We just returned from a 4 night stay in Alexandria. We were in town for a funeral at Arlington. We had a block of rooms and each person called in separately to confirm their reservation. In each of these phone calls (there were approximately 10 rooms) NOT ONCE were any of us informed that the hotel is being renovated.

We had relatives from as far as Germany staying here--most of us without cars, so there was no way to move us all to another hotel. We also had no place to gather, since they demolished the breakfast room and the room to be used in the interm had no heat, so all 20 or so of us ended up crammed in one of the rooms in order to visit.

We awoke each morning around 7:00 am to the sounds of jackhammers and banging as they demolished the 'breakfast room' and tore out walls and tossed the junk into the garbage bin right below our window. The front facade is being demoed as well, so both sides of the hotel are noisey.

While the rooms were clean, the staff has no concept of how to prop a door open while they clean. With the paper thin walls, every few seconds there was a BANG, as they let the door slam shut when they entered or exited the room they were cleaning.

BE WARNED: There is NOTHING you can walk too--not a restaurant, not a drug store, not anything. The bonus of that is that there are no FOOD vending machines in the hotel either. So one night as we arrived late, everything in the area was closed and we couldn't even buy a snack. No one at the desk offered any of the so-called 'cookies' we keep hearing about--

There is a place you can order food from, there is a menu in the room and they will deliver it, but it was 10:00pm and eating a 'meal' that late wasn't a good idea. We also didn't want to have to ride around in the shuttle looking for a place that was open or wasn't fast food.

Complaints resulted in "Come back when the suites are done"...um, don't think so...nice customer service. At $160 a night, you think they could do a little better than that.

Avoid this place..there are better hotels for less money with better locations.

First, the good news....the new bed and pillows and bedding were wonderful! Also, staff on the whole helpful and upbeat. When we reported a broken toliet, it was repaired quickly. Now the bad news....it lists it's location as "old town", well, after a 10 minute van ride, it is. Not anyway you could walk there. We also reserved a "Potomac view room"......ha.....the "Potomac" was backwater of maybe 4 foot width. There are NO restaurants anywhere near, so to eat you must wait on a van to take you to old town, then wait on a van to pick you up. When one member of our party got ill, my husband asked if he could be taken to a nearby pharmacy. He was told no, but there was one "about a half mile down the road". He took off walking, and over ONE HOUR later returned....NOT a half mile down the road!!!!I So, if you need a place to stay with great beds, but have no need of nearby restaurants or entertainment, this could be it. But we will not stay at this location again.

We arrived late on 6/12 and we were checked in with no problems. The only problem we had was all the construction going on in this area. It appeared to be rush hour and it took us almost 45 minutes to reach the detour for the hotel. Hotel is what I would call average with this type of hotel. Whenever I've called they seem to get me anything I need. I know the cost was less than some of the other hotels but with all the construction going on, I almost feel they should give a construction rate. Otherwise, staff seemed very willing to help. Shuttle service was okay - we used the Metro and they took us there. Upon our return, I did try calling when we were about 5 minutes away and was told I needed to wait until I actually arrived before they would send a shuttle out - other than that, they were there to pick us up. One thing though - we did have a tour scheduled for 10:00 am in the morning and when we asked if they could take us to the Metro at 8:00 am, was told that it would be better if we went early (7:30 am), since they would be running a shuttle to the airport at 8:00 am. So other than having to go earlier, this has worked out.

Pros: Managers are hands on and very customer service oriented. Rooms are clean and housekeeping above average. On check in , you get a free bottle of water and a package of Oreos. Everyone appears to be trying hard to do a good job.

Cons: Paper thin walls. Windows don't open up for fresh air.
Breakffast has a lot of items, but most were low end fillers. The bagels were industrial strength. Parking close to the building is difficult as the construction workers take many of the spaces.

Hotel is easy to miss. Call for directions. If you miss a turn with the kind of traffic they have in DC, you will find yourself in North Carolina before you can turn around.