The Historic Powhatan Resort

Oh my goodness, where to start with this place?! First and foremost, this place is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! I stayed here with my husband for a week for our honeymoon. Honestly I was a little skeptical of it due to having so many good reviews and hardly any bad and come on, we’ve all heard the saying“if it’s too good to be true, it probably is!” However, this is quite the contrary! I couldn’t believe the wonderful hospitality that we received as soon as we pulled in. (Gated resort) LOVE LOVE LOVE THAT! Not only did they have everything on site, such as a coffee/​breakfast café, they also have a general store housing all your essential needs, an awesome bar and grill, and much more. Daily actives where awesome and very exciting, the staff is so friendly and welcoming, by the time we had to leave most of them felt as if they where family. We were so sad to see the week fly by. But we look forward to the years ahead spending more time here. By far out favorite place we have stayed. It truly was out home away from home!

I will start by saying that I had high hopes for this place. What was supposed to be s nice relaxing away from the city was anything but that — so much so that I won’t return.
I’ll start with the checkin process. Arriving to the «resort» you are met with a beautiful landscape filled w fountains and geese. However, checkin is like being queued for an amusement park. While you wait to speak with a representative there are people walking around trying to sell you vacation packages. Is this really happening? You want in the door and are immediately hard sold on a «free» vacation. Checkin representatives are prohibited from using highlighters — whatever that means — so they can only point to where your room is on the map; you have to plot you’re own route to get there. Immediately after checking in and getting your room keys you are escorted to another service desk where they demand your email, cell phone number, address information and then try to sell you again on a crappy vacation package. This is just the checkin…
The room was exactly as advertised, which was on. A two bedroom and two bath unit on the second floor. The kitchen had all that you need for a weekend away: pots, pans, glasses, etc. however the bathrooms really need some work. Only one had a shower and to really use it you needed to be a little person. I am an average height individual and the shower head was not at head level. It was below. The second bathroom toilet would not flush and there was only a soaking tub. One would think wow this is great, a soaking tub. But not so. The drain was rusted shut and could not be opened — there goes that idea.
The Bar and Grill on property needs to be shut down immediately. If there is mama great there, they all need to be fired. If there isn’t management — the place really needs it. After sleeping in and deciding to get breakfast, we thought why not let’s walk over. The place was packed — with angry and upset customers. Warning sign #1. Our «server» took out coffee and oj order — we waited 20 minutes before asking another server WTF. Our original person never once returned to the table. The other server promptly brought it over. Soon the original person returned and asked us if he was out server. You read that correctly. The server asked US if he was our server… We placed our order and hoped for the best. Soon there after the same server started delivering food to his other tables. Every table received something other than what they ordered. Every table. I left cash on the table for my drinks and got up and walked out after 40 minutes not having reviewed scrambled eggs…
I don’t have enough space to continue describing this place, nor the desire to. Hopefully you get a snapshot of their place.

This is like one of those hotels that people think they are having a «fancy 5 star vacation» but I would be better off camping behind a motel 8. It’s hard to give a 3 or above for a hotel that doesn’t give you clean towels or sheets or even comes and cleans for a vacation less than 8 nights. The staff is extremely rude and forceful with their time share scam. My mother got sucked into what was supposed to be a 1hour meeting for 3 hours and left with tears from their rudeness! Don’t make my mom cry!

Well, first, let’s get something straight. It’s pronounced POW ah tan. You’re welcome. ;-)
If you have a family, this is a GREAT alternative to conventional hotels. You get ROOM to spread out! With a large family, hotels are very difficult for us. We LOVE staying here! Did I mention there’s ROOM???
We can give each child a comfortable place to sleep, and Mom & Dad still get a private master bedroom with its own bathroom. PRIVACY! Kind of nice to have on vacation, and you don’t get it with two beds in a hotel room.
We’ve stayed here several times now. I think we are up to… 5 times? It’s a great property. The staff is top notch; very attentive, friendly, and courteous. The condos are very nice. They’ve been slowly renovating the property over the last few years, and we have stayed in both the older ones and the newer ones. Not a huge difference really, except that there are some obvious repairs needed in the older ones, and they are definitely more shabby. Nothing that gets in the way of your vacation, though.
We did have a problem with our hot water last time (older unit), but it was bitterly cold that week (highs in the teens — unusual for this area), and the outdoor water heater froze. They quickly moved us to another unit next door, AFTER making sure that the hot water was working there. An inconvenience, yes, but they handled it well, even offering to send staff to move our things. We just did it ourselves — it was no problem.
The property is very close to a couple of good shopping centers with everything you could want, and it’s only 15 minutes from Colonial Williamsburg, so it’s very convenient.
If you can stomach the timeshare presentation, it’s a great place to stay while visiting colonial Williamsburg. Speaking of the presentations, we’ve had to endure 3 of them. Two were quite pleasant — no hard sell at all. One got a bit pushy, but still, much less so than other similar presentations.
And no, you don’t have to be a member. You can find deals online that do NOT require you to sit through one. For others, yes, sitting through the presentation is part of the «price», but we have found it worth that small hassle.
And no, we have not succumbed to the sales pitch! Do I look stupid?
Don’t answer that! :D

