Dorothy Draper began transforming the Greenbrier in 1946 after it had been used as a military…read morehospital, and it appears the updates have been minimal, if nonexistent, since!
Slouchy couches, stained carpet pulling away from the walls. The cheapest daily rack rate on a weekday is a whopping $400+/night, not including all their BS fees: $49 daily resort fee per room and 9.75% Historic Preservation Fund, 6% sales tax. SO NOT WORTH IT!
Seriously, I get keeping the iconic Draper theme, but you gotta upkeep everything to warrant that price!
I stayed here for 3 nights for a conference, and had multiple interactions with staff from calling to make reservations for activities, the bunker tour, dinner at the main dining room, bowling and the conference room facilities.
Customer service ranged here from very nice, cheerful and helpful to unaccommodating, aloof, and just plain rude. When asked questions about the facility or amenities, the staff would often give me blank stares or just shrug and say they didn't know. I was checked in by a trainee who did not give any direction on how to get to my room in the BOONIES (Copeland Hills) and we drove around aimlessly until we gave up and went back to valet to get directions. When I asked if I could be in the main hotel with my coworker at check in, another snooty employee (senior or the trainer, I dunno) blatantly said "no, your group is assigned to the cottages", which was 100% a lie because my coworker simultaneously checked in with another trainee and was given a room in the main hotel. The next day, a second coworker was also given a room in the main hotel. They both complained their rooms were creepy feeling, dirty and in need of some major renovations. So I guess depending on how you look at it, I had it better since my cottage in the boonies wasn't as old and was in pretty good shape.
The wait staff at the conference was too efficient! I left my untouched dessert literally for a few minutes at my seat and when I returned it was gone!
My fiancé did the bunker tour and the bourbon tasting. He was the only one at the bourbon tasting at 5:00pm and no one showed up for the 6:00pm either. At the end, he was given a non itemized bill for $88 (the base price was $65) and then he tipped on top of the $88 thinking that was the base rate! Clearly the astronomical service fees were already embedded in there.
Throughout our stay, we wondered where everyone was. Despite being reservation only, the main dining room was at best 25% full when we were there on a Friday night. Everywhere we went: basically empty. The many random sitting rooms, the restaurants, the casino, the bowling alley, indoor pool, the bars. The only activity that had a decent amount of people was the bunker tour. There were many private events we saw set up everywhere though, and our conference alone was about 300. So maybe that's their thing.
My coworkers had mini fridges in their room in the main hotel, my room in the cottages did not. My coworker called room service for ice (there are no self service ice machines) and it was delivered 2 hours later when she was sleeping. The room service delivery fee is $5 for the main hotel, but $20 for my cottage in the boonies. Why do I have to pay 4x in delivery fees when I asked to be in the main hotel to begin with? Ridiculous.
The Greenbrier is old and busted and riding on the "historic" factor to draw in guests. If I stayed here for leisure and paid for this out of my own pocket, I would be even more pissed.
