Courtyard by Marriott Arlington Crystal City/Reagan National Airport — Hotel in Alexandria

Arriving here from out of town was a real surprise. Initially, the room looked clean. However not too long after unpacking, I noticed a pile of dirty underwear/lingerie in the corner of the room, with dirty parts completely exposed.||||I was very put off by this, and threw a towel over it, as I was exhausted from the plane ride and also because the phone did not work to make a call. I could have gone 14 flights down to the lobby, but I did not have the energy to make it downstairs to complain. I planned on doing it the next day, which I did. I also expected the housekeeping would handle it appropriately the following day.||||Then, after leaving the room the next morning to get breakfast, I stopping to tell the housekeepers about underwear. I then returned to up to 14th floor only to find that the room key did not work.||||So, I went downstairs to tell the front desk that the key did not work, and the nice gentleman gave me a new key and said that if that one didn't work to call down to the lobby instead of going all the way down, and they would have a "technician" come up to check the door out.||||It was the day of my dad's funeral, so I was quite frustrated when the key did not work on the second attempt and was concerned this would cause me a significant delay on a very important day. It did make me late, btw.||||So, I used the phone by the elevators to call down and tell them that the second key did not work. They said a technician would come. They did, and the key issue was fixed.||||Later that same day, on returning to the room & I wanted to eat the leftovers I had put in the fridge the night before, but found out that the fridge was not plugger in, so it spoiled my food::......(||||Wanting to listen to some music, I tried the speaker they put in the room, which wouldn't work. I went down to the hall to use the phone again, since mine still didn't work. They sent a technician up and after troubleshooting he went and got me a new speaker that worked. This man was very helpful and kind, and apologized. He even gave me a recommendation for food, which I needed at that point.||||Then, believe it or not, the following day I got back to the room in the evening to find out the TV was not working, nor the phone-still!!||||I was exasperated at this point with so many things gone wrong during such a difficult time, and again used the phone in the lobby to tell the front desk about the problems. The woman who answered said that there had been outage the night prior, however in the morning they worked fine. I would have expected an kind apology & an offer to swap rooms or give me a free night, not an explanation which sounded like an excuse.||||Upon insistence, she agreed to have a technician come up to help get these things working again. So for the 3rd time the technician came, who was very nice, and fixed the TV. But he did say that the phone was not going to be able to be fixed without him taking it apart and said it would take some time, and honestly I didn't feel it was worth more of my valuable grieving time.||||Because I did not want to spend another hour having him troubleshoot the phone malfunction, I let him know that tomorrow when I checked out would be better for me.||||Although I told them about the underwear, it still remains in the room at this moment because I don't want to touch someones dirty underwear. The phone still does not work. And I have paid a really hefty price for 3 nights during a really challenging time in my life. No one has offered me an apology, a comp, a refund, or to give me another room.||||I have never had such a terrible experience at any hotel ever. Please stay here with extreme caution.||||(Omar at the front desk was very kind & made me wonder why the rest of the employees-except him, the technician, as well as the man who checked me- were so terrible) ||||Safety of health, dirty underwear can spread diseases... don't expect attention or help if you bring up dissatisfaction either. David B - general manager- does not care. ||||Be careful. Don't expect much, even though it...

While the room was spacious, clean and comfortable, I had a horrible experience with regard to the "service" mentality of the bistro located in the hotel next to the lobby.

Prior to my business trip to the US, I noticed that almost all of my US colleagues used disposable coffee cups during the online meetings. I decided to bring my travel mug along so I could avoid producing more trash than necessary.

In the morning, before heading to the office, and sometimes in the evening, I used to crab a cup of coffee in the bistro next to the lobby also using my travel mug. Usually, I had no problem though it is not easy to tell US Americans that you want to avoid waste because they are very fast in producing waste before you even could tell them: "Please use my travel mug."

The other day, there was a very unfriendly fat guy (neither greeting me or another Black customer whily being very friendly to a White customer) who, when I was about to collect my order made online a couple of minutes before, asked me: "Do you do this every time?" First, I didn't know what he meant. But after repeating his question and pointing to my mug, I began to understand. During the heated discussion (heated up all by him) he blamed me using this mug only for the reason that it is bigger than the cup size I ordered. After I told him that I want to avoid trash, he insisted that this would be a lie because he would have to use a disposable cup anyway because otherwise he wouln't be able to find the right capacity. I told him that his colleagues were, of course, able to find the right capacity. He than answered something like "Blah, blah, blah."

