Natural Bridge Hotel
It was time for a family trip. We had a hankering for the Blue Ridge Mountains, an escape convenient enough during the extended Veterans Day weekend. During the planning phase, my wife and I discovered that the Natural Bridge Hotel was bookable with Wyndham Rewards currency for 15k points nightly. Amidst the mountains in, sure enough, Natural Bridge, Virginia, the hotel is part of Wyndham’s Trademark Collection. While we were in the mood for a bit of weekend adventure, we figured this property would offer the same.
Charming
The Hotel Offers Excellent Location….
….for experiencing the beauty of the Natural Bridge. The hotel is directly across from the entry to Natural Bridge State Park. We enjoyed walking over to the Visitor Center via the hotel’s adjacent tunnel. We started hiking minutes after buying tickets. The Natural Bridge prominently features at the beginning of the hike just after a few flights of stairs. We turned a hard right and quickly gazed upon the bridge above. The trail is a relatively simple one beyond, extending a single mile one-way.
The Room
We booked a Deluxe Room for our stay and received one with a balcony facing the vast mountain range. The rooms are aging, but ours felt fresh enough. Most everything – bedding, flooring, furniture, bathroom – looked and felt clean. Dimensions were snug, but I couldn’t hold that against this hotel, most recently rebuilt around 1965. My wife commented on how comfortable the bed was, something she doesn’t often mention.
Common Spaces
Perhaps our favorite family experience within the hotel was relaxing and playing games on the couches adjacent to the lobby fireplace. The 80’s and 90’s music was right up our alley but perhaps an overall mismatch for the property. Just off the lobby is a small museum of Natural Bridge artifacts and hotel history. It was as interesting in the moment as it was forgettable immediately after. The Red Fox Tavern was bustling each night of our visit, while the Colonial Dining Room was mostly dead at dinner time.
Chintzy
Room Features
Again, the room was clean, comfortable, and offered a great view. Most else was a disappointment. Bath amenities are pathetic. I don’t recall smaller, cheaper bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash anywhere else. The bar soap was the thinnest I’ve ever experienced, immediately adhering to the soap tray after one use, with no hopes of coming off during our visit.
The television was just as frustrating. Of course, TV’s not a priority here, but I felt like catching up on a little late-night college football action. I remembered that I had picked up the following information at the front desk:
Unfortunately, the TV in our room was an Onn/Roku TV, and these instructions didn’t apply. I’d be required to log into YouTube TV. I didn’t care that much to bother. The front desk manager later clarified building “wiring” precluded cable upgrades, and ownership opted to put these Onn/Roku televisions in 10-15 of the hotel’s 120 rooms. Other rooms are stuck with these low-rent TV instructions.
Finally, it’s always interesting to find a random dial in a room marked, “Please Don’t Touch.” Hmmm…..
Breakfast
After waking up the first morning, we opted for breakfast in the Colonial Dining Room. We wanted to get a good start to our morning hike, and there was no other convenient breakfast option in the area. The adult and child buffet prices are $16.99 and $9.99, respectively. The buffet offered yummy Virginia ham, but oddly, no eggs of any kind. Plenty of bland filler bread was available, also. Fruit options were extremely limited – only individually-wrapped, rank oranges and apples, and a quickly-emptying bowl of grapes. The buffet provided self-serve coffee and water; juices were only accessible by a single worker (more on that shortly). Many Hampton Inns have superior offerings, and those don’t require an additional payment over the room rate.
Service
The front desk agent who checked us in gave us no warning of the TV conundrum to follow, perhaps because they wanted to avoid the convoluted explanation. The worker also didn’t explain the hotel’s austere housekeeping setup. This individual left that to the sign plastered on the check-in desk and our room’s bath mirror over the backlighting.
Reality check – we’re in late 2024. Citing “new safety conservation standards,” the hotel states housekeeping is only provided every three days, and that’s if a guest requests it. Even if a visitor meets those two requirements, they only receive trash removal, “light cleaning”, and amenity replacement. Bed linens may be changed every three nights, but only upon request. I read that as an additional request beyond the basic one for a refresh. I would assume no generosity of service with this property.
The Colonial Dining Room’s breakfast was extremely understaffed. We only saw one worker throughout the meal. She was the hostess, waitress, table busser, and cashier, somehow smiling through it all. Not surprisingly, we experienced long waits throughout the meal – obviously, not her fault.
Natural Bridge Hotel – Conclusion
In my opinion, this hotel is struggling mightily. It would be even worse if the hotel didn’t have their one tourist destination to rely on. Their dining options are subpar without much motivation to be better, since no other viable, full service restaurants are available within a several-mile radius. Speaking of, when we’re back in the area, we’ll opt for a Lexington hotel up the road.
This trip was appropriately bookended by the hotel’s beaten-up elevator, pictured above. Like the lift, the overall hotel could improve with more effort and financial investment. But we won’t be back to ascertain such.
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