Snow, sleet, and ice, nothing stopped us as we were in ‘go mode’ to get to Florida, but rest along a 16 hour drive is necessary and we decided to make a stop at the Residence Inn, Virginia and cut the trip into a few pieces. Traveling with kids is never an easy thing to do so we wanted to make sure that the kids were comfortable and manageable along the way. Residence Inn has suites available which means that the family is not stacked on top of one another and that everyone will have a space and place to sleep. In our case, allowing everyone their own space, after a 6 hour travel was a great way to break the monotony. We lavishly slumbered our evening at the Residence Inn, in the Penthouse!
You might know I am an Mom Ambassador for The Residence Inn, and I could not love a brand more. The accommodations are family perfect and allow me to work while on the go.
We arrived late to the Residence Inn Richmond West End and found out that we were staying in a Penthouse. Check-in was so easy, we walked in, they were expecting us per a reservation that placed us in the Penthouse and that was it, Rip checked us in gave us great directions to get to the room, offered us our keys and away we went.
Room Access- Residence Inn
What is kind of different about this particular Residence Inn is the fact that all the rooms are accessed from the outside, they are each accessible from the outside(the cold outside in this case). You don’t go down a hallway to find your room, nor do you ride an escalator, it is almost like a small city, and a bunch of apartments, very different. We had to find parking, and we needed some luggage, so we parked, grabbed what we needed and found our stairwell to our room. The steps were wooden and a warm room was waiting.
My kids decided that they get to knock staying in a Penthouse off their ‘bucket list’ thanks to this stay! I was curious as to what a Penthouse in Residence Inn vocabulary meant and we soon found out that it translated to a 2 bathroom, 2 Queen Size Bed and a Couch Sleeper, along with a full kitchen and a family room. These were very generous amenities that make staying away from home like staying in your own residence!
Our room was on the top loft, we could oversee and hear the kids, but they could not see us, which is the perfect parenting mechanism. There were 3 televisions in the rooms, one in each sleep area and as you can imagine the kids had those going from the second we walked into the rooms. The kids were loving every second of their own television and living quarters.
The stairwell led us up to our loft and once you arrived at the top of the steps to the left was the sleeping area and to the right was a sink area separate from the shower and bath area.
Down below we could see the kids in their sleeper sofa. They carried on with the giggles of course for quite a while until they all passed out from exhaustion.
What makes the Residence Inn special as compared to other places you might stay? A kitchen that has a stove, sitting area, refrigerator, the bathrooms, and the amount of space in a room. Take a look at the kitchen.
This was perfect because we had a cooler and we tossed it into the refrigerator. A microwave allowed the kids to make their favorite, popcorn and of course the eating area had this great assortment of tea and coffee which makes for a perfect way to wind down or start up a new day.
The linens on the beds were crisp and fresh and there were plenty of fluffy pillows, I know because my kids whacked me with one(lol). Breakfast started at 6:30 and we showed up for breakfast at about 7 AM. There was the most perky, happy lady helping us to meet and greet a new day with a smile on her face. If you were not cheery before your coffee you sure would be just talking to her for even one minute, she was like the bright shining sun and that was something that made the morning breakfast really nice. My kids just said how nice it was not to be in a place where the staff was miserable and just doing their job rather they enjoyed being around people. Kudos!
Breakfast is included with your room and it is not just a junkie old breakfast that consists of toast, there were waffles(you make them with fresh batter), bananas, apples, 4 kinds of cereal, 2 juices(cranberry and orange), coffee, tea selections, hash browns(remarkably crisp), bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, bagels, toast, chocolate chip muffins, cranberry orange muffins and more.
The breakfast is serve yourself, but the hostess helped us navigate through and made sure we had everything we needed. As we were dining, we even enjoyed a newspaper and we did not have to go out and find a newsstand, it was right there front and center. My kids want me to tell you that this breakfast is better than breakfasts they had at iHops and other leading chains.
We were not there very long, just about 12 hours but we enjoyed every minute. The Residence Inn offers reasonable rate, rooms that accommodate more than one person in a family, and the much needed kitchen. When you are traveling with kids, being able to pop something in a microwave when hunger pangs is invaluable. I love that the Penthouse offered a separate loft for adults or kids, depending how you want to set yourself up in the room. Everyone has a little space they can cozy up into and rest, which after all is the point of stopping.
