Candlewood Suites Chesapeake an IHG Hotel

We were here Valentine's Day weekend 2025. The hotel is decent but needs some updates. I think alot of consrtuction worker out of town workers etc stay here. Rooms are small. The 1st night Valentine's Day the power went out. It stayed out for a few hours. I think it was an area outage. The beds were comfortable, and the bathrooms were clean. The kitchenette was decent but no space to sit if you wanted to eat dinner. Cracker Barrel, Burger King, Subway 7-Eleven are all in the same block as hotel.

What a great hotel; super comfortable, clean and accommodating. The team was friendly and attentive. I was in the area looking at houses and they were helpful in offering suggestions on restaurants, areas I should consider for housing and overall made things much less stressful.

I truly enjoyed this hotel. The staff was amazing and very helpful. I needed to extend my stay and the Manager Melinda was so helpful and polite. She also made sure I had plenty of towels and she even made sure she called me once my package 📦 arrived. Rooms were very clean A+ hotel indeed

The Candlewood Suites Chesapeake is nothing short of a nightmare. I carefully booked a one-bedroom suite, expecting a comfortable stay for my boyfriend, his three young children, and me. But when we arrived, they had downgraded us without any notice. To add insult to injury, they still tried to charge my card the full rate for the room we never got for both the night before and at check-in, while knowing that they weren't giving us the room we had reserved weeks in advance. That first night was a disaster. Candlewood Suites overbooked their rooms (their words) and couldn't honor our reservation, forcing us to drive over three hours total from city to city because both Candlewood and IHG corporate kept insisting that each new IHG hotel we were sent to would have the room we needed. Each time, this ended up being completely untrue and hours were wasted. We would have switched to a different hotel chain, but everywhere in the area we needed was completely booked out. Finally, we found a room that was suitable, but even then, we were left waiting outside, cold, wet (we went to the beach before check-in at the Candlewood anticipating a room with a warm shower after), hungry, and utterly exuasted, while Candlewood struggled to arrange the payment they promised. It felt totally unreal and nightmarish. We came from across the country counting on having this room that we booked WEEKS in advance. We missed a critical family dinner that evening, one where I was supposed to meet my boyfriend's mother for the first time. It was beyond humiliating. Thinking the worst was over, we returned to Candlewood the next day, hoping for a better outcome as they said they would now honor the reservation and it was close to where we needed to be (part of the reason we first booked there). What awaited us was even more shocking. The room they offered reeked of cigarette smoke and overpowering chemicals, likely used to mask the stench. I don't have a sensitive nose, but the smell was absolutely staggering. If I wasn't already so frustrated at the time, I would have laughed that the microwave door was being held together with tape. As if this wasn't bad enough, in the lobby, another guest was literally scooping fleas off his legs, complaining that his room was infested with fleas and also reeked of cigarettes. He understandably was rejecting the room. This was the only other room coming available, and Candlewood had the nerve to suggest it as our only option. I was horrified and immediately called IHG corporate for help. What did IHG do? They acknowledged the issues--yes, the smoke, the fleas, the unacceptable conditions--but then they washed their hands of it, saying it wasn't their problem. Unlike the first night, where they helped cover the difference in rates (we still had to pay despite everything), this time they refused as Candlewood was technically honoring the reservation. After hours of phone calls, totally wasting another evening, we had no choice but to stay at another IHG property in Newport News, far from where we needed to be. Everywhere was totally booked. This move completely derailed our trip. Instead of spending time with family, we spent hours every day battling heavy traffic just to get where we needed to be. We were stranded in a city we didn't plan to stay in, and everything else was fully booked. The trip was ruined. The kids were miserable, and I was embarrassed and heartbroken, especially since I was the one who booked everything. This wasn't just inconvenient. This Hotel single-handedly ruined our entire trip. The intentional overbooking, the appalling conditions of the rooms, and the complete lack of customer service shattered our trust in IHG. If you value your time, your money, and your sanity, do not stay at Candlewood Suites Chesapeake. I wish I would've read the Google reviews that mention mold and cockroaches, I would've never booked there. Believe them.

This is our 3rd time back to Candlewood Chesapeake. They always great me and my team with a warm welcome. My team loves to Grill and the Gazebo area was clean and accommodating. I would recommend this hotel to anyone. THANK YOU to Melinda and her Team for all you do.