Archer Hotel Old Town Alexandria — Restaurant in Alexandria

This is a review for the spa ONLY. I want to start out by saying that I am a regular spa goer and I get massages monthly. I also want to note that the massage therapist and the woman who did my foot massage were both very nice. Now, for this one star rating.... In the area of the spa where there is supposed to be quiet time and serenity, people (staff) were walking through. I’m assuming there wasn’t a staff entrance. It’s quite distracting to be honest. The receptionist even had on heels of some sort so that she click clacked across the tile. I went back for my foot scrub. The room was utterly cold and I was informed that the temperature could not be adjusted, but that the bed heater was on. I could not feel it, but that may be because I was instructed to lay ON TOP of the blankets and then she laid a old (and I do mean OLD) blanket over top of me. The therapist started with a scrub on the feet and a lack luster rubbing of my feet. Then came the warm wet towel on my right foot while she used the scrub on my left. In the meantime, the towel on my right foot became cold. Then, she finished with my right foot and out the warm wet towel on my left foot. That also began to chill and then the towels were pressed into my feet. It felt like having wet sneakers on and walking through a puddle. Yet I kept hoping it would get better. Next cane the warm towel to dry my feet. That was great! It didn’t last very long, but nice gesture after the cold wet towels in the cold room. Then came the lotion on my feet. More rubbing, not a massage. Unfortunately, the same gloves that were used to apply the scrub were used to apply the lotion, so I left feeling like I’d been walking through sand. I should also mention that the light in the room was a stark white lamp; not quite the right mood for such a treatment in my opinion. Next came the massage, which I’d requested to be deep tissue. The massage therapist was very nice; however, the massage consisted of knuckles going up and down my back and her elbow in my back along with her forearms up and down my back. She did take time to try and work out some of the knots, but the majority were these aforementioned things. This went on for about 10min before I timed out. No technique. I go into the locker room to change and there are the two employees (spa director/manager and the receptionist) and a MAN there meeting about spa renovations. Why they would conduct a meeting while female clients are there knowing they needed to be in the changing area is beyond me. It’s not like it was busy. I paid for the services for my sister (it’s our bday) and I paid for the foot scrub. I told the receptionist of my experience and she said “it’s obviously not a service people complain about.” Now while she was very nice, this obviously isn’t the thing you say to a paying customer. Furthermore, she’d never had the foot scrub before, so in my opinion she didn’t need to have an opinion on the situation. Only empathy. So, I spoke to the manager who, while apologetic, goes on to say “like anything people have good days and bad days.” I can’t make this up. She went on to say the scrub is a foot treatment, not a massage. This is helpful to know; unfortunately her staff is unaware, because I specifically asked if this incorporated a massage on TWO occasions (when booking and at booking confirmation). I told her that the staff is giving out misinformation then. The manager offered me her card to contact her further, but she can catch this review instead. She also offered me to come back, but I see no reason to if this is their standard. Luxury day spa it is NOT. I don’t usually write reviews unless I feel like others need to be aware of what they are getting into, so that they can make the choice that’s...

I will not go back to Lorien spa or hotel! My friend wanted to have her bridal shower there- they advertise hosting bridal showers so we planned one there. Although we discussed our plans in advance with them, they told us later we could not bring any food in, not even cake. Their website says that you can host a party with beverages and food. Yet we were told no, we could not bring any food, even after we had made our plans with them, not at the beginning. They eventually offered to bring a cheese and fruit plate to us. It was something but we were not pleased.

We planned the party 3 months ahead but they would not hold our time block (4 hours for 14 people) while people decided on treatments. They insisted on scheduling others during our block. While I understand thier desire for business, we would have filled the entire block if they had given us 1 more week. Three months ahead, 14 people, you think they could be flexible.