While this resort is well-​located, only short distances from Colonial Williamsburg, Water Country USA, Jamestown, and Yorktown, we were disappointed by the sales pitch attached to the «welcome package.» It wasn’t so bad when I said no thank you when checking in – but when they called back at 10 the next morning to ask again, we thought it was too much. Regarding the unit, the shower curtain was a little moldy and the TVs were older models — from the 90s. The king bed in the master suite was collapsing in the middle. Some of the inside doors didn’t open or close properly due to significant settling. The kids did not like that you had to be 14 to get into the pool without at adult — we had 2 12’s and a 13 year-​old. So, an average experience at best. We’ll look elsewhere for our next trip to Williamsburg.

We actually come here almost even year (or the Greensprings property). This year we got a 2 bedroom downstairs unit. The unit was very clean and has everything that we need for a mini getaway. I’m a hotel snob, and I’ve never had any trouble with the accommodations. Well there was this one time, but they switched me to another unit immediately with no issue. The sitting room seems to have just recently been converted from a hot tub room. It was nice to have a separate area to run away to. The grounds are very beautiful as usual and the staff pretty friendly. The 3 pools are nice and clean, and it’s nice to have a grown up pool where munchkins are banned… Not that I was able to visit that pool. Anyway. Other available activities are mini golf and tennis and a few other indoor things. We did not attend a time share presentation as we have all the timeshare we are gonna have in this lifetime. I didn’t appreciate the 730 wake up call reminding me of the upcoming appointment but they got off the line easy enough. All in all, It’s a nice, quiet place to visit with kids.

Beautiful grounds, plenty of activities for the kids, spacious updated condo’s — would highly recommend! We stayed here in July for a week and had an amazing family time. The resort is convenient to everything Williamsburg has to offer and also far enough away to be quite/​relaxing. We encountered many Geese, Bunny Rabbits, Birds, and other wildlife during our stay. Resort has a coffee shop with a real espresso machine and a general store for basic snacks/​supplies.
The Grounds are spectacular and the old Manor House offers a great backdrop for family photos. The property offers multiple pools and free putt putt golf course.
The service and staff were great and we followed other Unilocal advise and unplugged our phone when we arrived.
The condo we stayed in was updated and very spacious. Two spacious bedrooms one with King bed and one with a Queen bed. Also the fold out couch had a memory foam mattress which was very comfortable. Full kitchen, 3 flat screen TV’s, and washer/​dryer made our stay with kids easy (way better than trying to cram in a single hotel room).
I gave it 5 stars even though the property is truly 4 stars. I did this to offset all the in-​appropriate 1 star reviews. I unfortunately stayed in 1 star properties growing up and this is not that kind of property. Would highly recommend for families visiting Williamsburg/​Jamestown area!

Over priced dump! Our suite was old and worn out. The sofa bed was so bad that I couldn’t imagine anyone over 40 lbs sleeping on it, plus no blanket was supplied. The microwave was broken, there were ants everywhere, the living room furniture was worn out, and their patch-​work paint job looked horrible. The only reason I’m giving them 2 stars is that the pool area is actually very nice. My daughter really enjoyed it — but it’s not worth the price.
Stay far away from the concierge!!! This is just a sales person that will try to bribe you into going to hear their high-​pressure time share sales pitch. IT“S NOT WORTH IT! Don’t even consider buying a time share from this horrible company. If you don’t believe me, search Unilocal for Diamond Resorts. You’ll be horrified!

A peaceful haven in Williamsburg.
There are many elements that make this place an exceptional place to stay.
It’s quiet and relaxing and the accommodations are excellent.
They have several nice trails that meander around the property with views of the lakes and grounds.
They have a nice coffee shop, general store and a restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Amazing! So clean & updated everything in our room. Such helpful and polite people! We’ll stay here every time!!! Beautiful!

