Hotel Review: Sleep Inn Beaver-Beckley, West Virginia

After spending 2.5 weeks in the UK and Amsterdam, it was finally time to get back on the road for our 50 state road trip.

Our destination was Kentucky, the 12th state of our road trip. We were setting off from Portsmouth VA as we’d stayed with Shae’s mom and stepdad for a few days after returning from Europe.

It was a 10 hour drive from Portsmouth to Louisville, so we didn’t feel like doing that journey in one day. We therefore decided to stay overnight halfway along the route. We left on a Monday and I had to work all day Tuesday, so we decided to stay a couple of nights before driving the rest of the way.

Beckley and Charleston – both in West Virginia – were the two largest cities halfway along our route. There weren’t any hotels that were both pet-friendly and not expensive points-wise in those areas, so I looked into paid stays instead.

That didn’t help matters much either as most of the hotels were more expensive than I like to pay. There was one exception though – the Sleep Inn Beaver-Beckley. It was reasonably priced, pet-friendly and didn’t have a high pet fee.

It ended up being a good choice for a couple of nights, so here’s my review of the Sleep Inn Beaver-Beckley in West Virginia.

Check-In

We left Portsmouth much later than planned as it took longer to pack than anticipated. We therefore didn’t get to the hotel until almost 10pm. The good thing is that that meant there was no line at the front desk and so we got checked in quickly.

While checking in, the front desk agent mentioned that there was no elevator in the property and that our room would be on the second floor. We had a luggage cart completely stacked with everything we own as we don’t like leaving it in our car having had it broken in to last year. That meant we weren’t keen on hauling it all upstairs manually, so the front desk agent offered to put us in a room on the first floor instead.

We’d booked a room with a king bed, but the only rooms they had remaining on the first floor had two double beds. We were more than happy making that change as it simply meant we’d have our own beds for a couple of nights and could wheel the luggage cart down the hall.

Once she’d finished processing that change, she gave us our keys to room 107.

Bedroom

When entering the room, the bedroom area was ahead and to the right, with the bathroom on the other side of the wall to the right of the entrance.

Considering the room hadn’t been expensive, it was nicely decorated and clean. The beds and pillows were very comfortable and the blackout curtains worked well.

The lamp on the table between the beds had two power outlets which we appreciated as it made it easier charging our phones overnight.

Opposite the bed was a mini fridge, microwave and coffee maker. The mini fridge had a small freezer section in the top which, unlike other hotel mini fridges, actually froze things. This meant our freezer blocks were usable when we checked out a couple of days later which was helpful seeing as we had to keep our refrigerated items cold for 5+ hours.

To the right of those was a desk and office chair, along with a dresser and the room’s TV.

The Sleep Inn Beaver-Beckley had a good selection of TV channels.

To the right of the desk was the room’s closet. This contained an iron, ironing board, safe and luggage rack.

Bathroom

Between the bedroom and bathroom was the room’s sink and vanity.

The toiletries were made by Zenses. I only used the soap and shampoo and they were both perfectly adequate.

In the bathroom itself, the toilet was on the left and the walk-in shower was on the right. While we appreciated having a fan in the bathroom, it was so loud that it sounded like it was preparing for takeoff.

The shower door design wasn’t the greatest. It pushed inwards, thereby blocking the shower controls. That meant you had to be standing in the shower with the door closed when turning it on, although it thankfully heated up quickly. I’d thought the shower unit looked a little small originally, but it ended up being sizable enough.

Breakfast

One of the nice features of the Sleep Inn Beaver-Beckley is that breakfast was served from 6am to 10am. I’m not a morning person, so not having it end at 9am was great.

The breakfast spread wasn’t the best we’ve had at similar types of hotels, but it was filling enough. Here’s what was on offer each morning:

The breakfast area was a decent size with plenty of tables and chairs, so unless the hotel was incredibly busy, there shouldn’t be a problem finding somewhere to sit at breakfast.

Amenities

The Sleep Inn Beaver-Beckley consists of two buildings. We were in the main building, while the fitness room was in the second building. For some reason my key card didn’t work when trying to unlock that door, so here’s a photo of the equipment on offer taken through the door’s window.

