Extended Stay America Suites- Washington D.C. - Alexandria - Landmark — Hotel in Alexandria

I arrived here late on Saturday night. At first I was given a room on the first floor that was not cleaned. It had fast food on both bed stands (an opened bag of Chick-fil-A on each bed stand, and utensils and food strewn about the rest of the hotel room), the sheets were used, the bed was not made, and the bathroom had been used. I requested a new room and the front desk gave me a new room on the second floor.

I went up to that room and it was cleaned though the toilet had been used and was not flushed. Anyway I flushed it and settled down. I found that all the lights on the walls were not working, such as the light at the desk and the two lights on both sides of the bed. However, there was one dim ceiling light by the door and one dim ceiling light by the window that worked and I was tired so I lived with the dim room light for a few days. While getting ready to go to bed I noticed a cockroach crawling in the bathtub, I killed it and brush my teeth and went to sleep.

In morning I went to take a shower and the shower wasn't working. I called the front desk requesting a new room at about 5:30 a.m. and they told me that housekeeping was coming at 9:00 a.m. and they could help me look at it and maybe help me fix it. I have an urgent meeting for work and I haven't shaved and showered but they told me there's nothing they can do till 9:00 a.m. I said you could just give me another room, the parking lot is half empty, and they told me they were no other rooms available.

A few minutes later, I think it was a bit after 6:00 a.m., I went downstairs to talk in-person as I knew it could not be possible that there were no other rooms, given the half empty parking lot. Anyway as it turns out, miraculously, they did actually have room available. So after that miracle occurred, they gave me another room down the hallway, also on the second floor. I had both room keys so I went to start moving my things into the second room. However, that room down the hallway had a horrible smell. I mean it really reeked of something awful, honestly it was like a really fatty meat that have been left out too long and rotting. I have no idea how the room acquired rotting fatty meat smell but it's stank. The first two rooms, the one filled with Chick-fil-A fast food and one with a shower didn't work, did not have any particularly bad smell. This third room smelt awful. Anyway I decided I didn't want to move into this third room so I just held my nose and quickly took a shower there. I finished the shower and returned the room key to the foul smelling third room, remaining in the second room with the broken shower and broken lights. The Chick-fil-A strewn rude was a distant memory at this point.

This is a horrible experience and I really regret not reading the many negative reviews before I stayed here. I have stayed in at least a dozen other Extended Stay hotels and have always had a pleasant experience. It's not always perfect, there might be a slight smell in the room or a hallway or something wrong with the room, but I'm really not particularly picky and I can live with it. In general my attitude is to just shrug things off and go about your day. I'm busy, I have work obligations and several kids so I don't really have time to deal with small problems, I'd rather just push through them and shrug them off. This one really shocked me.

The national Extended Stay franchise should seriously consider revoking this location's ability to use the Extended Stay brand, this type of poorly run location is going to contribute to ruining the Extended Stay brand nationally. I didn't feel the need to read reviews of Extended Stay locations before. After staying here I'm never going to book an Extended Stay without first carefully reading...

The front desk staff are very nice. They find the time to be available and are helpful and caring. The woman who checked me in, Senait, is especially capable and pleasant. They are really all great, hard-working, dedicated.

The property itself is a bit isolated in a way. There's a large shopping plaza right near it, but you have to drive around the whole thing to reach the actual property. That can involve backed-up traffic and confusing streets: so near yet so far! It is a convenient walk to the shops, which include a grocery store, various budget outlets and even an Auto Zone, if you walk up a little roadway along the side. It's across from the side, so all the trash dumpsters are out there. Litter and trash collects in the area, though the property itself is clean. I guess you can't locate a large budget hotel right on Main Street, so it's fine. There is a coziness to it; just don't expect the Hilton.

I did Not see any bugs. My linens were clean, the furniture is nice and in good condition. There can be noise (dogs; people..) Bed is comfortable; nice rolling desk chairs. It's a good value.

The floors of my room were very dirty. I cleaned them myself (cleaning towels - and any other towels, etc. - are readily given). The two electric burners on the cooking area had all this icky black stuff when I gave them a wipe before using. (They continue to drop black stuff.) I used them anyway, and there was no smoke or burning, but it's not like an apartment. (Update: I saw a lone cockroach in my room. [Light brown water-bug type.] I killed it: it was slow.)

Plenty of hot water! It gets very hot if you want it, which is Great since you're hand-washing dishes. The small microwave is also very good. It works well, has many options and is clean. Housekeeping staff are very nice and do a good job.

The hotel is non-smoking, so people who smoke go in the front outside.

The hotel itself seems very secure. I feel that my belongings are safe, and the staff are all trustworthy and my car is safe too. The room is large.

The bathroom is fine as well. Good, plentiful towels and nice shower curtain. Only problem is the shower-head. It has low pressure to save water (?) and can take forever to wash one's hair, even a short cut. I just lie down under the faucet because I can't stand there forever. Again, it's a good value and it is clean, safe, and well-maintained. Decent looking, too. Nice guests. There's a stand-up "Continental breakfast" with coffee and some packaged items.

The little soap bars were poor and I bought my own. The paper (tissues, t.p.) is all thin but they give you plenty. The free wifi is slow and can fade in and out; if you have unlimited data you can use phone as hot spot. Else pay for better or just use the slow stuff. The trash in the trash room can pile up disturbingly on the weekends. Still, I never saw a bug (except that one) or vermin inside the property anywhere. Would like to repeat that it is Well-maintained. They even did some upgrades when I was there, fixing the pulleys on all the windows so they work great (a needed improvement!) and installing new bathroom vents/fans (which I didn't know were needed - but the new ones were quiet!) - all in the same day! It's a decent place; it all depends on your tolerances and needs. It is safe, comfortable, and...

I have never written a review like this, but my experience at this particular Extended Stay America was so bad I wanted to warn others.

my biggest issue was after checking out. I checked out three days early, and before doing this, I called the front desk to check and see if I could get a refund for those last three days. they informed me that I would be charged weekly, so I could get a refund for the second week if I checked out by Saturday. Saturday comes, I check out and inform the person at the front desk that I was checking out early. he checks me out. then I ask about getting the refund, and he says that I would have to call to get my refund. I booked this hotel through a third-party website (Priceline) which was a mistake. I contacted Priceline to get my refund, and they attempted to call the hotel. the hotel says that I did not check out early, and the room was booked for my entire trip. I asked Priceline if they could talk to the manager, seeing as I discussed with the front desk that I would be checking out 3 days early. and they assured me I would be able to get a refund for the last three days of my trip, as long as I called them later. Priceline said they spoke with Katie at the front desk, as well as the manager. Priceline is not the bad guy here, since they did their best to try and get me my refund, and it seems there was a miscommunication between the hotel staff. so I don’t think I’m ever getting that $248 back.

my second issue was the kitchen utensils. after settling in at the hotel, my friend and I discovered that there is not a single dish nor utensil in the kitchen. I assume this is due to some Covid sanitization policy, but if we were informed of this new policy change, I must’ve missed it. we were exhausted, and so we decided to just sleep, and get plastic utensils and paper plates at the dollar store the next day. not even a single pair of individually wrapped plastic utensils in the hotel. it would’ve been nice to know that when we were checking in.

my last issue is with the Wi-Fi. the Wi-Fi is good enough to send texts, check emails, and watch YouTube videos, but if you are joining a zoom call, you’re out of luck. I tried joining my online class via zoom and the application crashed three times due to an unstable network connection. you can pay more money for higher quality Wi-Fi, but just be aware that the free Wi-Fi is no good for zoom calls.

i’m giving this hotel two stars because at least the room was clean and the heat/AC...