Fort Magruder Hotel and Conference Center

Fort Magruder used to be my go-to place to stay for a Williamsburg getaway. I actually liked the vibe and "dated" look. I haven't been here in about 2-3 years and I can see how things have slacked off. First, I want to express that I have always used Groupon to book my stay at Fort Magruder and this is the only hospitality place I used Groupon for. The hallways need vacuuming. As I approached my first room, the handle was holding it open which made me apprehensive to enter. Once I scanned the room, it was empty of someone else's belongs and figured that housekeeping forgot to close the door fully. Unfortunately, during my scan, the toilet was backed up in which I immediately asked for another room.My second room was decent but the facility needs an upgrade. If housekeeping is vacuuming, the equipment they are using is dated as well as it isn't picking up anything. Carpet needs replacing badly. At around 10:30p, I noticed a cockroach on the dresser. I immediately packed my belongs and informed the desk attendant know. She expressed that roach infestation has been a problem for a while and she was sympathetic to my experience.I contemplated posting this review as I was going to cut my loss if the manager, Cyndi Hanna, would have returned my call. While Groupon did give me compensation back, a returned call from the manager would have been decent and respectful.

Definitely a "last resort" type of place to stay. As many reviewers have noted, the lobby and meeting room areas are refurbished and lovely, but the guest rooms don't seem to have had any incremental maintenance since they were built. As we went to our room on the second floor, the carpet was rumpled and coming up every few feet. We also noted several spots of drywall crumbs that remained there the entire weekend without being cleaned. The lack of cleaning and repairs followed into the room. There were several bobby pins and spots of dirt on the floor from previous visitors. Only one of the three lights by the window worked--the only lighting in the main bedroom area. There was a spacious mini fridge, but it was so cold that several of our waters were partially frozen the next day. (There was no way to adjust the temperature.) The wooden storage cabinet that covered the fridge was rotting away. The shower constantly leaked. Several outlets were cracked. The lock to the patio was snapped in half. Thankfully, we did not have issues with bedbugs (I checked our mattresses), but two of our friends on the third floor were covered with bites after one night. Also thankfully, our AC was ice cold, but there were many areas of the hotel and meeting rooms where it didn't work at all.The only redeeming quality about this place was the employees, as all of them were very nice throughout the stay. They did a great job with the food and service during our convention event. I think the employees do the best they can given the situation at the hotel, but the rooms should be gutted for repairs and refurbishing at this point.

The hotel is very outdated. 1 laundry room for the entire complex. 2 washers,2 dryers. My toilet was clogged, and it took 4 hours for someone to plunge it. With upgrades, the facility has potential. But as of right now. I will not come here again..

We were at this hotel for a conference. Never again. Apparently, the hotel has been being renovated for over 8 years. Can't tell. Dirty hotel, Landscape overgrown, Broken door on refrigerator cabinet , Sliding door to patio off track, letting hot air in, Patio covered in cobwebs, Shower head falls out of wall, Mold in bath, Furniture torn up and with suspicious stains, No ice machines working and no signs, Mattress has a divet in the middle, bathroom sink put in poorly, Tiny bath towels, Stained sheets, Wi-fi sucks-keeps kicking off. Were supposed to have a king bed. Ended up with two double beds, NO queen beds in the hotel. Hot in the lobby, and the meeting rooms, need to up the air conditioning.

This is the worst hotel we've ever stayed in, hands down. And we have stayed in hotels in a few third world countries. We actually had to call the police during our two night stay here in June 2023 (explained toward the end of the review). 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. More on that later).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. Then, after we'd brought all of 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.This is where our stay at this hotel gets really bad. As we tried to forget about the filthy rooms and the apathetic staff, we tried to go to sleep. We checked in late-ish (8pm?), and by now, it was almost 11pm. As we drifted off to sleep, 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 50 to 100 young people 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 group 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 the one security guard they have on the night shift, 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 that he would 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 the security guard 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." Additionally, there was black mold in the bathroom (see photos), the toilet was not attached to the floor and was leaking, the carpet was ripped in multiple places, and the room was utterly disgusting. We barely slept for two nights.This place should be demolished. It's not fit for human occupation. UPDATE: We have since gone back and forth with the hotel and priceline and have FINALLY received a full refund for both nights of our stay. This whole process took over a month of my husband and I calling the hotel repeatedly. In this time, three employees who we had been talking to quit. Not a great sign. Though I don't blame anyone for not wanting to work in such a poorly run business.DO NOT BOOK THIS HOTEL. Sleep in your car rather than this dump. You will get better rest, and won't risk getting hurt or sick.

Inexpensive and clean. Accepts pets at a reasonable rate. This location is an older hotel and a little threadbare in places but clean and comfortable. Staff is always friendly and responsive. Location is exceptional -- close to both the historic area and Busch Gardens. Daily rates here are generally 1/3 of the Williamsburg Lodge's.

