Residence Inn by Marriott Bethesda Downtown — Hotel in Bethesda

We are Marriott Rewards Gold members, and were Titanium before the pandemic. Residence Inn is our favorite brand, and we have stayed at Residence Inns all across the country.

This particular Residence Inn is a very nice property in a great location. It is the second time we’ve stayed there. The breakfast is terrific, and all the workers in the breakfast room are excellent, especially Silvia, who is a ray of sunshine.

So why the middling review? One reason - check-in was a total fiasco. We checked in online and requested a 1 pm check-in. We actually got there at 2 and were told no rooms were available, but no one offered to let us know when a room was available. So we checked back at the desk at 2:30. The guy there let us know there was a room on the second floor but it was adjacent to the breakfast area and this noisy. We appreciated his guidance. He assured us that if we came back at 3, he would have a nice room on a high floor for us.

We came back at 3:15 to find someone else next to us getting an 11th floor room. The guy told us we could have a room on the penthouse level, which we were happy about. But then it got confusing. He said the room was now showing as unavailable - not booked, but just unavailable. He checked with his manager and confirmed it was unavailable. In the absence of a clear explanation, I can only assume the manager pulled back the upgrade in case they got a better revenue opportunity.

Finally at about 4 pm (3 hours after our requested check-in, and one hour after normal check-in), they gave us a room on the 4th floor. Our view for six days was a wall - and a trash dumpster. The room itself was fine, but after having the offer of a penthouse upgrade rescinded, it was a bitter pill to stare at a wall and a trash dumpster all week.

We also noticed that the front desk personnel were aloof. They generally didn’t look up or say hello as we were coming and going. I have no idea why, but speculate that morale must be poor.

To be clear, this is a very nice Residence Inn, but on principle I don’t think we’ll stay there next year when we come...

I ended up staying here for three separate trips last year: once in February, and twice in June.

It's a little pricey, but worth every penny. Vehicles are parked under the hotel and only accessible by the valets. No worries about your car being broken into, damaged, or stolen.

There's a warm breakfast every morning & different options for dinner every weekday evening. I was a little bummed that we couldn't have dinner on Ash Wednesday because they were serving a meat dish for dinner that night, but I guess most people don't observe that anymore anyway. Considering the price of dinner at restaurants in the area, the fact that this hotel serves dinner makes it a great option.

In the rooms, the bedrooms are separate from the living space. I stayed in both a one-bedroom and a two-bedroom during my different stays. The format for both was pretty much the same. Separate bedroom(s) with the bathroom inside (two bathrooms in the two-bedroom unit), a couch that could comfortably seat two adults, a reclining chair, and a table with four chairs. The kitchenette had a nice sized refrigerator/freezer, a microwave, and a stove/oven, and a dishwasher. The daily meals are posted on the refrigerator. There's a nice-sized TV in the living room and in each bedroom. During my trips in June, we had a chance to use the pool. There's a lifeguard on duty & I found her to be very vigilant.

The lobby has an office area where you can fax, print, access computers, and find out about local events.

There is a Metro stop right across the street, so you can leave your car to travel into & out of DC very easily. I was actually visiting DC two of the times I stayed here.

My only complaint about the hotel was that it didn't offer many TV stations for children. We were lucky to find a movie for the kids on HBO one evening. Other evenings we watched Netflix on the iPad. I brought portable DVD players, but could not easily hook them...

I recently went to Washington D.C. for a little reunion with some old friends. Having never before had the opportunity to stay in Bethesda, this seemed like the perfect place for myself and my two service animals. I will say that the front desk was delightful, the rooms were made to perfection, maintenance was quick to respond to concerns. Unfortunately, an experience with a valet attendant nearly disrupted everything as it severely stressed me out. While my dogs are meant specifically to help me stay relaxed, encounters with other dogs are often inevitable, especially at et friendly hotels. As I approached the elevator with my dog coming back from a walk, a much smaller dog was walking down the stairs on a longer than needed leash, and began to bark at my dog, who is much larger. As this was happening on the morning of 3/16, the valet attendant goes out of his way to go in between our dogs and scorn me for my dog being so much bigger than the smaller dog and laughs as he walks past to his closet. It was incredibly insensitive and did not alleviate the stress between me and the other dog owner as our dogs' exchanged barks. Really unfortunate that people can act like this and as someone that has previously worked for Marriott, I know first-hand that this isn't what they were taught but instead, this person jumped on the opportunity to shame my dog who had a service vest on, maybe because he disagrees with it. Otherwise, very nice hotel located in a great spot of town next to a beautiful park...