We exchanged thru DAE for a week here, and there was an initial mix up on what type of unit we were to get. With the help of Rachelle, we were able to get the unit we had originally thot we were getting, a one bedroom with full kitchen, so our initial impression of the resort staff was very high!
We had an easy check-​in and then shuffled to the selling dept, where they started off trying to schedule us for the intro 90 min. timeshare sell. However, the man was fine when we cut him off to let him know that we were way too busy to schedule on that week, but thanks anyway. No phone calls or visits from that dept all week. The only attempt was at the night before check out call and when the person asked me if we would return, and I said definitely, she then tried to get us to buy a 3night/​4 day package for $ 149 with a $ 50 cash card. However, we said no, and there was no pushing. We did get expired coupons for our welcome package, expired 3÷31÷15, which I found later, and informed them.
We had a very nice unit, one bedroom plus loft with two bathrooms, which meant that the sleeping 4 was very true, unlike some condos we have stayed in. Plenty of room to lounge around if home, and the kitchen was fully equipped and two people could easily move around in it. All necessary cooking equipment was there, tho only 4 of each plate ware and silver ware, so we washed by hand. There was also a washer/​dryer in the unit and a starter packet of laundry soap along with cleaning supplies for the kitchen and toiletries for the bath. The towels smelled nice, were plush and had no stains, something lately we haven’t been getting. The bed is a bit too soft, as it has seen some wear, but the sofa cushions were great and firm, but the four dining table chairs were collapsed in the centers. Towel racks enough for both people to hang their bath towels and hand towel, what a change!
When we first came in to the unit, the blinds in the master bedroom wouldn’t open, and it was very dark and limited access to the balcony. We called the front desk, and within 10 minutes the maintenance guy was there to check it out. After 30 minutes of work, we had it replaced with working blinds, tho they didn’t do as good a job as the others for keeping the morning sun out.
The grounds are gorgeous, well maintained and bright with flowers and trees. The security is good, and the outside of the buildings look very good.
The resort has daily listed activities, more than most resorts, and while there were enough free ones, or inexpensive craft ones, we were gone every day to the parks.
The resort is near shopping, gas, restaurants, Busch Gardens, Jamestown, Yorktown, and Colonial Williamsburg. If you like history, definitely go to the above mentioned historical parks, they are well worth the time!
We would go to this resort again, but it seems that there is variety of experiences from the reviews. We had a good one, but we know from past experience that sales presentations are always 3 hours long, very unpleasant. It depends on what you expect from a place, this one did have some older furniture, the soft bed and worn out chair cushions, but otherwise the maintenance was fine.

Not very impressed with the quality. The grounds are lovely but the interior of our room could use improvement and felt dated and hastily done. Uneven paint jobs, damaged/​sloppy carpeting, cracks in walls, dirty windows, scraped and dented appliances, and central air vents that were stuck shut. This seemed more like an over priced motel than a resort. Not to mention the sales pitch at the concierge desk.
On a good note, the suites are spacious and good for family stays. The kitchen had a stove, oven, microwave, toaster, cutlery and glassware and a refrigerator which was functional and clean. The shower was great!

We went here for my best friends birthday from a deal off groupon, we loved it! The rooms were incredible, we were alittle nervous from the reviews but I guess we got a renovated room. Also we didn’t have to deal with the timeshare information because we are under 25, so that was helpful. The restaurant was the only problem we had with the resort, as my friend is vegetarian and we specifically told them that we wanted no meat in our appetizer or her salad, and we got meat. so ok maybe it is a mistake but we could hear the cooks fighting with our waitress who had wrote it down correctly, and the food wasn’t very good anyways. The grounds were pretty, mini golf was free, we rented two movies for $ 5, took a free tour of the manor house which was interesting, and rented free games like cards against humanity, trivia and dominoes. Would absolutely visit again!

The grounds and accommodations are fine. The staff is friendly.
However I’m writing this review to help spread the truth about Diamond Resorts timeshares.
INTERNATIONAL SCAM!
AVOID AT ALL COSTS!
After checking in, we were invited to receive a «welcome packet». A welcome packet is slang for «get suckered into a 4-​hour presentation where you’re pressured into signing a lifelong contract.» We thought we were going to sit through a 60-​minute presentation that would then be concluded with a «free gift». But without prior knowledge of the timeshare process, we were completely blind-​sighted. DO NOT BE FOOLED. DECLINE ANY AND ALL OFFERS for this“welcome packet”, «presentation», or whatever other code words they try to use. Being extremely naïve, my family purchased a «Sampler» package for $ 3000 that is extremely difficult to use. Diamond makes it impossible to book anything for less than three nights. Who the fuck has 4-​nights of vacation to use that often? The only trip we’ve booked so far is for four nights, and we’re going to be forfeiting one of those because we’re normal people with jobs. In hindsight, it would have just been better to save up and do our normal Groupon or Priceline deals. DON’T BE A VICTIM.

