A review of our recent week-long stay at Williamsburg White House Inn Bed & Breakfast in Williamsburg, Virginia. I will tell you at the end of this review whether we will stay here again or not.
We finally decided to visit Virginia! It had been on my wish list for years. Not sure why we waited so long, because the state of Virginia is really beautiful, just as I had anticipated. The drive off the highway into Williamburg was very pleasant with lush green woods and forests land as well as farms along the way.
We were surprised at the number of Plantations we passed along the way. Having lived in Georgia most of my life, I know there are few plantations remaining, and those have become tourist attractions. I was under the mistaken impression we had more of them than anyone else. There are plenty of tourist plantations to visit in Virginia.
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Table of Contents
- What to Expect from a B&B Stay
- About the Williamsburg Whitehouse B&B
- Would we stay at Williamsburg Whitehouse B&B again?
- Things To Do On Vacation in Virginia
- More Southeast USA Vacation Places To Stay
Screenshot of the outside of White House Inn B&B, Williamsburg, Virginia
My husband booked our stay in Williamsburg. I’m usually the one who does all the research on places to stay. He volunteered! Y’all know we don’t turn down volunteers. When he showed me the homepage for the B&B, it looked beautiful. I fell in love with the outside. How wonderful it would be to stay in this historic old mansion in Virginia and tour our country’s historic places daily from there.
What to Expect from a B&B Stay
Expectations are different for everyone. Some folks just want a bed and a shower because they don’t plan to be in their room long anyway. We look for the experience when staying at a Bed and Breakfast. Part of the experience is exploring the house itself, hearing the history behind it, and seeing the period furniture most B&Bs enjoy displaying. We also look forward to those amazing breakfasts that most Innkeepers plan for their guests. It is a pleasant time of fellowship. You often get some advice about the area at breakfast.
I wouldn’t know what the most common length of stay is for B&B travelers. In the past, we usually only stayed for a weekend when we visited a B&B. We decided to spend our entire week-long Virginia vacation at the White House Inn. The pictures were so inviting.
About the Williamsburg Whitehouse B&B
Let the innkeeper choose your room?
We booked using the Commander-in-Chief Choice Special, which allows the Innkeeper to assign your King bedroom. It appears at this writing that this special is no longer offered. Having never been there, it truly didn’t matter which themed room we stayed in. We assumed all of the rooms would be marvelous because the pictures on their website were inviting. However, it is not revealed on their website that you could possibly wind up in a building behind the house rather than in the beautiful Colonial house pictured.
Currently, the description of this room on their website states, “This is our smaller King room and is on the first floor in a newer wing of the Inn, which requires a set of outside stairs.”
The Winston Churchill Room
Our biggest disappointment was that the room was not in the main house. It was behind the main house in what seemed to be a detached building. There is no access to the Winston Churchill Room from inside the main house. You have to walk around the main house on the side and up some stairs to get to this set of rooms. The innkeeper instructed us to open the door and get in quickly so as not to allow the swarms of mosquitoes in behind us. Oh boy! They have cornered the market on mosquitoes.
No central air. Their website states central heat and air. There is a small window unit air conditioner in the Winston Churchill room. We were there the week of the 4th of July when the temperatures were pretty hot. The air in the room just didn’t ever really get as cool as we would have liked.
No luggage racks. There is nowhere to sit your luggage, which meant heaving it onto the bed every morning and every evening. My hubby contacted the number provided and inquired about getting a luggage rack. He was told they don’t have those.
The maid opened drawers, which I personally thought was just wrong. After you check into a place of lodging where you are reserved to be for multiple days, it becomes your domain. I considered storing my medicine in a bedside drawer and ultimately decided against it. We knew the maid had plundered because they had an envelope requesting a tip propped on the pillows on the bed when you first arrived. I placed that envelope into the bedside drawer. The next day, after returning from our daily activities, that envelope was no longer in the drawer but back on the bed. I am glad I did not store anything in that drawer.
If you have a need, you have to call the phone number provided on business cards placed in the room and wait for a return call. Since their website states the owners live on the property and they manage the B&B themselves, it made us feel like we would be intruding on them if we needed something.
Bathroom
The shower is very small with no tub. I am here to tell you that standing up in a tiny shower trying to shave your legs is no fun. It’s so small, you couldn’t really get out from under the water enough to soap up to bathe.
The bathroom had no counter space at all. They have a basket on the floor with towels and washcloths. There is nowhere to put your toiletries.
Cheapest toilet paper ever. Walmart public restrooms have better toilet paper. Seriously, neither of us has ever even seen toilet paper so cheap that it doesn’t even have perforations for tearing the sheet off.
