After staying an extra couple of days in Roanoke to wait out Hurricane Dorian, Shae and I headed down to Hampton Roads for a few days to see friends and family.
We normally stay with Shae’s parents when visiting the area, but for this trip we booked a hotel stay nearby. Looking at our hotel options, I noticed that there were a couple of Hampton Inns that were reasonably priced when using points.
In the end I booked five nights at the Hampton Inn Chesapeake/Battlefield Blvd. A five night stay was perfect as the fifth night is free on award stays with Hilton provided you have some kind of status. You can get Silver status with their no annual fee credit card, so you can take advantage of the fifth night free benefit even if you haven’t stayed at any kind of Hilton property that year.
Here’s a review of our stay at the Hampton Inn Chesapeake/Battlefield Blvd in Virginia.
Check-In
We arrived at 5:15pm and there was a line at the front desk of people wanting to check in. Due to the hurricane that passed through the area a day or two before, the hotel apparently had to shampoo some carpets which contributed to housekeeping getting behind on cleaning rooms.
As a result, we had to wait until 6pm before a room was ready. We’d booked a room with two queen beds as that was the only room type available when using points, but had been hoping we’d be able to get an upgrade to a studio suite with our Gold status. Due to the delay with the rooms being ready though, I was just grateful that we only had to wait 45 minutes, so just took what we’d booked.
Bedroom
We were assigned room 518 which is on the top floor of the hotel. That was nice as it meant no one would be above us; we’ve had some heavy stompers above us at other hotels which our dog Truffles doesn’t appreciate.
When entering the room, the bathroom was on the left with the bedroom ahead and to the left.
The queen beds were comfortable as they always are at Hampton Inns.
The bedside table had power outlets and USB ports available which we appreciated as it meant we could easily charge our phones overnight by the bed.
On the other side of the room was a desk and office chair. There were a couple of available power outlets on the wall, as well as a couple on the desk lamp’s base. The desk also held the coffee maker.
To the right of the desk was a dresser, a fairly small TV, microwave and mini fridge.
There was a good selection of channels available on the TV.
As for the fridge, this was a larger than normal mini fridge and included a freezer section which was nice to have.
To the right of that were a couple of wheeled ottomans. We moved those to the bottom of the bed to make it easier for Truffles to get up and down. Unfortunately I forgot about them one night and tripped over them in the dark!
Between the bedroom and bathroom was the room’s closet. This had a full-length mirror on the door, while inside there was a luggage rack, iron and ironing board, along with an additional blanket.
Bathroom
The bathroom had a fairly long countertop on the left with the sink.
The toiletries on the counter were Neutrogena and were decent enough quality.
In addition to the “luxury” shower cap, there was also a “deluxe” vanity kit which consisted of a couple of Q-Tips, a mini emery board and a couple of small cotton balls.
On the opposite side of the bathroom was the bathtub and shower. The shower was probably the least impressive feature of the room as the water pressure was abysmal. Neither the bathtub nor the sink drained very well either.
Breakfast
One of the things I love about Hampton Inns is that most (or all?) of their properties serve breakfast until 10am. I tend to be a late riser, so not having to get up super-early (for me) is always nice.
The Hampton Inn Chesapeake/Battlefield Blvd had a pretty good selection of breakfast options, including 2-3 hot options that rotated each morning. The other breakfast items tended to remain the same each day, other than the freshly cut fruit which also rotated each day.
In addition to the juice machine, there was a coffee and tea station that was available 24/7 and had a good selection of different teas.
Amenities
The Hampton Inn Chesapeake/Battlefield Blvd has a number of amenities for guests to enjoy. Given how busy we were during our five days there, I didn’t get a chance to use their fitness room but it was a good size and had several pieces of equipment and weights.
The hotel also had an indoor swimming pool and whirlpool. I didn’t use either, but dipped my hand in the pool to check the temperature – it seemed OK, but not particularly warm.
The fifth floor had a vending machine and ice machine next to the elevator, so I’m assuming the other floors did as well.
After having no laundry facilities for the previous nine days at the Hyatt Place Roanoke, it was nice to have guest laundry facilities at the Hampton Inn. Both the washers and dryers cost $1.50 per load.
If you need any laundry detergent, you can buy that from the pantry area which also has drinks, snacks, frozen meals, etc.
Next to the pantry area was the business center which had a couple of computers and a printer.
Pet Policy
The Hampton Inn Chesapeake/Battlefield Blvd is a pet-friendly hotel. One of the great things about staying there is that they don’t charge a pet fee, although your dog has to weigh 30 lbs or less. They also have a limit of two dogs per room.
The hotel has a few grassy areas around the hotel where your dog can do their stuff. It’s also right on Battlefield Blvd which has a sidewalk if you want to walk your dogs further.
Service
Service was good at the hotel. We pretty much only slept at the hotel though, so we had very few interactions with the front desk staff and housekeeping.
Check-In & Check-Out Times
Check-in is at 3pm and check-out is at 11am. We wanted to get a late check-out on our final day; we’d been hoping for 2 or 3pm, but they only allowed us to stay until 1pm. Hilton offers late check-out for Gold members but it’s not guaranteed, unlike Marriott and Hyatt that have a guaranteed 4pm late check-out if you have high enough status with them.
Wi-Fi
The Wi-Fi at the Hampton Inn Chesapeake/Battlefield Blvd was somewhat annoying. The speed was OK, but we had to reconnect every 24 hours which sometimes involved having to restart my laptop. So many hotels require this and it’s one of the most frustrating things about living in hotels as the 24 hours often resets when I’m in the middle of working on something online.
Location
The hotel isn’t in a particularly aspirational location. Having said that, it is conveniently located close to I-64 and I-464 and is near several stores, restaurants, etc. It’s 15-20 minutes to Norfolk and Portsmouth and 30-35 minutes to Virginia Beach Oceanfront.
Parking
It’s free to park at the hotel and there are plenty of spaces around the property.
Cost
As mentioned at the start of the review, we paid for our stay at the Hampton Inn Chesapeake/Battlefield Blvd using points. The first two nights cost 25,000 points per night, while the next two nights cost 37,000 points per night (Hilton Honors uses dynamic pricing). With the fifth night being free on award stays, it cost us a total of 124,000 points or 24,800 points per night.
That’s more Hilton points than I like to use per night for our stays, but we’ve been sitting on a ton of Hilton points ever since we set off on our 50 state road trip, so I decided it made sense to use them now rather than other types of hotel points.
If we’d paid cash, it would’ve cost $114.27 per night including tax. That means we got 0.46cpp (cents per point) of value which is much less value than we normally get when using Hilton points, but about average for what you can usually expect.
Final Thoughts
Our stay at the Hampton Inn Chesapeake/Battlefield Blvd was perfectly fine. We spent far less time at the hotel than we usually do, so it was mainly just a place to rest our heads.
It’s in a fairly convenient location for everything in Hampton Roads and has good amenities if you’ll be staying there for a while.
Truffles Approval Rating
Truffles gives this hotel four paws out of four – pawfect! While there wasn’t as much grass as some other hotels, the lack of a pet fee more than made up for that.
Our Rating
Room = 4.1 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.4 / 5
Food = 4.2 / 5
Location = 4.0 / 5
Service = 4.0 / 5
Overall Value = 4.2 / 5
Total = 4.15 / 5
Address
Hampton Inn, 1421 N Battlefield Blvd, Chesapeake, VA 23320
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