DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Washington DC - Crystal City — Hotel in Washington

I am a liaison Ambassador to the UN and DC Mayor Appointed Commissioner. I needed to stay close to the Sheraton Hotel which was only about 1 mile away, due to receiving a White House Lifetime Achievement Award at that location. I was inviting another Ambassador who was the head of the Presenting Organization for the White House Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award so that I could show him the beautiful Double Tree Hotel and the marvelous views and impeccable food from the Skydome. I was greeted by Mr. Shikeeb, who was above board professionally, well spoken, warm, friendly, expedient, and extremely accommodating, he paid attention to every little detail spoken and prepared a special accomodations that would cater to me and my special guest that I was hosting for the evening, of course I was in Lieu to impress my guest representing the White House. Surely Mr. shikeeb left no stone unturned, and did not hesitate to check on me and my guests personally several times to maintain a wonderful and memorable experience during my very special celebration and occasion. Upon informing him of the details he placed me with Ms. Denise B., Ms. wonderful as I call her., at the front desk to prepare further accomodations. Ms. Denise has an amazing personality, and is very thorough with details and asks questions that for your specific needs, she goes above any beyond to provide excellent service and to make your stay as enjoyable as possible. She reminds me of the customer service of old, which is hard to find in today's world, she is surely a keeper and deserves a raise. Mr. Shikeeb and Ms. Denise were able to upgrade me as a Gold Member and even went above and beyond. My family have now been bitten with the Double Tree bug and cannot stop talking about the amazing time they had while we stayed at this location. They are ready to come back!! Upon entering my suite, I immediately received a call from Jovana, Manager of the Skydome, Mr. Shikeeb had already reached out to her specifically to get the best accomodations for me and my special guest. Anticipating guests needs would be an understatement as it pertains to Mr. Shikeeb and his team! Ms. Jovana spoke with me and made special arrangements even though the Skydome was booked. She was very warm, friendly, paid great attention to detail, and I was able to tell her some of my old stories and memories of the Skydome becak when it was more of a club/restaurant. We had an amazing conversation, and she ensured me that accomodations would be prepared. She then sent me a reservation confirmation upon ending the call. Once I walked into the Skydome later that evening she gave the best seat/view in the house. The food was scrumptious and surely chef de' cuisines prepared. I had the Crab Crusted Salmon, paired with a Pink Grigio, later I tried a dry Martini, a little dirty, extra olives. The drinks were amazing. Everything was made to perfection and crafted with precision. My server Rupayan was a complete delight! He was very attentive, anticipated my needs, and was able to make some enticing suggestions from the menu, I took his advice and was pleasantly surprised. I will be back to request him again. Ms. Jovana checked on me throughout the duration and even was able to tell me some of the history of the hotel and about the archives, I have a passion for the history of old buildings especially in prestigious locations, such as the pentagon. We had an amazing conversation, and the restaurant itself was a sight to behold, the ambiance, the views, the overall atmosphere, and music was amazing! Surely Mr. Shikeeb, Ms. Jovana, & Ms. Denise must be veterans, because it seems that they all work as one body and know what quality customer service is like the back of their hand. Formerly, post politics, I was in the restaurant/grocery Industry for 17 years. I have worked many places including Ruth Chris, McCormick & Schmidt, and even Managed at Giant Food, and General Managed at the Carolina Kitchen. This location is still as amazing as I Remember!! Thank you! (I have 2.3million...

As someone who has stayed at this hotel hundreds of nights over the last twenty years, I cannot remain silent about the progressive deterioration of both the quality of the hotel, its amenities, along with the hit or miss customer service.

Regarding the building, watch out for a middle elevator on your way to/from the roof top restaurant owing it has multiple issues with opening, closing door and even moving after the door closes. Be careful of faucets in the room that are not secured by the lock nut underneath the bathroom sink. Keep an eye out for raised bricks around the perimeter of the hotel. Finally, be aware of several dated rooms, carpet, walls, bathroom fixtures, patio doors, windows, window treatments, and furniture.

