Candlewood Suites Ft Lee Petersburg Hopewell

The room door had to be slammed to latch, and our reservation was for my wife, the kids, and me, yet there were only two towels and no hand soap in the bathroom. They said the ice was in the freezer, but there wasn’t any. The pictures convinced me to book, and they got me. This is the worst IHG hotel I’ve stayed in.

At 10 p.m. the room was still 74 degrees and hadn’t cooled down, even though it was over 90 outside. This was a business trip, so I had no say in which hotel was booked. I paid $141 for two queen beds, but waiting for the room to cool off was miserable. The website says there’s a pool, but there isn’t one. There is a Food Lion next door. Check-in took literally 10 minutes while the clerk and housekeeping worked out how many towels and washcloths I needed, and then there were no towels in the room. The dishwasher was running. There’s no ice machine, and the freezer didn’t have ice either. She said she’d buy a bag in 10 minutes, but half an hour passed and it still hadn’t happened. This place is a 10/10 in the worst way.

For the amount I paid, I expected much better. Both of my rooms had roaches in the bathroom, first on the third floor and then, after I asked to move, in the second-floor room the next morning. It was late and I was exhausted when I changed rooms, but I checked out after finding them again and requested a refund for the second night. The shower curtains were ripped and worn, adding to the poor upkeep and lack of cleanliness. The manager was rude and dismissive whenever I dealt with her. The stay was unacceptable, and I won’t return.

Edit: A few weeks after my stay, I checked my bank statement and found an extra $250 charge for smoking in the room. I didn’t smoke in the room. Each time, I went down to the smoking area at the back, and I had my children with me, so I don’t smoke around them. I’d also cleaned the room before leaving. If you go downstairs to smoke, they’re going to charge you. We had a very nice suite and stayed with three children, who aren’t the quietest, lol. The front desk staff were very nice, and Jasmine went above and beyond for my little family. I thought the stay was nice and couldn’t say one bad thing about it until that charge showed up.