After spending a few days with family in Portsmouth, VA after getting back from Bali, Shae and I made our way up to Richmond to restart our 50 state road trip.
We were due to stay 12 nights at the Candlewood Suites Richmond West End Short Pump, although I messed up and only booked 11 nights. I’d booked that hotel as it was good value using points and meant we’d have a kitchen for the duration of our time in Virginia’s state capital.
Here’s a review of our stay at the Candlewood Suites Richmond West End Short Pump.
Check-In
We left Portsmouth much later than originally anticipated, so we didn’t get to the hotel until just after midnight. We’d arrived late at night at a different Candlewood Suites several years ago and checked ourselves in using a safe in the hotel’s entrance which contained our keys. This hotel had a set of those safes too, but there was no need to use them as there was someone at the front desk to check us in.
Mike was the one checking us in and he was very friendly and chatty. I asked if it was possible to get upgraded from a studio suite to a one bedroom suite seeing as I have IHG’s top tier Spire Elite status, but he advised that they were fully booked, so there weren’t any larger rooms available.
The reason the hotel was so busy is because they had two different film crews staying at the hotel – one for The Walking Dead and one for The Good Lord Bird.
The hotel does something fun for guests checking in. There’s a riddle at the front desk and if you can answer it without checking your phone or asking for help, you’ll get 100 bonus points. 100 IHG Rewards Club points aren’t worth much, but it’s still a nice touch.
Mike gave us the keys to room 316 and we headed upstairs.
Queen Studio Suite
We’d booked a queen studio suite as that was the only room type available using points when making our reservation. When entering the room, the bathroom was on the left, the kitchen on the right and the bedroom straight ahead and to the left.
Bedroom
As mentioned above, we’d booked a queen studio suite. The bed was comfortable, as were the pillows. To the left of the bed was a reclining armchair which was also comfortable.
Opposite the bed was a large desk area along with a couple of dressers and some shelves. In the corner was a wall-mounted TV. Most Candlewood Suites hotels that we’ve stayed at in the past have had a DVD player in the room, but I don’t think we had one in this room.
There was a pretty good selection of TV channels available at the hotel.
While the suite didn’t feel overly spacious, it didn’t feel too cramped either. One aspect of the room we didn’t like though was the air conditioning as the thermostat didn’t seem to control the temperature correctly. We had to turn the temperature down 3° below the current temperature to have the air conditioning kick in, then raise it 2° as otherwise the room would become freezing.
Other times it’d be cooling the room, then the heating would kick in even though the thermostat said the room’s temperature was already higher than the temperature we’d set it to. It was therefore impossible to ever have it be the correct temperature – the room was always either too hot or too cold.
Between the bedroom and the bathroom was a closet. This contained an iron and ironing board, but nothing else.
Kitchen
One of the benefits of staying at the Candlewood Suites brand is that every room has a kitchen. Our kitchen was pretty well-equipped with a full-size fridge-freezer, microwave, stove top and dishwasher.
The cupboards and drawers had kitchen utensils, cookware, plates, dishes, etc. It was a little disappointing that there were only two place settings as some Candlewood Suites properties have four plates, four dishes, four forks, knives and spoons, etc.
Bathroom
The bathroom contained a bathtub with shower, along with the toilet and a sink and vanity.
IHG is in the process of phasing out small plastic bottles of toiletries; the Candlewood Suites Richmond West End Short Pump is one of the properties that’s already done this as there were shampoo, conditioner and shower gel dispensers instead.
They did still have a small bottle of lotion though, along with a bar of soap and makeup remover.
The bathroom had some additional wall shelving which held a hairdryer.
Amenities
At this point in a hotel review I’d normally include details about breakfast, but the Candlewood Suites brand doesn’t provide that at any of their properties as it’s a limited service brand. That’s fine, but it’s something to be aware of if you’ve never stayed at one before.
The one in Richmond West End Short Pump was helpful though as they provided details of a bunch of nearby restaurants where you could get breakfast.
The fact that your room has a kitchen though means it’s also easy to eat breakfast there. If you don’t feel like heading out to the grocery store though (or haven’t had a chance), you can buy items from the Candlewood Cupboard. They have breakfast items along with other meals, snacks, drinks and toiletries.
Another feature you’ll find at all Candlewood Suite properties is the Lending Locker. You can borrow these items during your stay and it includes books, DVDs, board games, additional kitchen appliances and more.
In the same area as the Lending Locker was the business center which had a couple of computers and a printer for guests to use.
One of my favorite things about staying at Candlewood Suites is that they not only offer guest laundry facilities, but washers and dryers are always free. We live in hotels and Airbnbs now, so not having to go to the laundromat is much more convenient, especially when we also don’t have to pay anything for doing laundry.
One thing I didn’t like is that the laundry area and fitness room backed on to each other. That meant the fitness area got incredibly hot due to at least one dryer seemingly being used at all times.
That made working out incredibly unpleasant as it was hot and humid. Both the laundry area and fitness area had air conditioning units, but even when setting them to 65° it would be ~80° in there – the units just weren’t powerful enough to counteract the heat from the dryers.