All most a year later and still not apologies for a crappy stay… sooooo disappointed in you :(

Terrible check in experience… They surprised us with a $ 10 a day resort fee that I didn’t know about adding over $ 80 to our vacation… Rooms are OLD… Holes in carpet and couch… Ice maker didn’t work… The bedroom is tiny with cobwebs in the corners and a broken headboard… In other words… Stay away… THIS PLACE IS A DUMP !!!

The Historic Powhatan Resort was lovely! We (my fiancé, eight year old daughter and her seven year old friend) stayed at this resort from August 9 — August 15, 2014. This was our first stay in Williamsburg as well as The Powhatan.
The grounds are beautiful. Nothing was overlooked, the fountains, flower beds, just everything was very pretty.
We stayed in a upstairs two bedroom townhome that was updated. It was very clean and spacious. I was impressed with the kitchen mostly. Every appliance and utensil that you would ever need was available. I loved the open feel of the space. The kitchen opened directly into the dining and living rooms where there was a nice flatscreen TV and DVD player (which did not work but they promptly replaced with a new one,) a beautiful fireplace that we obviously did not use in the middle of August, but still very nice touch. We had a private deck area with table and chairs that overlooked a lake. Fantastic view.
The girls shared a queen size bed in their room which also had its own large bathroom. My only complaint would be the small, old and outdated tube-​style TV for them to watch. Which, dare I say, my spoiled daughter has never seen before (so she said!)
My fiancé and I enjoyed our King master suite with a huge bathroom, plenty of space, flat screen TV and very comfortable bed.
The pool area was spotless. Towels were available with just giving your unit number. There is a cabana by the pool to order food and drink and they will conveniently charge to your room.
Overall, I enjoyed our stay very much. We were bothered a bit with the constant calls about the whole time share thing, even after we politely declined, but I guess I get it, it is kind of thier job ;).
I would certainly recommend this Powhatan Resort to others. (Just ask for an updated room!)

Booked this hotel for two nights and three days on Memorial Day weekend. Despite the holiday weekend, we only payed about $ 126/​night. We reserved a second floor one bedroom condo with a queen bed, one twin bed and partial kitchen.
Check-​in is at 4pm, however, we got there waaaay before that. We checked in but our room wasn’t ready, they showed where it would be on the map and took our number and said they’d call when it was ready.
We were able to get in our room around 2:30pm, and we were delightfully surprised. They upgraded us to a first floor, two bedroom, two bath condo with a king bed, and two twin beds and a washer /​dryer in unit. It had a full kitchen, living room with fireplace and flat screen tv, and a dining areas to seat 6. As well as large walk-​out deck that overlooked a lake and had a complete patio set as well as a lounging chair. It also had an extra room, which I suppose could serve as a screened in porch, I think it used to house the jacuzzis that the first floor rooms used to have.
The room was fantastic. Clean, with a different style, not the cookie cutter decorations and design you see in hotels. The master bedroom had a t. v, though it was tiny and of the tube variety. Not a huge deal, but expect to see some channels with the trademark green creeping in from the corners of the screen. lOl. The king bed was comfortable, although, it both us were sitting on it up near the headboard, the bottom end of the mattress popped up. There was a few signs of wear and tear, but nothing that made the room awful.
All the staff we encountered were really friendly and helpful. With the exception of one older, female staffer at the general store, who felt the need to scold us for our decision to buy Dippin’ Dots ice cream. The general store was nice, it had a decent supply of things and was fairly priced.
The resort itself had it’s own mini-​golf course, two pools, hotubs, sport courts, and running paths. The grounds were gorgeous, and they had a full calendar of activities and events going on. Very family oriented. The whole place was gorgeous.
At one point, the concierge desk called me at our room when they realized I hadn’t received the welcome packet when I checked in. Which consisted of local magazines, and Starbucks coffee and as week as an offer for a free stay. It was nice that they realized, and took the time to make sure we got it.
The resort has it’s own security staff, and you have to show your parking pass/​room key to come onto the grounds which is unique. If you’re just arriving, they check your name on a master list.
Overall, this place was awesome, especially for the price. I’m actually looking at this place for future family reunions. Would recommend to everyone.
They did attempt a small sales-​pitch with us, and at first I said I’d think about it and that was fine with them. They did however call the room the next night, at 8pm, to ask if I had made a decision. I told them no and that was that. Other than being miffed they called me at 8pm about it, there wasn’t a whole lot of pressure to accept it. Besides, the guy outside of Ripley’s Believe It or. Not! Had a much better one. lOl.