On to the staff, expect at best every other member to actually care about the customer, including the airport shuttle drivers and phone operators. While I had one shuttle driver from the initial airport stop when after he saw me out of the corner of his eye still stopped for me even after he had already just left the pickup curb location whereas the driver at the hotel the next day could not explain to me that the shuttle to the pentagon city metro/mall was not reinstated after the COVID depression (a real service downgrade owing the sometimes bone-chilling walk from/to hotel). Then separately, the hotel operator would not let me know the status of the airport driver based on when the driver called back to the hotel to announce they left the hotel or the airport owing my over an hour wait the next day at the airport when I had a second return from the airport. Finally at the hotel, management chose to close the rooftop pool in exchange for more revenue generating space (meeting, guest room or expanded restaurant space) TBD, at least they still have a gym.

Then there is the front desk staff who included one individual who said “of course there is no complimentary upgrade for my Honors status, we are sold out” finding out afterwards that there were upgrades available and in fact I was upgraded by someone else later without issue. That same initial front desk person could not explain what to expect with the Hiltons corporate decision to exchanges executive lounges for $15/day food/beverage credit when I asked if that amount would cover any cold breakfast buffet. Getting five oranges/apples at $1 each, along with a protein bar and single bottled drink is what I had to settle for since the restaurant was closed and the shopette staff couldn’t explain what was available the next morning at the restaurant. Nor could the security/concierge who happened to be behind the shopette counter picking up his overstuffed plate of food without any offer of assistance regarding my question. Similarly the hostess at the roof top restaurant forgot to call my room as she promised even after making a reservation about availability before my reservation time if tables became available- which they did become available I was told by the waitstaff. Just as bad when asking about salad addons at that roof top restaurant could not get a straight answer and then ended up the waitress putting in the wrong order. Even worse I only was allocated one glass of water throughout the entire meal. Even after trying restaurant the next night ran into same drink problem - this time asking for hot water which they initially could not find until someone finally offered to microwave a cup. Then the final customer service failure was when calling the front office manager after my stay failing to get thru to anyone in accounting about why a second hold was placed on my credit card after I had already checked out of hotel was told “need to just wait and see”. This same manager happened to be the responder to my Hilton post stay survey with such a generic reply about how management cares about feedback that I felt compelled to write this review to warn others about a more realistic expectation if staying...

So maybe the timing of my stay affected the quality of service of my stay because I later found out there were 3 family reunions and a wedding taking place so it was so crowded and busy.

There needs to be a better system in place here for checking in.

When you get here, you have to go up to an upper level in order to check in. Parking is $44 to park in the parking garage. It is a big garage, but very confusing. Also, it was hard to park while I went in to check in because there were no spaces available. Then when we tried to park, you need your room card to get down there in the garage.

The whole garage was PACKED. There was absolutely nowhere to park. I circled many, many times and then people were parked in places that were not spots. After about 30 minutes of circling, I went back inside to ask someone about parking because I couldn't find a spot, then the bellman forwarded me to security. Security was bothering my child about our car being parked in the 1 of 2 shuttle parking spots. I got out there and explained there was nowhere to park and we needed help.

"There are parking spots down there. Just go look."

"We literally just went down there and were circling."

"There are spots ma'am just go look"

"We just came from down there sir."

"I will meet you down there."

So he walked down while we drove and after about 10 minutes of trying, he saw there were no spots and another angry customer pulled up to him and asked where to park. I eventually found a spot that someone was pulling out of. All the spots were so tight because people were parking in spaces that were not actual spaces. Had to pull out and let my family out then park because you couldn't open the doors all the way with how tight spacing was.

It was so full they eventually had to close the garage. We didn't even leave our room after that because there would be nowhere to park again.

The room itself was nice. No microwave, just a refrigerator. There were not many plugs to charge our electronic devices. They had a surge protector near the TV, so I had to use that to charge my phone.

I had a corner room so I could see the Washington Monument out the window. That was nice. They have a gift shop that is expensive, but nice. They sell shirts, postcards, magnets, keychains, all kinds of souvenirs.

No continental breakfast. They do serve breakfast, but you pay.

They have a bar. There are tables so you can order food and dine there also. I had the street tacos. It was good. Food service from the waiter who had a lot going on was excellent. You can order the food to go, but you have to go to the café area to order your food to go.

The elevators are very slow. I think this is because there were many people trying to access from all the floors. You have to use your card key to move between floors.

When you are checking out, if you park in the garage, you may need to get out of the garage first before you check out because you need the room card to get out of the garage. The associate did ask me if I was still parked in the garage when I was checking out, so they may have a way to help you get out after you check out, but I didn't want to bother so we had...