MainStay Suites Williamsburg Historic Area — Hotel in Williamsburg

Mainstay Suites and Quality Inns should be ASHAMED to have this dump in their portfolio!||We stayed at this location in 2022 and while it was not ideal, it was not the horrible filthy broken down flop house it is today. ||I’ll briefly summarize the nightmare that was the one night we spent in this wretched hotel. The room was filthy. The walls, counters, rugs everything. The toilet was not bolted to the floor and moved around when sat down on. The refrigerator had both rust and mold inside and would only maintain a temperature of 67 degrees. The pot and pan provided in the kitchen looked like they had been recovered from a dumpster. We were only given 2 spoons and a knife for utensils. The plates appeared to have been eaten off of and put back into the cabinet. The dining table chairs were so dirty we would not sit on them without towels placed over them. The air conditioner malfunctioned and by noon the temperature in the room was 84 degrees. We woke up to the entire hotel having no water. We couldn’t flush the toilet, take a shower or wash our hands. The water was not turned back on until almost 6pm. |It was literally one thing after another. Almost seeming designed to create the most unpleasant experience possible. ||As soon as I began moving around the building and bringing our bags in, I couldn’t help but notice a large number of seriously sketchy individuals who appeared to be living in the hotel. While I don’t have anything against unhoused persons, If I wanted to spend my vacation in Williamsburg staying in a homeless shelter I would have made a reservation in one. Not in a hotel which was touted as clean, well maintained and comfortable. Which it most assuredly is not. |I spoke to a few “residents” of the Mainstay Boarding House and they verified that for the sum of $490 per week they are allowed to reside in the hotel. We were told by a food delivery person that many of the residents of the Travelodge had moved over here after it was closed for refurbishment. With the Williamsburg Suites, just a few blocks away, getting shut down after being deemed uninhabitable by the City of Williamsburg it is more than likely the persons displaced from there have moved into this ramshackle fleabag joint. ||I’m certainly grateful I was not traveling with a child on this trip. While observing the clientele, I had an uneasy feeling that many of the individuals being housed here on a long term basis might have a difficult time finding a place to stay as they may not be allowed to be near a playground or an elementary school or other places children are likely to gather. For this reason, I would not recommend this location as being Family Friendly.||If you are considering staying in this hotel please do yourself a favor and read the dozens of other reviews which reinforce everything...

This hotel really gives you your bang for your buck! We stayed here for our honeymoon back in 2013 and thought it was pretty good back then...we just vacationed here to Williamsburg with our 2-year old son and were impressed with the changes. The rooms got BIGGER with a full kitchen area including a microwave, dishwasher, countertop stove, and refrigerator! We weren't expecting that. It's under new management now as choice hotels has taken over and you can see that they're clearly taking care of the place.

There are three areas however that we feel could still use some improvements. For now this hotel gets a four star rating from us. If choice hotels improve upon these three areas below then they will receive a five star rating from us in the future! There areas of improvement are...

1. The Breakfast. We need more protein! Eggs, sausage, bacon NEED to be added to the breakfast...this was our complaint back in 2013...sadly this has not changed. Luckily Capitol Pancakes is right next door, but when you're banking on having breakfast at your hotel you want the breakfast to be good.

2. The "heated pool" area. (which is also the dinning area) The pool itself may be heated but the surrounding air isn't. We just stayed here in March 2017 and it was cold outside. (like 23 degrees out there) Even though it wasn't that cold inside the building with TALL ceilings and little to no heat work in the pool/dinning area the ambient air got pretty chilly. I'm hoping that the new management takes notice of this and does something to maintain the air temperature in the pool/dinning area as it is a pretty wide and open area that can get chilly quickly.

3. Bathroom/shower/tub. This might have just been the room that we were in as I don't remember the shower being so small. With such a great room with all the amenities it's a shame that the bathroom area suffered... We would like to see a BIGGER, better bathroom on our next stay as we were more comfortable at other hotels along our way who offered LARGE updated bathrooms. The shower in particular was small and the shower head offered little water pressure to get the job done. It would be nice to have the sink, shower, and toilet all in the same room with a large mirror, good lighting, and a vent that isn't noisy. Sorry, but BATHROOM FAIL

Aside from that we did enjoy ourselves during our stay and it was certainly more affordable than the other hotels in the area. If choice hotels can concentrate on those three areas and the price point doesn't increase too much with the improvements then we would definitely...

This place was at the top of the list of worst hotels I have ever seen!! The first thing that struck us, going in, was the smell. The whole place smelled like fish, but each room has a kitchenette, so that could have been someone's supper. The rest of the entry way was deceptively decent.

Micah, the guy behind the check-in counter, was easily the best part of our short visit. He was kind, accommodating and understanding. When our first room was not acceptable, he gave us keys to two others to check out, to see which was the "lesser of two evils." He also completely understood when we decided to go with NONE of them!

Now, the rooms...and I will include some pictures...Every room we checked was filthy. They were also outdated, but we could handle that, if they were clean.

The floor was greasy, so your feet slid around on it, in one room, and it was sticky, in another. The microwaves, cupboards, drawers and fridges all had crumbs, and/or spills (one fridge looked like it had meat blood all over in it).

Things were in disrepair, with peeling paint, torn carpet and bed skirting. There was a roach on the wall, and there were cup rings and sticky stuff all over just about every surface.

In one room, there was an old, disposable razor hanging from the mirror, and there were pieces of toilet paper and strange colorful stains on the bathroom floor. By the bed, there were pistachio shells and other suspicious-looking garbage, on the floor.

Microwaves had greasy fingerprints, where the last person had pushed the buttons, and the chairs didn't look like you should dare sit in them, with dark, greasy stains, topped with lighter crusty ones! There wasn't a redeeming thing about the place!

We didn't even bother tearing the beds apart. What was the point, when we knew were never going to stay there. We didn't really even want to touch anything!

One or two of those things could happen anywhere, and you could overlook a coffee ring here, or a few missed crumbs, the corner, but almost all of the problems, mentioned above, were present in every room. We couldn't even choose which one was better. They were all equally horrible.

They clearly need new management who can inspire their workers to care about and take pride in their jobs, and to eliminate those that don't. This place was just absolutely unacceptable, in the hospitality industry!!

We ended up staying at the Comfort in a couple miles down the road, and it was the exact opposite, absolutely beautiful!! Do yourself a favor, and go literally...