Doubletree Hotel Richmond Downtown: Lovely renovations, excellent staff

JoanEisenstodt — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:20:52 +0100

It had been years since I'd been to Richmond and I was pleased to see all that the City has done and was particularly pleased to see the Doubletree's renovations. And tho' I rated it consistent "3"s, I think this is a hotel worth considering for the service alone esp. for a smaller meeting.

I arrived by AMTRAK from Washington, DC, at the Staples Mill Road stop. The Hotel was kind enough to pick me up in one of their vans. On the way to the Hotel, I was treated to a great tour of Richmond.
Walking into the lobby is a pleasant experience - it's bright and the renovations are very nice. The front desk staff are superb! And of course, I got my cookie to take to my room.
The rooms look as pictured on the web site - something that is not always true for hotels. The things that matter to me were there: outlets, complimentary high speed wireless internet, and a good working air conditioner. Alas, the ironing board was missing from my room - something I didn't discover until the next morning when I was getting dressed to go conduct training. (Luckily, my linen outfit still looked ok.)
First stop - the Starbuck's in the lobby for my iced espresso and again great service.
Then to the meeting space on the 2nd floor. It's not fabulous but it is workable. The ceilings seemed a bit low and tho' the lighting fixtures were great - much more tailored than the usual - it didn't leave lots of head room for the screen. Again, the service in getting help with the projector was excellent.
Some rooms appear to need portable sound systems - which can be a problem but was not in our case.
Lunch was in a room on the 3rd floor - and a room with windows! Lunch was excellent - they modified a menu item to be less heavy - it was a grilled chicken breast on orzo which was on top of fresh, uncooked baby spinach leaves topped with a bit of sprinkled feta cheese. What impressed me most was the REAL chicken breast - not one of those usual hotel ones that has the grill marks 'built in'! Dessert was tiramisu served in a glass v. on a plate. Great presentation and taste.
Checkout was easy the next day and on my way, in the van to the train, another couple rode along to go to a restaurant. (It was race weekend and the hotel was packed and the vans were in constant demand .. and always seemed available.)
Nice experience.

Richmond - Meetings Collaborative - By and for Meeting Professionals

Doubletree Hotel Richmond Downtown: Lovely renovations, excellent staff