The Draftsman Charlottesville
My family and I recently roadtripped to Charlottesville, VA for part of our spring break. We stayed three nights at The Draftsman Charlottesville, a property within Marriott’s Autograph Collection. A hotel I wasn’t heavily familiar with, it offered the right balance for our family visit while hovering around a convenient price point in the 50k neighborhood. Naturally, we used two 50k free night certs and points for the cheaper night. Here are a few highlights from our stay.
An Excellent Location
The primary draw of the Draftsman Charlottesville is its stellar location, which I imagine is also how they justify their pricing. The property is a few blocks away from the University of Virginia. Soon after arriving, an extended family member who is working on a graduate degree there, provided us a walking tour of the campus. Plenty of restaurants, bars, and related smells (ah, the college days) dot the surrounding area, all within an easy walking distance.
The Draftsman’s location meant we didn’t need our car often, which was fine with us. But we did enjoy the short drive to Monticello and Carter Mountain Orchard nearby. Unfortunately, valet ($25 daily) is the only parking option at The Draftsman.
A Touch of Class
Given we were close to a university, we expected the hotel to deliver a bit of that (zing). The decor felt updated while offering a nod to the past. Our double room was inviting enough, providing floor to ceiling views of the surrounding hills and mountains beyond. Our family of four found the bathroom’s sliding door a bit tricky – sliding it open obstructs the closet. Of course, our two little ones had endless fun pranking mom and dad.
The small desk nook worked okay, a small draftsman-style (get it?) table with perhaps the most uncomfortable desk chair I’ve ever experienced. This wheeled stool is better-suited for a doctor’s exam room.
Limited Amenities
It would be easy to mistake The Draftsman Charlottesville as nothing more than a limited service hotel with a restaurant accessible through the lobby. The hotel offers a fitness center on the top floor, but that’s really it in terms of hotel amenities.
The Ridley, the hotel’s restaurant, seemed busier with locals than hotel guests. We figured that may be a good sign and opted for breakfast there twice, both perplexing experiences. I ordered the breakfast sandwich on our first visit, probably the best I’ve had in recent memory, including substantial but not overpowering bread and perfectly over medium egg. Oddly, our waitress delivered our coffee without spoons. When we requested them, she disappeared for longer than expected. She reappeared with soup spoons, saying that they had no clean coffee spoons. Weird, but no big deal.
The next morning, the restaurant staff was clearly rattled. We had been warned they were fully booked for Easter Brunch, even though tables were about 50% occupied when we arrived. Our family was fine sitting at the adjacent bar with other patrons. Service was slower and our waiter, the bartender, seemed overwhelmed before helping us. My wife and I were served cold coffee without – you guessed it – spoons. We had to wait at least five more minutes for those oh-so-familiar soup spoons. We consumed our satisfactory breakfast, gazed out the windows, and I signed the bill, holding it down with a hardly-consumed, cold cup of coffee.
The Draftsman Charlottesville – Conclusion
Will we be back? I’m not so sure. We may choose another hotel with a less convenient location. Or we may opt for The Graduate close to The Draftsman once it’s bookable with Hilton points. Regardless, The Draftsman is a microcosm of what concerns me about Marriott’s portfolio. The hotel is one of many Marriott properties “in the middle,” offering a singular noteworthy perk, at best, along with an inflated price (cash or points) for what customers receive in overall return. Indeed, we’ve experienced this with Marriotts elsewhere, but we continue returning, sometimes. However, we’ll eventually pass on that redemption type more and opt for using those Marriott points on a more aspirational stay.
Have you experienced a perplexing Marriott stay recently? Share in the comments!
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I fully agree with this passage:
“The Draftsman is a microcosm of what concerns me about Marriott’s portfolio. The hotel is one of many Marriott properties “in the middle,” offering a singular noteworthy perk, at best, along with an inflated price (cash or points) for what customers receive in overall return.”
I’ve long thought that if you’re earning points through card spend, it doesn’t make any sense to bother with Marriott, unless you know you’re gonna stay at one of about a dozen or two truly aspirational properties. Their midrange properties are simply too overpriced to ever chose over Hyatt/IHG/Hilton. Collect Hyatt for nice city center properties at great redemption rates, Hilton for upscale in interesting locales and IHG for roadside HIX properties.
Thanks for your perspective, Raylan!
We’ve visited Charlottesville several times in the past five years. Up until about two years ago, the Quirk Hotel Charlottesville was under the Hyatt umbrella, and we redeemed several Hyatt free night awards there. Like its namesake, it’s an interesting/quirky hotel with a revolving art collection in the basement with pretty nice breakfast offerings (for free if you were a Globalist). Alas, Quirk left the Hyatt portfolio and is independent now AFAIK. Hyatt Place Charlottesville is also nice (but more run-of-the-mill) and is only a Category 2 property. That Hyatt Place is only short drive from a nearby (renowned) Bodo’s Bagels, which is another plus.
Bodo’s FTW, Quo Vadis!