Embassy Suites by Hilton Washington DC Chevy Chase Pavilion — Hotel in Washington

Located in Friendship Heights, just feet away from the MetroRail. There are plenty of shops nearby, multiple restaurants in the hotel, great amenities, and excellent service and information from the front desk associates. Unfortunately, the positives stop there. With our rate and room package, we received access to their snack area free of charge. However, the vending areas were empty for most of our trip. This was reported to the front desk, but the machine remained empty until the next day. The front desk agent did personally bring us requested beverages right to our room, which was very kind.

The in-hotel bar was NOT up to standards. We like to spend one night at the bar on our trips, and quite honestly, we tend to spend a couple of hundred dollars, as we drink top shelf liquors which tend to get pricey. There was only 1 bartender and the bar was overrun with people. While the bartender was friendly, he was quite obviously very inexperienced by the way he was mixing drinks (pouring from cup to cup for a drink that's supposed to shaken, shaking with improperly sized cups and the drink leaking from the shaker, etc). We got one drink each, which was a 3/10 quality drink. The bar was not stocked with key ingredients to make the most popular cocktails, so we were left with very basic choices you'd have at any hole-in-the-wall bar. Our tab was over $23 for two drinks that we didn't even finish. Needless to say, we didn't return to the bar for the rest of the trip.

There were pros and cons to the room. To begin positive, the room was larger than expected. We were very pleased with the size, cleanliness and overall appeal of the room. It was very modern and it felt like home. At one point, we had just gotten back from walking miles in the heat, and I was just exhausted. We didn't want to lie in the clean bed, as we felt "dirty". I just lied down in the floor, which speaks volumes about how I felt about the cleanliness of the room. In most cases, I would never lie on a hotel room floor, because it just seems disgusting to me. This room was very clean.

However, there were negatives, which is mostly why we wouldn't stay here again. First, the temperature control in the room was awful. When we arrived, the room was very warm, so we immediately turned the fan on high and turned the temperature down 3 degrees. Three hours later, the temperature had not changed. We turned it as low as it would go, to 65 degrees F, and the fan remained on high. It took two days for the room to come down from 74F to 70F.

Unfortunately, the worst part of the room was the bed. It was the most uncomfortable bed I've ever slept on. At one point, we were convinced that it was a pillowtop mattress turned upside down or that the boxspring was on top. It had NO give to it and was rock hard. I've never slept on a bed like that before and never intend to again. The only way I could sleep was on my side and had to rotate often to relieve pressure. It was unacceptable. We were sore when we woke up, and I ended up taking Ibuprofen the whole trip. The pillows were incredibly flat. I almost just wanted to use them to sleep on. I had never been so happy to get home to get a good nights rest, which really hurt us during this trip as D.C. has so much to see. Also, not getting a much needed good night's rest to get up early and walk for miles across a congested town was aggravating.

And also, the temperature control in the shower was so inconsistent. It would change from hot, cold, warm, ice cold constantly. I ended up taking both a scalding hot shower and cold shower during this stay, because the temperature was not consistent.

If you only care about a great location, I'd say this place is bar-none for that. It goes without saying that I won't be staying here...

My family of four stayed overnight at Embassy Suites in late July. It is clear that after our stay, the issues in the negative reviews on Google have not been addressed by the hotel. I wrote to the hotel and was contacted by their interim general manager, who stopped responding after I mentioned that these issues have been known, and that I planned to write a review on Google.

We were charged an additional fee for parking though we paid for it in the package deal. We had to have this corrected at the front desk, and I tried to inform other guests in the lobby to look closely at their bill when they checked out, and to pass it on to other customers, as I am wondering if this is just standard practice. Reading past reviews illustrates that this is a problem the hotel has chosen not to fix.

The pool situation is chaotic and out of control. The list of pool rules are a joke. It's misleading to say the pool is an amenity. Most hours, families use half of the already-small pool while swim lessons take place in the other half. One swim teacher left her younger brother (no older than 7) unattended while she gave lessons, frequently with her back to him. He latched on to guests, including my two children, while the older sister gave lessons. The child threw pool toys, twice accidentally hitting my daughter in the face. When I went to speak to the head of the swim program about him not being watched and injuring my daughter, she said she would talk to the older sister. The older sister came over to ask me what had happened, and then was upset when I said it wasn't okay that my own children were being used as babysitters for her brother. She didn't like that I said my children were babysitting, but she had to ask me what had happened, so clearly, she wasn't watching. She had her brother sit out for a while, but then the child went back in, and was again, not being watched by the older sister. He ate food by the side of the pool. He repeatedly jumped into the hot tub. I'm sure the hotel is paid for the use of the pool by the swim lesson company, but it really isn't a pool that can fit lessons and guests. I know from reading reviews that others have mentioned this.

I am not prone to stomach sickness, but after eating the complimentary breakfast, I had to rush out of the dining area to vomit.

When my child was showering, the soaps and conditioner bottles attached to the wall were empty. My partner went to the front desk to pick up more supplies, but that means nobody had checked these large bottles in the bathroom for quite some time. Had nobody been there to run out to the front desk, it would have been a shower without available toiletries. Additionally, we were given three bath towels when we reserved a room for four people.

Typically we stay at Airbnb's when we travel. We thought we would change it up and try a hotel. An Airbnb can't add sneaky additional fees (like double-charging for parking) with no oversight, or get away with shenanigans like what we experienced in the pool area.

I expect after I post this that the hotel will respond with its generic saving face comments, but I'd like evidence that any of these concerns are...

Buyer Beware! The booking narrative and photos show a vibrant full-service hotel and surrounding area. Only upon arrival did we realize it's an abandoned mall with one store open, no food or beverage service and a hotel that appears to be neglected. Most definitely not what anyone would expect from an Embassy Suites. The front desk staff was sympathetic and understanding with our disappointment and said it's a universal reaction when people arrive to discover the shell of a perhaps once vibrant place. Our room had bubbling paint from a one-time water leak that has not been repaired. The A/C unit has a banging sound that ran all night. With all the empty rooms in that hotel, management should clearly know where repairs are necessary and make the few guests you do have comfortable. Guest comfort is clearly not at the top of the list at this hotel. It was 92 degrees and late when we arrived. We had been moving my college student into American University and moved boxes in masks all day. We were hot, tired, hungry and dehydrated and did I say HOT. We couldn't wait to get into the hotel to relax and get a bite to eat and a drink but that was not possible. With the stipped amenities they provide would a 10cents bottle of water be too much in the heat of the DC summer to welcome guests, especially after learning there's no other options to be had? Now let's get to breakfast. Something Embassy Suites is very well known for. I realize there are some COVID challenges and this location does not have a lot of guests but surely you could do better than a bag with warm water, a completely crushed and crumbled granola bar, a banana that was either frozen or bruised and a commerically made/wrapped transfat laden muffin. Seriously, we stayed at a Days Inn in Williamsburg VA who gave us a bagged breakfast that was almost gourmet compared to this. ANYONE could do better if they cared. I have to think Embassy Suites is biding their time until this location closes because if there were only one thing that was an issue it could easily be forgiven but there are too many to ignore which substantiates that management and the owner of this hotel have either given up or do not care. It's proximity to AU and Tenleytown is fantastic and with my daughter there for the next 4 years we hoped this would be where would be able to stay but never again. I will say that the staff was very pleasant and our room and the reception area were impeccably clean and inviting and my bed was very comfortable... if only the banging A/C unit did wake us up throughout the night. It's a classic bait and switch and BIG...