The hotel has a couple of washing machines and dryers, both of which cost $2 per load.

If you need laundry detergent, bleach or softener, they’re sold from a vending machine in the laundry area for $1 apiece.

For guests needing to get online or print something off during a stay, there’s a business center in the lobby. This consists of a couple of computers and a printer.

Also in the lobby is a 24/7 tea and coffee station. I’m not sure how warm they keep the coffee, but the hot water for a cup of tea wasn’t hot. On the positive side, there were nearly always cookies available for guests.

If you want something different to eat or drink, there were drink and snack vending machines just off the lobby, along with an ice machine. There were ice machines and drink vending machines elsewhere in the hotel too.

The hotel has a shelter outside for smokers, along with a picnic table.

Pet Policy

The Sleep Inn Beaver-Beckley is a pet-friendly hotel. They charge $15 per night per pet which is reasonable, especially for shorter stays. They allow a maximum of two pets per room and have a maximum weight of 35 lbs. I’m not sure if that’s 35 lbs for the total weight of pets or up to 35 lbs per pet though.

Booking a pet-friendly room at this hotel was a little confusing. I tried booking online but every single room type said ‘No pets allowed’. When calling the hotel, they advised I could book any room and they’d just add the pet fee on arrival. I was a little nervous about doing this in case we arrived and they said we’d booked a room that couldn’t have pets, but it wasn’t a problem at all.

The hotel has grass all around the property, so there’s plenty of places for your dog to do their stuff.

Service

The lady who checked us in was very friendly and didn’t have a problem changing our allocated room to ensure we didn’t have to lug all our bags upstairs. The lady who was in charge of breakfast was also very friendly and chatty.

Check-In & Checkout Times

The check-in time is 3pm, while checkout is at 11am.

Wi-Fi

The Wi-Fi at the hotel was free for all guests and simply required that you accepted the terms of use – no password was needed. We didn’t have any connection or speed issues.

Location

The Sleep Inn Beaver-Beckley is just off I-64, so it’s perfectly located as a stopover when driving through. It’s only 10 minutes to Little Beaver State Park and the larger city of Beckley.

There wasn’t much within walking distance, although there was a gas station and Tudor’s Biscuit World opposite the hotel.

Parking

Parking at the hotel was free and there were plenty of spaces. There were several spaces out front along with loads more around the back of the hotel.

Cost

I mentioned at the beginning of the review that the Sleep Inn Beaver-Beckley was reasonably priced. That’s because our room rate was $69.38 per night, although we also had to pay the $15 per night pet fee.

Sleep Inn is one of the Choice Hotels brands and Shae has Platinum status with them. Seeing as our stay included a weeknight, we got a free $5 Starbucks eGift card as her ‘Your Extras’ selection.

I clicked through from the TopCashback shopping portal to book our stay as they were offering 5% cashback on Choice Hotels reservations. That’s payable on the pre-tax room rate, so we should get an additional $6.19 back. We also earned 1,538 Choice Privileges points on the stay.

If you want to stay at this property using points, it’ll cost anything from 8,000 to 25,000 points per night. That varies depending on the time of year you stay, along with whether you’re staying during the week or on a weekend. Given the fairly low room rates, you’ll likely do much better saving your points for stays elsewhere.

Final Thoughts

We had a decent stay at the Sleep Inn Beaver-Beckley. Our room was clean, the beds were comfortable and the breakfast options were sufficient. As a result, it was very good value for money.

We’re due to spend ~6 weeks in West Virginia later this year, so if we return to the area, I’ll definitely consider booking another stay here so long as the room rates are still reasonable.

Truffles Approval Rating

Truffles gives this hotel three paws out of four – pawsome! The pet fee wasn’t too expensive, so that was positive. However, she didn’t appreciate how loud some of the guests above us and next door were.

Our Rating

Room = 4.3 / 5
Hotel Amenities = 4.0 / 5
Food = 3.9 / 5
Location = 4.2 / 5
Service = 4.4 / 5
Overall Value = 4.6 / 5

Total = 4.23 / 5

Address

Sleep Inn, 1124 Airport Rd, Beaver, WV 25813