Out the back of the hotel there was a gazebo which seemed to be popular with the film crews. This had several tables and chairs, along with a couple of grills.
Pet Policy
The Candlewood Suites Richmond West End Short Pump is a pet-friendly hotel. They have a pet fee of $35 per stay regardless of how long you stay there which is great value compared to most other pet-friendly hotels. Their website doesn’t list any weight restrictions, but it might be worth calling them if you have a 100lb dog in case they have an unpublished rule.
There are lots of grassy areas all around the hotel, with a dedicated pet walking area at the back of the property near the gazebo.
The hotel is only a few minutes away from Short Pump Dog Park which is a lovely dog park. It’s a good size with separate sections for small and large dogs.
The “grass” was actually artificial turf which made sense given how hot Virginia gets in the summer.
Both the small and large dog sides had water supplies. Not only that, but they also had several paddling pools that the pups loved. Even Truffles who doesn’t love water kept hopping in the water to cool herself down after spending a while chasing after her ball.
Service
Service was good at the Candlewood Suites Richmond West End Short Pump, with the front desk staff being friendly and helpful.
One thing that was slightly strange was the way that housekeeping was done. We returned one day to find our room half done – our trash was emptied, our bed was stripped, but that was it. Housekeeping seemed to be going down the hall doing the same thing in each room. On the one hand that might be efficient, but it means you then have an entire floor of half-done rooms, so if guests return (like we did), their rooms aren’t ready.
Shae and I decided to head out to a couple of stores and stopped by the front desk to see if they could have housekeeping finish off our room while we were gone. Sure enough, we returned 30-45 minutes later and it was finished, so that was good.
Check-In & Check-Out Times
You can check-in from 3pm and check-out is at 12pm.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi was free for all guests. It had a good speed and we didn’t have any connectivity issues. It also remained connected constantly rather than logging us out every 24 hours like some hotels annoyingly do.
Location
As the name of the property suggests, this Candlewood Suites is in Richmond in the West End and Short Pump area. More specifically it’s in Glen Allen which seemed to be a nice area. There was a grocery store next door called Tom Leonard which has apparently won awards for having the freshest produce in Richmond. There are also many other stores, restaurants and grocery stores nearby, so it was a good location to be for 11 nights.
It takes 15-20 minutes to get into downtown Richmond, so if you don’t mind having a relatively short drive into the city, it’s a good location as the Short Pump area seemed very nice.
Parking
It’s free to park at the hotel. There were quite a few spaces out front, as well as plenty of other spaces around the sides of the property.
Cost
The reason I’d booked us in at the Candlewood Suites Richmond West End Short Pump is because it only cost 10,000 points per night. I have both the old and new IHG credit cards which makes award stays even better value.
The new card offers every 4th night free on award stays. I thought I’d booked a 12 night stay but accidentally only booked us in for 11 nights. If I’d booked it correctly, the 4th, 8th and 12th nights would’ve all been free.
The old IHG credit card also offers a 10% rebate on award stays. If I’d booked everything correctly, our net cost would’ve been 6,750 points per night which is excellent value.
If we’d paid cash, the cheapest rate would’ve been $98.67 per night. That means we got 1.46cpp (cents per points) of value by using points which is about triple the value you can normally expect to get when using IHG Rewards Club points.
Final Thoughts
Our stay at this hotel was fine. It was a shame we couldn’t get an upgrade to a larger room, but it’s understandable considering they were fully booked during our stay.
There were a few other aspects though that meant it wasn’t as good a stay as it could’ve been. It was impossible to keep our room at a comfortable temperature due to the wonky thermostat. Only having two place settings meant we would’ve had to constantly run the dishwasher if we didn’t also happen to have our portable kitchen with us – something I doubt other guests have with them.
The most frustrating part for me was the temperature in the fitness room. I’ve started jogging again over the last few months and try working out every couple of days or so. That meant I had to work out four or five times in uncomfortably hot and humid temperatures due to the fitness area being in the same room as six dryers. I think this is done so that you can do laundry while working out, but in reality it doesn’t work out well.
Other than those points though, it was a pleasant enough stay and was great value considering it was only 10,000 points per night.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives this hotel three paws out of four – pawsome! Having a pet fee of only $35 for an 11 day stay was great, as was having so many grassy areas around the hotel.
The reason they didn’t get four paws from her is because of the noise. It wasn’t a noisy hotel as such, but our room was near the elevator and people walking by would sometimes disturb her. One of the housekeeping staff members also had a chain that jingled as they walked back and forth; this wouldn’t be an issue normally, but it unfortunately sounded like a dog walking by for Truffles and so she felt the need to alert us to the potential danger out in the hallway every time they walked by.
Our Rating
Room = 4.1 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.1 / 5
Food = N/A
Location = 4.4 / 5
Service = 4.2 / 5
Overall Value = 4.6 / 5
Total = 4.28 / 5
Address
Candlewood Suites Richmond West End Short Pump, 4120 Tom Leonard Dr, Glen Allen, VA 23060
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