Holiday Inn Express & Suites Williamsburg by IHG — Hotel in Williamsburg

March 28, 2025 - I received a call from a lady at the front desk with the long black hair letting me know my card had declined. My family and I were at breakfast in Fredericksburg, VA (an hour away) when I got the call the lady was very unforgiving, demanding even and coming off short spoken over the phone, she said they have to put card on file, I asked can't I do this when I get there since we were on our way (I really didn't want to use my card over the phone not knowing who that really was) as I wanted to be sure this wasn't a scam, she said no, if I didn't I'd lose my room. For reference, the card I booked with got changed to a new one due to a scam and I forgot I made the reservation with the old card.

We arrived and our rooms weren't ready yet, the lady asked for my ID/card to verify everything, not long after that I was charged the entire amount of the room + $100 hold on my card. I've stayed at many hotels and never got charged the full amount until after your stay is complete, this bothered so much more as she could not tell me why this happened, her demeanor was off-putting and she was very unapologetic and it felt more like, give me your card and that's it, no hospitality what-so-ever. We had at least 7 rooms books and no one else got charged early except me.

I was def going to give this hotel 2 stars based on her attitude alone as that was an attempt to put me in a bad mood the entire stay....I would say this was a 3-4 star worthy stay because my family comes here every year and they like staying here (my first time) and Djalal at the front desk was superb at helping me clear up the mishap with my card and giving me guidance on what I can do next time and how to book so this won't happen again, his attitude was spectacular...thank you Djalal for helping me and being kind, friendly and directing me on what to do in the future. The rooms were in great shape and smelled really good, the bedding was comfortable, and I can appreciate the complimentary breakfast they offer.

Recommendations The lady with the long black hair (slim and was working the counter the day of March 28, 2025) needs to show more hospitality, if you don't know the answer to a guests question or why something happened, she should have gotten someone with more knowledge to assist and show more compassion to the situation, it can go a long way - You are in hospitality, so be hospitable.

Please consider moving the smoking area from directly in front of the hotel to the side of the hotel away from the front entrance, there was not one time we were sitting in the lobby that it smelled like a haze of a second hand smoke no matter what time of the day we...

We have stayed in numerous Holiday Inn Express hotels. We felt this stay was not representative of the normal quality and service we receive. But it still had good points. The breakfast, as all Holiday Inn Express hotels have compared to others, was great and the attendant was very kind and helpful and even notified those of us in the lobby each morning when breakfast was closing in case we wanted any last minute items. That was very thoughtful. It is also close to colonial Williamsburg without paying nearly as much as the colonial Williamsburg lodging prices- about a 1/3 to 1/4 of the cost when we went. The hotel was going through a remodel on the first floor, but we can’t fault them for that - a good thing in the long run, but a bit annoying to guests with extra dust, heat coming in from doors left open, elevator access limited and had strange odor. Here were some issues we noticed : 1) they forgot to put shampoo in our room, 2) the WIFI did not work in our room on any of our 6 Apple or Windows devices - signal too faint. In the hallway it worked, but as soon as you closed the door and went into the room, it wouldn’t work. 3) Even in the lobby the WIFI disconnected on laptop after working the day before. They provided a 1-800 number to resolve which took about 40 minutes but did get fixed - just a waste of time when trying to work. 4) Had trouble reaching someone by phone at front desk several times and often no one standing at the front desk when you went in person, and no bell to ring. 5) Hallways above first floor were vastly under cooled during our June visit. There was an air conditioner at the end of the hall but apparently not nearly enough. It must have been well over 80 degrees in the hallway. That may have contributed to why it was difficult to comfortably keep the room cool. 6). The pool is indoors but has no lights in it so you feel like you are swimming in a dark abyss. My 8 year old was afraid to go in it and she normally loves pools. I did not find I wanted to be in it either. It also has jets shooting out like a hot tub, in a seated area of the pool, but it was not shooting hot water and it was very loud from the air intake valves - very odd feature. 7) coffee in lobby was cold in the evenings. Overall, part of it was staff training, but mostly facilities issues that caused concern. I would have chosen a different hotel in hindsight. Most of these issues can be resolved so it may be better...

This hotel is... ok... If you just need a place to sleep and don't care about anything else, it'll get the job done. The staff were all friendly to work with. Our issue was with communication, maintenance, and cleanliness. Mostly it's all little stuff that you can choose to ignore ("it's just a stain, that doesn't mean it wasn't cleaned" etc), but our shower had little hairs and dirt on the walls, and despite our multiple requests for it to be cleaned, it never was. I just hope we don't get Athlete's Foot or anything since we were forced to shower in a dirty shower multiple times...

Here is what we could remember: **Bathroom dirty — multiple little hairs and dirt on wall of shower. Junk around edges. Shower doors dirty.  Have now asked Saturday and Sunday for the bathroom to be cleaned, but it wasn’t.  What cleaning was done, was inconsistent. First day some of the dirty towels were removed, but not all, and new towels were just plunked on the bathroom counter. Second day all dirty towels were removed and fresh towels were put away. Also trash can issues — not returned or no liners in them different days Shower dribbles Shower handle messed up In general, edges of anything are typically grimy. Desperately needs a deep clean. Edges or the room where not mopped and had visible dirt lines Painters tape holding up soap and lotion — grime under the bottles in the shower Blinds broken — mechanisms won’t go down.  Potato chip behind chair No table for the far left side of the bed. Had to use a trash can upside down so I had a place to put my book and phone No bag for dirty laundry  Sweat stains on bedding  Eggs cold x2. Sausage cold x1 Coffee was vile Button missing on elevator I have gold status and specifically told the front desk we were checking out at 2pm, but our cards were deactivated when we returned to get our things. Our room was at the far end of the 2nd floor and we had to walk all the way back to the front desk to get access

Design critiques: need soap close to faucet — the entire right side of the sink counter is useless unless you want germy drops of water sprinkled over it every time someone washes their hands.  If room for four people to sleep, needs towel hooks for two people. Girls use two towels because of their hair Need trash need food prep area/fridge  Thank you for having a trash can in...