The next day, I complained about this experience at the hotel reception. The employee working there was very friendly and offered me to get something from the vending machine next to the counter for free. I totally admire the professional interaction with the said employee but I really expected to get some information from the management on how to solve the problem with the naughty boy at the bistro. This didn't happen until today.

By the way: The coffee offered by the bistro is from Starbucks. First of all: If there would be only one company in the world whose employees should know how to fill mugs than it would Starbucks with all their fancy cup sizes. Second: During my stay, the prices for coffee and others were raised multiple times reaching 7,50 dollars at the end. I guess they did so because at that time there were a lot of young people staying in the hotel. So, if they really want to blame someone trying to rip off other people, than Starbucks and the bistro should take a good look in the mirror.

EDIT Sep 1, 2023

This edit is in resonse to the owner's reply.

Your reply sounds to me that you want to tell me that I neither know what I had to pay for the exact same product during my stay nor what horrible service I had to endure in your bistro. This appears like a defensive lie to me.

But: I'm very glad to support you learning more about your own price policy: I stayed at your accommodation from April 16 to April 26. When I bought a coffee during this time it was always a Venti Latte. No syrup or other fancy extras. Just Latte.

Date of order / Price (ex. VAT)

April 16 / 5.50 dollars April 18 / 6.50 dollars (was reduced to 5.50 after my stunned surprise was recognized by a more "senior" employee) April 23 / 6.50 dollars April 24 / 7.50 dollars (Here, I just stopped buying coffee at your bistro b/c of this insane price and the behavior of this person you say would not working with you.

If your really don't know the people working at your bistro, please try this: Check the shift schedule of April 23 evening, I placed my...

Let me start off by saying, this is the first time I have ever left a negative anything towards this brand name.

As I am currently staying at the hotel, I am unable to actually write this review on their "high speed internet", I am forced to use my mobile device as a tether. While doing a simple speed test at 2am, 4 am, and now 7 am, I can confirm without a shadow of a doubt, Ukraine being invaded by Russia currently has better internet than this hotel (3/20/2022). When I called to the front desk to investigate the issue, they responded with “We are aware its pretty bad. We are also almost at capacity, so its adding further strain.” Really should not make claims on your websites boasting high speed internet, if you cant even clear 300kb, or keep the ping below 250 to a server less then 15 miles away. It was also difficult to load options on their Marriott Bonvoy while connected to their Wi-Fi. Switching to my mobile data, everything worked well.

Room was clean, air conditioner worked, a bit louder then I am used to hearing. Bath rooms looked nice but had to keep the water running multiple times in the bathtub to keep the ants from coming out of the pipes. (How are ants getting into the plumbing???). Not very many amenities here. Half a box of tissue, and a small bar of soap. I find it odd there was not a dental kit, or shaving items for a hotel spitting distance from Reagan Airport. My shampoo had 1 pump left before being empty. Plenty of towels, the shower curtain had signs of mold which I helped them out by cleaning off so the next guest has a clean shower curtain (because it seems to be something that was missed quite a few times).

The desk used for “business” was a welcome sight, although mine had seen a fair bit of wear, revealing the particle board underneath the trim. I was unable to utilize voice or video calls during my stay due to the lack of dependable internet. There seemed to be a great deal of effort into “looking nice” and not actually feeling nice.

They have a shuttle that leaves for the Subway on the 10 and 40 every hour. Website lists “Continental breakfast 9.50$ Full American breakfast 17.50$” When I asked, I was referred to “the bistro” AKA Starbucks where a pre-made 1 egg sandwich is about 10$. Very misleading to list “amenities” and not offer them to all your customers. 40$ parking is a bit steep per night. My coffee maker may have been trying to overload the floors wiring, as my desk lamp flickered, and one bathroom light went out. TV was nice, wish there was a remote control to use it. My suite night upgrade was not honored, assume due to availability.

I have been to a great number of properties in the past 8 years, as a Titanium member, missing Ambassador due to Covid-19, this first time I have been disappointed with a Marriott property. With the mix of higher than usual "fee's" for basic staples, lack of basic items you come to expect in a hotel, and lack of availability to all listed amenities, I would not recommend staying at this location. If I could of canceled my stay early and not get charged for the whole day, I would have. Use your points or cash at another...