horizon

Does anyone have any recent experience with the Jefferson Hotel? It has awesome guidebook reviews but mixed reviews on tripadvisor. I need an oasis from the highway on a long road trip south. Great gym, room, room service and quiet. Is this it?

Tandoori_Girl

I was in Richmond last year visiting a friend who works downtown. We walked into the Jefferson and I thought it was one of the most beautiful buildings I'd ever been in. The marbled columns were a beautiful yellow color, just incredible. Later when someone was looking for a place to stay in Richmond I mentioned the Jefferson, noting that I'd never stayed there. There was a barrage of catcalls from those in the know, so if you don't get any responses, search for previous posts. It sounds like the service is awful and that there were unkept promises. But it is a truly incredible building. It was running B&B specials for about $150.

andy

The Jefferson is a 5 Star hotel...I have eaten dinner in the smaller restaurant called TJ's and the food is very good...The fancy restaurant is LEMAIRE is it is supposed to be outstanding according to friends who ate there..VERY pricey.
Lobby is totally elegant but I have never stayed in the rooms....

Another SUPERB place to stay and more in the center of restaurants is the BERKELEY HOTEL in Shockoe Slip--they have 2 rooms that have HUGE walk out balconies and the rooms are beautiful..it is a boutique hotel and the restaurant at the Berkeley is 5 Star...

Callaloo

I have stayed at the Jefferson, and can confirm that it does indeed meet Mobil's criteria for 5 stars. It's a grand old hotel with stunning public spaces -- legend has it that the staircase in the lobby was the model for Rhett and Scarlett's staircase in "Gone with the Wind." We found our room gorgeous -- we were upgraded to a suite -- but did also find that sometimes age does show in a hotel (in our case it was a minor complaint; for a February stay, we found the windows in our suite to be a bit less-insulated than I might have liked, but that's a minor quibble that can be resolved by turning the heat up a bit). We had great service, and the concierge got us a great dinner reservation during a very busy weekend. The hotel runs a free shuttle to restaurants as well. The hotel is famous for its brunch, and justly so.

horizon

this is helpful. does anyone know whether the hotel's neighborhood is suitable for walking? sometimes these old hotels, wonderfuls as they may be, are in parts of town that have fallen down around them. also, while my room rate is ok with a AAA discount, it's certainly not $150. that would be sweet.

Tandoori_Girl

Did you call the hotel for a rate? The rate I'm referring to was on postcards at the front desk.

I dont' know richmond real well but downtown is in a state of transition. There are definitely some funky (good funky) things down there, a great soul food restaurant for instance, and a really interesting lunch place -- the Slip is interesting. Richmond has a great grid layout (like DC) and so there are lots of intersecting little commercial districts throughout the city -- but this hotel is in downtown and yeah, there's some stuff there.

andy

Hotel is located about 3 blocks from The Mosque ( an old concert venue with a new name)...

It is really NOT in an area to walk around as there is nothing really near it except for VCU university and that is an inner city urban university with no real campus...

Get their bus to drop you off at Shockoe Slip for some good restaurants or even better, down to Shockoe Bottom for even better restaurants..

There used to be a lot of cute shopping in Shockoe Slip but it has all turned into restaurants...

Some fun funky Shopping that the Jefferson shuttle can take you to is CARYTOWN-it is similar to DC's Georgetown in that it is full of cute boutiques and restaurants...It is an all day thing ---about 8 long blocks of shops...