Kimpton the Forum Hotel

Next to UVA Darden business school, very convenient.

Valet staff were incredibly friendly and personable. Hotel was immaculate and pristine. Will be coming back on leisure.

Stayed for a wedding this past weekend. This hotel looks beautiful but constantly disappointed us. The lobby and rooms are nicely designed, clean, and well-appointed, consistent with other Kimptons we've stayed at. However, the overall experience was negative. The staff was friendly and seemed to be trying their best, but the place felt short-staffed and under-trained. Here are a few of the issues we encountered: - We called down to have an iron delivered, as there was only a steamer in the room. 20 minutes later, a man arrived with a curling iron. We of course told him that we actually needed an iron for clothing, but unfortunately there seemed to be a language barrier, as another curling iron arrived 15 minutes later. The second man spoke better English and understood what we needed. But he then asked if that meant we also needed an ironing board (yes, it turns out we did) which underscores the lack of training. (Since all the rooms have steamers only, it should go without saying that someone asking for an iron also needs an ironing board.) - We arrived around lunch time and went to the "pub" (called "The Good Sport") for a bite to eat. We asked to sit at the bar and were seated there by the hostess, then waited for 10-15 minutes before anyone even gave us menus or asked for a drink order. It appeared there was no bartender, just a highly overworked server running around who was evidently also responsible for those seated at the bar. He was extremely friendly - this is not a negative review of him personally - but he lacked training and more importantly was clearly spread too thin. These two anecdotes sum it up: He made my Arnold Palmer with sweet tea without asking (this is not worthy of complaint - I have since researched and while regular, unsweetened iced tea is by far the most common, some places in the South do use sweet tea - but I think, certainly at a hotel, it's better to ask/clarify since most patrons probably want unsweetened) but then disappeared for another 10 minutes, meaning I was just sitting there waiting to ask him to swap it out. When he came back, I witnessed an interaction with another bar patron where he was trying politely to answer her questions about the wines by the glass, but clearly didn't know what he was talking about and then poured her a glass of wine from a bottle that seemed to have been open too long (and it took her 10 minutes to get a different glass.) - The breakfast situation needs to be fixed. We were told that some tables needed to be cleared/reset and it would be a 5-10 minute wait. We waited about 35 minutes, but we could see numerous tables that were set and empty - it was pretty clear the hostess was covering for an overwhelmed wait staff. Once we were seated, we waited 15 minutes for a server - we tried flagging people down but there were so few of them and they were so hurried that nobody saw us. We ordered our full order (2 coffees with milk, 1 eggs Benedict with smoked salmon, 1 scrambled eg