I stayed here for three nights during our semi-annual advisory meeting at work.

We usually hold this meeting in Silver Spring, so I had never been to Bethesda. There are a plethora of restaurants within walking distance from the hotel, including Thai, Japanese, Parsian (kabob bazaar - so good!), and American. I would have a longer list if our stay had been longer. There's also bikram yoga a block away, and an army navy surplus store.

The meeting room was spacious; comfortably fitting all 45 council members and another 40 people in the audience. The hotel coordinators were very attentive and courteous, accommodating our every request promptly. We did not order food service, but coffee and a buffet of snacks was available in the hall for $20 per person per day. There's also a cafe in the lobby downstairs, but its hours didn't run to the end of the work day (5pm). Consider bringing bottles of water for your attendees if you're planning an event like this.

The room itself was comparable to Courtyard Marriott's style and cleanliness - mine had two double beds, a desk, and a flat-screen TV (42"?). The soaps were quality - shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotion by Citron. The bar soap was double the size of what I'm used to - more of a bar than a slip, which was nice. The coffee maker was Wolfgang Puck, used 2 cotton pods (of which you could brew one or both), and poured into to-go cups with lids and cardboard sleeves. Actual creamers (mini-moos and the like) were available and refreshed every day. There were two bins in each room - one for recycling and another for trash. There was wireless internet, but only one out of two nights did it work well enough for me to video chat with my loved one. Perhaps it was the room's proximity to the router (I was in a corner room).

I don't remember seeing a gym, but there was a bar downstairs. There was also a hot breakfast buffet included in the cost of the room (make sure you ask for your coupons when you check in!).

The staff was very friendly. Polite greetings everywhere I turned, and very courteous throughout my stay. Did I mention they give you a warm cookie upon arrival?

My only complaint was that there is no refrigerator in the room. I usually buy snacks and bring leftovers back from restaurants to save money while I'm on these trips, but was disappointed to find, on my first night, that there is nowhere to store them. While it's my only complaint, it actually inconvenienced me enough to take points away.

I've stayed at this hotel several times over many years, including when it has had different names--always because it was the venue for a government-sponsored meeting. It is, most of the time, a perfectly reasonable hotel, particularly by the standards of the other hotels on Wisconsin adjacent to the NIH and Bethesda Naval Hospital. It does not in any way meet the standards of the sort of modern hotel a business traveler would expect in an otherwise competitive environment. For my most recent meeting, I made an initial mistake of booking it for one week earlier than the scheduled date before catching my error. To my amazement, the specially discounted "government rate" for the meeting was more than twice the rate charged ordinary visitors. (Somebody is getting away with something and I imagine this might explain why all the hotels on the Wisconsin strip are so dismal.) As far as the hotel and its rooms go, expect a hotel that met travel standards about 20 or 30 years ago. The elevators are small and insufficient in number to handle the morning rush or the crowd that needs to stop at their room during meeting breaks. The decor and furniture definitely are in need of a refresh. The snacks provided by the hotel represented an unusual selection of stale food, including ice cream sandwiches for breakfast, pound cake too dry to swallow, and salami sliced into rectangular strips, perhaps in an evidently unsuccessful attempt to cut around brown spots. Most of the square footage of the rooms is consumed by a long and dimly lit entryway. The bathrooms are not much bigger than the arc of the door. You cannot sit on the toilet and keep the door open, nor can you enter the bathtub without closing the bathroom door. The pillows are uncomfortable and there is no selection of a feather pillow. The desk chair was permanently collapsed into its lowest position, making the desk unusable. The windows are somewhat small and confined to a corner. The air conditioner tended to run continuously, keeping the room too cold no matter how high the thermostat was set. (I stayed her once in the winter, during a snow storm, and the room heater was not working, could not be fixed, nor was there another room available, nor was an offer made to relocate me to another hotel. During that visit, I heated my room with the hairdryer. It took several hours to get it habitable, but what else could I do?) WiFi in the rooms was somewhat intermittent. The hallways generate a lot of noise. Unless you are here for a government meeting and have no choice in the matter, the only reason why you would want to stay here is if you needed to be within walking distance of the immediate neighborhood.

Stayed overnight to celebrate the wedding of our friends. The location was convenient, just a short walk from the Metro station. The room was nice and clean. The king size bed was good, but not as firm as I'm used to sleeping on. Finally the free, just baked cookies given out to guests at the front desk were a wonderful surprise! Overall, we had a fine experience staying there.

Wonderful experience here, rooms are fresh modern and comfortable. Breakfast was great. Loved the large bathroom with room to move around in. Easy access to the Bethesda/Walter Reed medical facility. Great bed, comfortable sleep, business center user friendly.