Expected Better from DoubleTree
Written: Feb 21 '02
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Convenient to metro-stop and shopping; good breakfast; great view
Cons: Unpolished service; rude valet parking attendants; odd location of facilities
The Bottom Line: The Below Average does hold true for this particular hotel. Maybe it will get better, but in the meantime, stay somewhere else and enjoy your entire visit, including the hotel.
|
|
|
| achflkeys's Full Review: Doubletree Crystal City-Nat Ap |
My wife and I recently decided to take a "spur-of-the-moment" weekend trip to Washington, DC. We live outside of Philadelphia and it's just under a 3 hour drive for us. We went last year and had a really good time and thought a last minute getaway and a chance to be tourists would be right up our alley. The decision to go was made on a Friday, the same day we wanted to leave.
The Booking
Around 11:00 AM the day we were to leave, I did an all-out full-court press on the internet for a hotel room for the weekend. After checking out most of the major hotels' websites and finding a few decent rates, I tried Expedia. Boom! There it was. An "Expedia Special Rate" at the Doubletree-Crystal City for only $65/night. As with all their special rates, I had to pay for the entire stay up front. No big deal, I figured since the next best rate directly through the hotel was $40 more per night. On our trip to Washington last year, we stayed at the Marriott Crystal Gateway which is just around the corner from the Doubletree, so we knew the location was good. We were both excited after I booked the room. You really can't beat a weekend in Washington for $130 at a Doubletree, right?
Arrival at the Hotel
It took a little longer than usual to get to Washington for us. Of course, we expected this, as it was a Friday night and it was Presidents' Day weekend. I chose the follow the directions provided on the hotel's website. Bad idea! We ended up not where we wanted to be and basically had to "feel" our way to the hotel. Eventually, we were lucky to start recognizing things from last year once we were in and around Alexandria. We pulled up to the Doubletree and there were signs that the self-park garage was closed and we had no choice but to valet our car. There must have been a function at the hotel that night because there was a line of cars waiting, but it went pretty fast. I handed over my keys and took my claim ticket and we stepped inside the hotel. We had to take an escalator up from the street level to the reception level. There was no line waiting to check in. I gave the agent my name and he retrieved my reservation and handed me the room key. I asked if it had a king bed and he said no, it had two doubles. I politely asked if it would be a big deal if we could change to a king, and he obliged immediately. Very good customer service. I also asked to have him add my Hilton HHonors number to my reservation. I learned that since I booked a super discount rate through Expedia, I could not earn any points. Oh well. Off we went to our room.
The Room
Our room was on the 8th floor. It was nice. Rather spacious, with a very comfortable bed, 2 chairs and a desk with a swivel chair. The telephone at the desk did not work. I have a laptop and wanted to use the dataport at the desk and that did not work. A major drawback was the totally paper-thin walls. We could hear conversations from the rooms on both sides of us. Not to mention the noise from the hallways and especially the slamming of doors from the entire floor. I swear we could even hear the ding of the elevator and we were quite a ways from it. Another big problem: water pressure in the bathroom. Talk about "low-flow" shower heads! And without being too graphic here, it took at least 2 flushes of the toilet to get "everything" out of the bowl. A positive aspect of the room was the view. It was amazing. We could see every major landmark in Washington. Not to mention the Pentagon was across the street. Outside our window was the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial and in the distance was the Lincoln Memorial as well as the White House and the Capitol. Also, I am totally into airplanes and commercial air travel so I was thrilled that right outside our window was the approach path (and take-off route) for Reagan National Airport (DCA). Really cool.
During our Stay
I already mentioned the problems with the walls and the water pressure. Saturday morning I called the front desk (this hotel did not offer any concierge service) to ask for suggestions for breakfast. I made the mistake of specifying we wanted to eat "outside the hotel" and was treated very abruptly and before I could ask any more questions I heard a "click" on the line and my so called help had hung up the phone. Rather than get all hot and bothered we decided just to eat downstairs in the casual restaurant. Breakfast was actually very good, although pricey (which is expected in hotel restaurants). Service was actually very good too. They had a nice buffet set up and my wife asked for an egg-white omelette which was not on the menu and her request was honored without the blink of an eye. We were given directions from the bell captain to the metro stop at Pentagon City Mall. It's about 3 blocks (the hotel told me 2 on the phone) and the mall is awesome. After sightseeing and shopping for most of the day we came back to our room and found that although it was serviced by housekeeping, the bed was not completely made. We made dinner reservations for downtown and decided to go work out in the fitness center and take a swim in the indoor pool. I found it very odd that the fitness center was directly adjacent to the front desk. Trekking down in our workout clothes, we felt a little out of place amongst other guests checking in or arriving for a function in dresses and suits. The fitness center was nice with a good selection of cardio-vascular machines and nautilus equipment. There were separate men and women lockerrooms and a sauna. After working out, we were ready to go the pool. Normally a hotels' indoor pool is rather close to the fitness center. Not here. Again we had to walk by the front desk (this time, sweaty and disshelved, and there was a big crowd now staring at us) and take the elevator up to the top floor to go the pool. I found this not only strange but inconvenient. Now we had to walk right past the nightclub/bar where a formal function was taking place. Finally arriving at the pool, we were greeted by not the warm, humid air normally found at indoor pools, but a cold uncomfortable feeling. The water was not much warmer and the pool was full of young children. Hardly relaxing. There was a lobby bar as well as one of those revolving restaurants and lounges here but we did not check out any of them so I can not fairly comment on them.
Leaving the Hotel
Check-out was a breeze. Mostly because you don't even really need to check-out these days. I tried to do it through the TV but it was not working. So I just left our keys in the room. Can't get much smoother than that. Retrieving my car was not pretty. I made sure I had the claim ticket since I was warned upon check in that I must have it if I want my car when we're ready to leave. There was a couple in front of us who didn't have their ticket and he was being given the run-around big time. He even went to the hooks holding all the keys and pointed to his and the attendant still refused to get his car. I had my claim ticket and was then asked for a copy of my bill. I said I didn't know where it was (it was really packed away in our suitcase) and that all I was told I'd need was the claim ticket. The attendant hemmed and hawed so I just plopped our suitcase down and opened it right in front of him and got the bill. Meanwhile, he still made sure to give the couple without their ticket a very hard time. Finally our car arrived and I didn't let any of the attendants help with the bags and got out of there as fast as we could. I could see in the rearview mirror the couple still arguing about their car.
Sum It Up
I guess the old cliche "You Get What you Pay For" held true here. I would have expected much more from a Doubletree however. Even though I got a discounted rate through Expedia, the regular hotel promotion was the same as a handful of other hotels in the area, including the Marriott Crystal Gateway, which is 1,000 times better. I should have paid a little extra $$$ and went with a place that I knew was first rate. Service was spotty, the water-pressure and thin-walls issues were inexcusable and the strange location of facilities such as the fitness club and pool just took away from the whole experience. All in all, the Doubletree is a fair hotel that has a lot of amenities and is in a good location, but is in need of some severe polishing and upgrading. I expected more from a Doubletree brand and will definitely be taking my business elsewhere on our next trip to Washington.
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
achflkeys
|
|
Location: Wayne, PA
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.