooms were on floor 4. We opened the door to the room and struggled to find any of the lights in the room (only the bathroom and the hall light had switches). When we were finally able to see the room, a giant noticeable red stain was on the floor, the first thing you see when opening the door. In between the two beds was a crusty stain that looked like plastic was melted into the ground. We had a mini fridge in the room which I made the horrible mistake of checking inside of it. I opened it and a cockroach was crawling around on the inside. I immediately shut it. The carpet was disgusting and looked like it needed more than just vacuuming, shampooing as well. I never felt comfortable walking in the room barefoot so I kept socks or shoes on the entire time. Where the thermometer was on the far side of the wall, there was a giant hole in the wall. Pests, roaches, and other animals could crawl through there. The air filter inside of the vent was caked in dust and clearly hadn't been changed in who knows how long, since the place was probably open. The parking lot was filled with trash and never got picked up by staff. Navigating yourself to the pool was like a maze and I felt like I was going to get lost. The hallways were hot and had a thick smell to them.

Bathroom Later that evening, I was in the shower and when I moved the shower curtain, a cockroach was crawling on the inside of the shower curtain. The bathroom was extremely small with the door an inch away from hitting the toilet. There is no exhaust fan so all of the steam from the shower gets trapped in there. The sink's water pressure was extremely high, so when you turned it on, it would splash onto your clothes and the area next to the sink.

Beds Both of the beds were con-caved in (looked like the middle completely snapped). The headboards had damage in the wall all the way up to the ceiling and left deep marks. Waking up the next morning, I discovered a stain on the bed that was a faint brown. When returning back to the hotel that night, I brought some food in and was going to watch some tv. I turned the tv on and saw a cockroach crawl across the screen. (If you're counting, that's the 3rd roach we've seen). As I was eating my food, I looked down at the duvet cover and noticed a large blood stain near the top. This duvet was touching me and probably my face the entire night before. My friend called the front desk to get an entire new bed set brought to the room. A security guard showed up at the door shortly after with four single sheets. That was not enough to keep us warm through the night. Thankfully I brought my own blanket and ended up having to turn the duvet cover over and upside down to have the stain near my feet. As we are changing the sheets, a cockroach crawls across the bed. We got the bed all made and by this point I'm disgusted and don't know how I am going to sleep at night. The hotel was completely booked so switching room's wasn't going to be an option. All other hotels in the surrounding area were also booked. I go to resume watching tv to get my mind off of the nasty room, a cockroach crawls across the wall. My partner had to use his shoe to kill it quickly.

Breakfast The breakfast was super disappointing and nothing as they had advertised. That was one of the biggest reasons I booked the hotel. They had such a small selection of food options. The line was long. The second day of our stay, they ran out of almost...

I stayed at this hotel with my fiancé and some friends, split between two rooms, in order to attend Busch Gardens "Howl-O-Scream." I assume other people were doing the same, because this hotel was completely booked out for that weekend. One of two positives in our experience was that is hotel is in a great location if you're visiting Busch Gardens.||||On entering, you will notice the lobby is vast and spacious. It was probably once ornate, perhaps even beautiful. It was most definitely the least offensive section of the building to the eyes. The lady attending the front desk was kind enough, and we were processed quickly. The elevators are aged and noisy; if you feel brave, jump up and down in one. Archaic wallpaper peels downward everywhere. Lamp lights flicker eerily in the hallways. There is a feint, but persistent "hum" noise which echoes down the halls; it may be the old ice machines. We eventually made it to our rooms.||||The room was small, very small. The bathroom was even smaller still. The television has not been replaced since the Clinton presidency. Dark stains spotted the brown, shag carpeting. The bed sheets in our room appeared clean, but not much newer than the television. The atmosphere is musty and dank; we appreciate that we aren't staying in the summer time. I can say with a confidence that our room has never seen a significant renovation since my birth. One solace from the room is the outdoor balcony, which is nice. ||||Roaches. At any given moment, being conservative, there are likely thousands of roaches taking residency in this hotel for every human patron. My friends were greeted by a roach in the bath tub. There were roaches in the carpet. A roach scurried across another friend's foot before returning to a dark crevice. There are other reviews that mention roaches; please heed them. It is not "if" you will encounter a roach, but when. At Fort Magruder, roaches reign.||||Breakfast was mediocre. The toast was essentially inedible. They have standard fare of yogurts, breakfast bars, and other pre-packaged stuff. Hard boiled eggs were kept in the refrigerator. I had a brief, but pleasant conversation with an older gentleman while I was waiting in line at the waffle-making device.||||Speaking of, besides proximity to Busch Gardens, the other positive: the waffles were pretty good, at least after I drenched them in syrup from a big squirt jug. I love using that heavy waffle iron thing; the one that you fill up, flip over, and wait a couple minutes. An absolute delight, and indescribable, child-like pleasure. Love it.||||I would say the waffle maker was the favorite part of my stay, but no, it wasn't. It was leaving Fort Magruder Hotel. After checking our bags for creeping things, we left the hotel with heavy sighs and new appreciations for our own beds, which have less roaches, I think. It is truly a shame, because it will be clear to anybody who mistakenly books a room here that this hotel has plenty of potential. The property and location are ideal. I can only assume that rooms are booked because of Busch, and management is satisfied with their dirty, infested hotel. Sad!||||Don't stay at Fort Magruder Hotel, at least not as the time I'm writing this. The only reason I can think of to stay here would be if you were specifically a research entomologist who studied roaches, and you wanted to organize a convention for other scientists who study roaches, but you completely forgot to buy the roaches. So, in order to kill two birds with one stone, you book the roach science convention here, because there are more roaches than you could ever study...