Planning on spending several days in Norfolk in March at the Best Western Holiday Sands.
Has anyone ever stayed at this hotel?
Would also like the names of good seafood resturants in the area.

I want the same answer, but I have to make a last minute decision (need a palce for tomorrow night) - - so even if noe else answers, I will report back, for your benefit.

Best wishes,

Rex
(from the Europe forum)

p.s., to anyone else who knows Norfolk suite-type lodging - - I would appreciate any other suggestions for a suite with two _separate sleeping areas... actual beds (not sleeper sofa) - - ideally with a door separating the two (Yes, I know getting two rooms is an obvious solution - - I have my reasons for preferring one room; my employer will pay for one room, and the guests are me, my daughter and her husband).

My report can be viewed as glass half empty, or glass half full. I suppose it depends on what you are seeking.

Positives: this property accurately depicted for me the one thing that is/was most important for me/us: two actual beds in two separate sleeping areas - - and even though they said over the phone that there was no door separating the two, but there actually was. A separate good quality TV (remote, cable/HBO) for each. As I understand it, there are only two such rooms on property: 124 and 229; we preferred the ground-level room. And certainly a satisfactory value at $95 for three with breakfast included (cereal, juice, industrial quality bakery items, coffee - - certainly filling enough). There is "free" internet (wiFi, in common areas only); I chafed at the "option" (only offered as purchase a cable for $10) for wired internet in the room (though, in their defense, that would have been free too, if I had brought an ethernet cable). Not used, but appeared attractive enough: the usual assortment of snacks and easy-fix meals in the lobby; our room had a refrigerator and small microwave (again, never used). The property is right on the water's edge (note: this is the Chesapeake Bay, not the ocean, with a legitimate sandy beach; waves of less than 1-2 inches when the bay was quiet, as it was when we arrived, and about 6-12 inches when choppy, as it was this morning). Too cold for any actual beachwalking (for my tastes, at least).

Negatives: make no mistake - - this is a motel; no interior corridors, nothing of the services of a "full hotel" (on the other hand, you can park your car right in front of your room, as the design is of a 1950's style "motor court hotel" with the parking lot in the center of the U-shaped structure). On the interior, the room was tired/dowdy in decor (being kind) or not well kept-up (being harsh) with re-painting needed. The only bathroom in this room is in the separated bathroom, and it has the bizarre feature of its toilt paper holder literally under the sink, about 4 inches from floor level. Weird. None of the windows open in any way, in this room (is this a hurricane-area thing?), so if you want to hear waves to sleep, no such luck.

So, if this matches what you are seeking, the report is generally favorable (from someone who complains readily about all kinds of things). This is NOT the full-service vacation hotels of Virginia Beach, though in many cases, they would not ofer any better value (unless your heart is set on being on the ocean).

Hope this helps you, nursem, or someone.

topping... in case you ever come back...

I guess not...