Williamsburg Lodge, Autograph Collection — Hotel in Williamsburg

From March 20th-23rd, I attended a state conference held at the Williamsburg Lodge. I am a very frequent traveler and stay in a lot of Marriotts (Bonvoy member).||Pros:|The public facilities are very nice. ||The food I ordered in the restaurant was good.||* Banquet servers were great!|||Cons:|* My room was clean but some pieces of furniture weren’t in good shape. Several people in my group mentioned that their rooms were dirty with comments ranging from “there was dust everywhere” to “I found several old French fries next to the bed.”||* Parking for large groups is very difficult. We had over 600 people in our sessions and many people attended during the day only. I heard many complaints about parking availability (there is no valet parking).||* The banquet food was TERRIBLE! I’m not a picky eater and can usually find something good to eat. I had 2 dinners and one lunch as a banquet attendee. My lunch was ok. I chose a basic turkey and cheese sandwich with a small salad on the side. Several of my table mates chose an eggplant sandwich (it may have been portobello mushroom) and all reported that the bread was so soggy from the marinade that it was inedible. I shared half of my sandwich with someone at my table so that she had something to eat. ||Both dinners were forgettable, with the exception of the last night’s dinner. We were served a wedge salad consisting mostly of past-its-prime iceberg lettuce. Most of the diners at my table either didn’t eat their salad or cut around the brown parts. ||* Check in process— I prepaid over $1,600 for a Thursday through Sunday stay. At the last minute, I had a conflict that would prevent me from driving to the hotel on Thursday. I checked in on the app and then called the hotel and told them I wouldn’t physically be at the hotel until Friday. The hotel staff confirmed that I was checked in and that there would be no problem with my Friday arrival. When I arrived Friday afternoon, I was told my room had been given away because I was a “no show.” The app showed I was checked in and I prepaid. Technically, the hotel was full but they found a room for me. Once they found another room, I went to drop off my luggage and my key didn’t work. Since I was in a hurry, I found a room maid, showed her my key packet and she let me in the room. I dropped my luggage and went to a meeting. After my meeting, I stopped by the front desk to get another key. It turns out that the front desk person gave me a key to the room next door and had written the wrong room number on the key envelope. At first, front desk staff wanted me to move my luggage to the other room. I suggested that they could simply change my room in the system to the room where my luggage was located. ||* Front Desk and General Amenities—-the first evening, our meeting ended around 10pm. I was very thirsty and began looking for somewhere to buy a soft drink or bottle of water. All of the retailers in the hotel were closed. Once I returned to my room, I called the front desk to ask where I could get a soda. They told me there was a machine right next to my room. No machine. Called them again and was given two other places with machine. The first location had no machine and the second had an empty, open machine with no power. Frustrated, I went back to the front desk and after explaining the issue, the clerk went to a back room and came back with a bottle of water. At every other Marriott I have stayed at recently, water is provided at check in or is located in the room. I get that there may be issues with soda or ice machines but at least tell your staff when they have been removed or need to...

Great location, walkable to all Colonial Williamsburg sites.

Spacious, attractive room with comfortable beds. But low light in room made it difficult to put on makeup so I had to remove the lampshade. Also, disappointing to find no bottled water in the small refrigerator. But we did enjoy the in-room coffee each morning.

Front door man very friendly & helpful.

Staff in Traditions bfast restaurant very attentive, polite, helpful and friendly. Scrambled eggs & bacon on the buffet cooked perfectly. Lemon curd was a pleasant surprise on the menu!

However the bfast buffet wasn’t replenished often enough. Over the week, and several bfasts, I rarely saw the fruit bowl refilled, so I didn’t get the fruit I wanted for bfast. Also the oatmeal toppings were often low/hard to retrieve from their jars with tiny spoons.

For dinner at Sweet Tea Restaurant, the crab chowder was delicious, but unfortunately not hot. Our waitress was slow, inattentive, served guests who arrived after us, and didn’t ask if we wanted to order anything else before bringing the check. We had planned to order a 2nd round of drinks, but since she had already delivered the check we decided against it.

On 10/13/23 morning, it was evident the hotel had overbooked their conference rooms. It Was Especially difficult for our group (one who was in a wheelchair) to get into the meeting room due to crowds lined up at the bfast buffet in the middle of the hall. I even witnessed a collision in the hallway - it was way overcrowded! This situation could have been avoided with proper planning by the conference center staff, (for example, staggered start times.)

Suggestion - when large groups are expected, move the buffet out of the middle of the hallway so people can get through!! Simply relocate it to the end where there is much more space & less foot traffic.

We were with a group of 20 for several days, and experienced several buffet dinners in the conference center. Staff very polite and food was tasty, but the hot food was usually NOT hot on the conference buffet. Suggest using Sterno burners to keep food hot. Also, we had to use tablespoons rather than large serving spoons to put food on our plates which was difficult. .

Lastly, the conference room where we ate dinners for several days was too small for 20 people. We were crowded onto 3 circular tables with very little space to move.

Other than the above opportunities for improvement, the Williamsburg Lodge is a lovely place to spend a few days,...

Came here for work as there was a conference on site. They have a pretty good sized conference room area on property. The property itself it expansive as well, with the buildings being only a couple stories high, so everything is spread out. Landscaping is decent, so walking from one place to another can be enjoyable.||Parking is tight… they have multiple parking areas around the property, but they’re kind of tight. There are plenty of cross walks and safe areas to walk and cross the various roads that run through the property. Checking in was smooth and service was decent during check in. They were fully packed when I arrived, around 10AM, so they took my number and prioritized getting my room done and sure enough, they called me less than an hour later telling me my room was ready – awesome! ||First impressions of the Tyler House and my room was that this building is outdated and needs to be refurbished. The main door to the main house was stuck due to humidity or something and the door scanner wouldn’t work using the card key, you had to use the handicap scanner. Once inside, there are stained chairs in the lower foyer. The carpet looks worn, but isn’t ripped. The room itself looked decent, but when you look at the furniture, etc you’ll see warping, roughness and work areas from over-use, and even pealing/bubbling veneers. Definitely time to refurb this place! ||The room’s bathroom was decent and looked nice. Hot water came quickly, which has been unique in my recent Marriott stays at other properties lately. But the shower area had black mold in various areas, but was very noticeable. I did like the soaps, they smelled great and as much as I stay in Marriott properties, it was nice to get away from the typical smells of the Marriott soaps.||Housekeeping did a decent job taking care of the room… when I got back to my room after a long day of work, it looked totally refreshed, like it was ready for a new set of guests! They cleaned the sink and even put a wash cloth out to put all my toiletries on – I love this touch, typically only in the Luxury, St. Regis, and Ritz properties.||My sleep was comfy. The TV channel selection was great, but there was no sleep timer, so I couldn’t use the TV to fall asleep. ||There are two restaurants and one café on the property. Plenty of conference space here. Overall, it’s a decent property, but definitely needs to be updated. I’d return, but I’d hope for a refurbished room if I came back, if...