Breakfast
Expecting a fabulous breakfast is one of the driving factors in deciding to stay at a B&B. My brother told me he has only stayed at one B&B ever because all they served for breakfast was sweets. I encouraged him to try again because that was not the norm. Most serve fabulous breakfasts, which you may continue to remember fondly for years to come.
Breakfast choices at Whitehouse are mostly just sweet breads such as pancakes, waffles, and French toast. Yes, they do fancy them up with powdered sugar and fruit, but in the end, you could order that meal at any IHOP in the country. We only ate breakfast on our first morning there because we did not care for anything they offered, and we left much earlier to begin our day than when they served breakfast.
Breakfast was offered at 9 am only. All guests are expected to dine together.
During our stay, the breakfast choices each day were:
- Day 1: Waffles or Cold Cereal
- Day 2: Omelet or Cold Cereal
- Day 3: Pancakes or Cold Cereal
- Day 4: Eggs Benedict or Cold Cereal (this was on July 4th)
- Day 5: French Toast or Cold Cereal
Coffee is not offered in the building where we were staying. It isn’t even available before 7:30 am and if you get stuck out back, you’ll have to dress for the hike around the house to go up to the main house for morning coffee. There are no provisions in the room for making your own coffee.
Everyone is seated together in the dining room in the main house for breakfast at 9 am. We do not know any of these fine folks. If you are a shy person, you may not enjoy this arrangement. I’m not shy so I found these folks to be interesting. Neither my husband or I were a fan of not having the option to dine alone.
Things we DID like at Williamsburg White House Inn
Location was fabulous for all of the things we had on our to-do list. Colonial Williamsburg is only a few blocks away.
The exterior appearance of the main house is gorgeous.
There were plenty of pillows for the bed.
The bed was comfortable.
The Innkeeper who greeted us upon arrival provided us with lots of information about the area.
Why didn’t we get a refund and leave?
Oh, I wanted to get a refund and leave when we got up the very first day after checking in. We were both super disappointed to be in a building behind the house. My husband informed me there is a no-refund policy. What? How in the world is that even possible? Sure enough, that information is on their website. So, I started reading reviews.
Once we started actually reading the reviews, we saw people complaining about the same things we didn’t like: no luggage rack, no morning coffee, late breakfast, cheap breakfast, and cheap toilet paper. Then we also read the innkeeper’s response to these reviews, which was rather nasty. Together, my husband and I decided we had learned a valuable lesson, but we are not willing to completely ruin an expensive vacation by creating ill feelings with the Innkeeper for the remainder of our vacation.
Read Reviews or Look at Reviews. There is a difference!
My husband had indeed looked at the reviews prior to booking. They had 5 stars, which is good, so no need to look further. He showed me the picture of the front of the house. We looked at pictures of the rooms online together. It looks nice in pictures. We saw those 5 stars on multiple travel sites, but did not actually read any of the reviews until we were stuck there.
My advice to you is to actually read reviews, both good and bad. You may not care about cheap toilet paper, but no morning coffee is a deal breaker, or the other way around. You may be willing to live with a tiny little shower for a whole week, but maybe not if you are paying pretty much the same as a week’s stay in a luxury resort.
We were expecting and planning for our stay in the B&B to be part of our vacation experience in Virginia this summer. The only part of our vacation that didn’t live up to our expectations was the B&B. Williamsburg was great. We are glad we went and gave ourselves the opportunity to explore American history.
Would we stay at Williamsburg Whitehouse B&B again?
No. We did not enjoy our stay enough to want to go back. We know now to ask to stay inside the main house. That would not be our reason for not staying again. The 9 am breakfast of sweet breads would be our main reason for not staying again. Little things like a coffee pot in your room or a small place to sit your toiletries in the bathroom are a comfort when on a trip. The disappointment overwhelmed the entire experience.
NOTE: We checked out one day early and requested a refund for our final day that we had already paid for. We did not get the refund.
Things To Do On Vacation in Virginia
- 9 Historic Lighthouses To Visit in Virginia
- 10 Haunted Places To Visit in Virginia
- 11 Best Virginia Day Trips
- White Water Rafting in Virginia
More Southeast USA Vacation Places To Stay
- Surf Song Bed & Breakfast Tybee Island, Ga. Review
- Hampton Inn and Suites Tutwiler Hotel Review, Birmingham, AL.
- The Guesthouse at Graceland Review, Memphis, TN.
- Baywatch Resort at Myrtle Beach, S.C. Review