The day before the party, we called to check one detail. They informed us then that there was no room for us to hangout together between treatments. They also said we could not open gifts there! We were shocked! This was Bridal Shower! We were upfront in our plans from the beginning- 14 people, for a 4hr block for a Bridal Shower- with food, drinks, and gifts- the normal Bridal shower routine. Thier entire attitude was very rude, so rude that I counseled changing locations but the bride was afraid we'd be charged a fee. I tripled checked their website, which has a quote about Bridal showers and says that guests may open gifts there. Yet we were told we may not. Since the spa is in the hotel, we called the hotel to ask if there was another place we could sit and open gifts. We were told no. In the whole hotel, there was no where we could sit? Again, rudely we were told no and offered no assistance.

On the day of, the staff there were friendly and services good. But we were so stressed from calling guests to change plans, finding a new place to host the party portion of the event that we could not relax! At every break we were trying to find out how to do presents and cake.

The spa has a lovely waiting room, big enough for us all. But we were not allowed to have our party there. We were not even allowed to move the chairs to sit together- because of the 'other guests'. We were also constantly shushed and told to be quieter. Of which we saw two people in the whole 4hrs. And again, given a chance, we could have booked those appointments and easily had the whole party there.

While we were there, there was only some trail mixes around and water. There was no cheese or fruit platter even though they told us they would bring one....

At one point they told us they were moving us to the 'Living Room' upstairs. We thought that was great. We brought all our gifts upstairs and settled in. We tried to move to the Tasting Room nearby for food but they were full. The restaurant was not open yet either. The Tasting Room Staff (WONDERFUL!) offered to bring food over. 15minutes later we got settled with food and drink ordered- when the hotel staff told us we had to leave because they were having a wine tasting in the Living Room. Really? We were just kicked out of the spa, now we are kicked out of the hotel? We just spent a lot of money there!

I will never go back to Lorien. Their attitude was absolutely ridiculous and...

My wife and I stayed here a few years ago for our anniversary. It was the worst experience that we had ever had.

At the time it was advertised as a botique hotel, and had this unique custom menu that offered everything from picnic baskets with blankets for picnic on the town, to telescopes. We had planned an extended weekend of fine dining, relaxing at the spa, and having a picnic while exploring the town. So we reserved the largest suite, with a roof top balcony, that they had.

From the beginning everything went wrong. When we arrived, the valet wasn't there so we had to park on the street and search for someone to assist. Then we get to the front desk to get the key to our room. And head up, no one offerd to help with our bags. So we get up to our room and it wasn't what we reserved. We had reserved a 500+ Sq foot one bedroom suite with a large balcony that we were paying well over $600 a night for. Our room was a small studio without a balcony. So we go back down, and they told us that the suites were all reserved and sold out. Then we said we reserved a suite and they just responded sorry they are all being used for a wedding party. So we ask to speak to a manager and after about a half-hour we get the room that we reserved.

That evening we had dinner at Bravo. The restaurant was great, the food was amazing and they had a wonderful wine selection. We spent about $1,200 at the restaurant.

The next day, we had reserved some time at the spa. Outside of having to wait nearly an hour for our already reserved and paid for time at the spa, it was fine. Then we decide to go out on the town and ask the concierge if they could call a town car for us. They handed us a card and told us to call the number on it (what exactly is a consierge for again?).

The following day, we decide to try out their botique menu and order the picnic basket from their menu. The staff says that that comes from another place on the corner and I would have to go there to order it. So I do. It wasn't a picnic basket, it was pre made food in plastic containers stuck in a cardboard container shaped like a picnic basket. No blanket for the picnic. And it broke while in the lobby on my way back to the room. Oh and just to make it even better, at this point I realized that one of the food containers (keep in mind that we paid about $50-60 for this basket) had the labels peeling. Underneath the label, was an older label saying that the food was best by the previous week.

At this point, our anniversary had pretty much been ruined. I call the main corporate number, explain the situation to them and ask if they can move us into any other hotel. Of course either they can't or don't, and instead just pass the message to the hotel manager. Who we had already spoken to on 3 other occasions already.

The manager was nice, apologized profusely, comped some of the food, and one night at the hotel. Either way though, it was the most horrible experience I have ever had at a hotel. I will never stay at a Kimpton...