Avoid this hotel if you're going to rely on the airport shuttle to get you to/from IAD. There is no dedicated Aloft shuttle and the staff do not have direct access to the driver to arrange rides, causing significant (read: 60 minutes+) delays.

I called the hotel shuttle shortly after arriving at IAD, and was told it would arrive in 15 minutes. It actually took about 65-70 minutes to arrive. I called the front desk 3 times during the ordeal to check on the shuttle, and was told it was stuck in traffic because of a "bad accident." However, once finally on the shuttle, the driver told me that there was no traffic or accident! It turns out he had been waiting idle outside the Hilton the entire time! This is where it gets interesting - even though the Aloft advertises a free shuttle, it actually doesn't have it's own and borrows one from the Hilton next door. The driver said he only got the pick up call 15 minutes ago from the Hilton (yes, Hilton not Aloft, that's right) staff. Interestingly, he didn't seem surprised and claimed similar lies from the Aloft staff happen frequently. It seems, the Aloft staff doesn't have any direct access to it's own advertised shuttle and makes up traffic accidents to explain to guests why the shuttle hasn't arrived to pick them up. Also important to note, the shuttle avoids the toll road, adding about 12 minutes to commute time to/from IAD.

Upon arrival at Aloft, I spoke to the front desk agent about the situation. He seemed embarrassed but initially apathetic. He deflected blame, claiming that the Hilton front desk was the source of the made up story. After he discovered I was an SPG Platinum member, I was offered free food and drinks. The agent took my contact info and told me the general manager, Luis, would be calling in the next 2 days - but it didn't happen.

On to outbound trip to IAD, departure of the hotel shuttle was delayed as well. Several other guests on the shuttle with me were getting impatient - and wondering whether they still had enough time to make their flights - because the shuttle left 35 minutes later than they were told.

The rooms themselves are clean and what you'd expect from an Aloft, even though the service does not live up to Starwood standards. There's free WiFi in rooms, lots of breakfast items available for purchase, and the lobby is nicely furnished with computers for printing boarding passes. They only have one person working during the night and so if you have any sort of issue with the room you have to wait until morning, which can be extremely inconvenient if you have an early morning flight.

To make a long story short, the shuttle didn't arrive at IAD until 65 minutes after I called the hotel for it. While waiting, I called the hotel for two status checks -- during the second status check, the desk clerk told me that the shuttle was stuck in traffic due to a serious accident (a check on Google showed that traffic was actually flowing fine.) When the shuttle driver arrived, he told me that there was no traffic -- he wasn't even dispatched until 15 minutes beforehand.

Obviously, someone lied here -- either the desk clerk lied to me (who may have forgotten to dispatch the shuttle, evidenced by the fact that the shuttle was reportedly dispatched at the same time I made my second status check) or the shuttle driver lied to the desk clerk. Either way, I am not confident staying at a hotel where the staff makes mistakes and then lies to cover them up. I complained to the hotel chain after the incident, who apologized and supposedly contacted the management, but I never heard anything else.

The hotel itself was okay, but didn't live up to the hype. I suggest avoiding the ground floor, as the lobby/lounge area is noisy (from both the patrons and the music), and there's no soundproof door separating the lounge area from the hotel rooms.

As you can see from my profile, I normally don't leave 1-star hotel reviews, but this stay was disappointing in more ways than one.

Good price but a lot of little annoyances. Walls throughout are all scraped up, indoor pool was really cold with lots of dirty towels lying around and ONE clean one. We did ask the front desk for more towels but they never appeared. The business center is open to the whole lobby for everyone to see what you're doing online... Had to ask for computer to be connected to the network, then I had to ask for and load more paper in the printer only to find it was out of toner. It also took 3 days to get feedback on my bathing suit that I left hanging in the shower to which no trace could be found. The TV kept cutting in and out as well. Will not return.

Stay was good and on par with other aloft. It's 8.5 miles from Dulles airport but it's a 30-min drive. I got a good deal on ParkSleepFly which let me leave my car there for the duration of the trip. My hotel night basically pays for itself because I'd need to pay the same amount for parking at Dulles otherwise.