This place gets bad reviews because it's dated. We just got back from our two room three night stay while visiting Busch Gardens. First thing we noticed when we checked in, is the place is massive. The lobby is huge. History buffs can appreciate the modest display of civil war collections under glass display and a small library of books near the fireplace and chairs. Everything is clean and kept.The hallway carpets and furniture are dated and show some wear. But everything is clean and kept there as well. Our room was no frills. Dated furniture and slightly older TV. But everything functioned as it should. Our stay was very comfortable with a decent king mattress and clean sheets and linens. We asked for an extra roll of tp and extra towels which were promptly brought to the room. Breakfast consisted of make your own waffles and biscuits n' gravy. The waffles were good. The biscuits and gravy were probably the best I've ever had. The gravy was thick and full of sausage. There was also cereals and bagels. I would have liked to see more variety, but I was very surprised for what we got for a "free" Breakfast. All in all, we had absolutely no gripes about our stay. We only paid 80 a night per room and feel we got more for our money than we should have. We've stayed in places costing well over 120 a night and didn't get what we got at Fort McGruder Hotel. They even had a movie night in the lobby playing old movies for guests. It's little things like this that make this place a hidden gem if you are looking for a clean, comfortable, safe and budget friendly place to stay. We will definitely be booking her again when we visit the area.

Please if you have health problems don't stay hereThis place is not fit to walk into! They put up beautiful pictures of walking into the place and yes it's nice but it's also a health hazard. You can smell the mold and mildew faintly when walking in but the moment you get into the hallways you are over taken by the smell, wonder where it's coming from? Just look up, you will see the water damage on the ceiling and where the plaster is gone. The first room we went into, I pulled the bed sheets back, to find out that they do not use actual mattress covers, they use a pad, when pulling that back I found I don't know what! We went downstairs, showed the pictures and asked about if they use mattress covers where we were told they did where they must have been getting washed. We go to the next room down the hall, I pull back the sheets to find that they clearly don't use mattress covers, this room smell even more or mold, carpet has a hole in it and the bathroom door is rusted. I was not in that room for more then an hour and my lungs locked up having a hard time breathing and had to get out of there! This is the first time I have had to use my inhaler in a long time, we did not stay at this hotel! The big problem was my dad's Navy reunion was there so we were stuck going back to the conference room for other things. After we got home I started having green stuff come out my nose, ENT just sent out a biopsy to find out exactly what it is because of the possibility of it being a fungus from the mold. I know I spoke with another man from the reunion that said they were having to use their inhaler more often there.

On June 13, 2024, at 10:15am I contacted Fort Magruder hotel at 757-220-2250, to check if they have a room for the time, from 06/17/2024 to 06/20/2024, the representative replied yes, that after she checked her PC. I asked for the charge per night, she answered $89.00 per night.After she mentioned the price, I booked the room for 3 nights and I gave my Credit card information via phone.On 06/17/2024 at 3:45pm I visited the hotel to check in, the front desk staff take her long Time to check me in, she apologized for the delay and mentioned that she had some issues with her PC, then she asked me for my credit card and photo ID.On 06/20/2024 at 10:20am I visited the front desk to check out the room, the front desk staff thanked me and wished me a safe trip back home, I asked for the checked-out receipt, the staff mentioned that her PC is acting up, and she said however you are good to go. I trusted that everything would be ok, so I left headed back to my hometown.On 06/24/2024 at 9:25am I checked my credit card transactions, and I found out they overcharged my CC in the amount of $775.44, which makes my daily charge $258.48. Immediately Called the hotel front desk phone # and tried to discuss this matter, the representative gave me the manager direct number to call.On the same day 06/24/2024 at 9:28am I attempted to contact Miss. Cindy Hanna {Hotel Manager} at 757-664-9772, it went to her voicemail, I left her a detail VM explained my concern and my contact number.I did not hear back from Miss. Cindy, so I reached out again at 2:13pm and left second VM.At 3ash pm I called the front desk asked to talk to a manager, the staff reminded me that she gave me her direct number and she advised me to leave her a VM and she hung up the phone.Today 06/25/2024 at 7:49pm I did not receive any response from the manager.On Thursday June 27,2024 around 1:51pm I attempted to reach out for the third time and left 3rd VM for the hotel manager Cindy Hanna. On Monday July 1st, 2024, I contacted My Credit Union who handles my Credit card to file a dispute. Best regards,YO

ROACHES...a lot of them. No fun waking up to kill roaches while I try to brush my teeth. Front desk seemed hardly suprised - they must get a lot of complains. Rooms are run down, floors in halls are filty and breakfast was terrible. Even the coffee sucked. We never stayed here before, never will again.