About a 1 – 1.5: My husband and I booked the Historic Powhatan Resort for a little weekend getaway in Williamsburg. We usually do the B&Bs in the area, but thought to try out the Powhatan out as it was nestled off of Ironbound Rd, away from the hustle and the bustle from the downtown area. When we turned in to the entrance. I was pleasantly surprised that there was a security checkpoint — you check-​in and verify with your name on the list that the security guards have; they then direct you to check in at the main customer service office. Driving along the path to the building, I was wow-​ed by the fact that the grounds were wonderfully kept, with little man-​made ponds and lakes — literally seemed like a little community! When I arrived, there were also 3 – 4 ladies to greet you to direct you to the check-​in or the customer help desk on the opposite side. Checking in was a breeze — Alexis was nice and friendly, and I was given the card access, the parking permit, as well as a map. She then directed me to go to the other side to pick up my ‘Welcome Packet.’ I believe ‘Mia,’ was her name, and she started asking me whether I was interested in obtaining a $ 50/​$ 100 Visa Gift Card — I then realized that I was trying to be baited in participating in a timeshare presentation. Yikes! I was not expecting this and thought it was a little tacky. However, they were offering a $ 149 for a 3 night/​4 day stay in any of their Diamond properties across the U.S., which I actually slightly considered. They gave me some Williamsburg magazines and brochures in a clear plastic bag, and I went to go find my unit. Along the way, I saw the community pool, and I liked how the place had community events (manicures with mom, fife & drum duet, bingo (some for fees)) and a mini grocery store on-​site (not opened 24 hours). When we arrived at our unit, there were these big insects that were flying around the entrance that I was not happy with — I know that this is VA with its luscious greens and flying insect craziness, but the fact that the bushes themselves were not trimmed and were encroaching with these flying bugs made it difficult for me with my bug-​phobia to get into the entrance! I think I literally had to scream in and out to get in, while closing my eyes, hoping that I don’t trip and fall and scrape my face! The unit itself was located upstairs. I noticed that there was no filtration or ventilation in place, as the place had not so much of a pleasant smell. I don’t mind old-​school charm, but this place was extremely outdated and just filthy! There was dust everywhere, the appliances were not clean in the kitchen, the ‘wooden’ tub in the master suite was also dirty and stained, lightbulbs were out on most of the lamps, there was no signal on the TV so it was mostly static (the entertainment cabinet was also very close to the bed, so you’d have to crawl across the bed to get to the other part of the room, or collect bruises as you bang your knees/​thighs through it), the shower stall was broken, the shower knob was mislabeled (!), there were a lack of sheets and blankets, the mattress was extremely uncomfortable (did not sleep well at all!), and the AC vents were semi-​blocked so not all rooms cooled. There was also a mini ‘loft’ area upstairs with 2 twin beds, which I thought was kind of creepy and weird, but nice that they had extra rooms for extra guests (that they also charge individually for). I thought it was funny that the housekeeping places a little note underneath the bed to let you know that they clean under there as well (next to the crumbs I found)! I actually was pretty disappointed in our stay, and I honestly think (guarantee) that the budget motels/​inns/​hotels in the area would have been much nicer and much more sanitary than the Powhatan… I felt as if the website and the checking-​in process was extremely deceiving and quite misleading, as everything afterwards really hits a nosedive! In addition, there wasn’t much of an apology when I did state the issues we ran into, so that was also disappointing :(I’m glad I was able to check this place out, but I will definitely not come back!
+outdated units
+not clean T_​_​_​T

I recently stayed at this resort with my boyfriend and his family since we were visitng the Williamsburg area of Virginia. It was our first time at this resort. Our first stop at the resort was the Business Center where we had to check-​in. It was very clean and the staff was very friendly and provided good customer service.
We reached our place and I like how there were designated parking spots for where we were staying. Our floor was enough room for the 6 of us. Everything was organized and in it’s place. However, I noticed there was unnecessary space in the house. The bathrooms were huge, but there was so much empty space between the sink/​toilet and the shower.
The recreation center was a tad small, especially the gym. My boyfriend & I were going to hit the gym, but were a little turn off by the size of it. The miniature golf course was spacious and we had a lot of fun there.
On our first night, we received a call from the front desk that one of our neighbors (not sure who) reported a complaint that we were being too loud which I find absurd because we weren’t being loud or disruptive at all and we also had a child with us. Moments later, I heard that someone’s television was rather loud. I guess the walls in our bedrooms weren’t thick enough.
Overall, we weren’t 100% content with our stay because the staff were trying to convince my boyfriend’s sister to join the timeshare event and have left 2 messages about it and our floor wasn’t up to our standards.