My family and I only planned to stay at this property for 12 days while we moved out of the local area heading overseas (I'm in the military), but when our house sooner than expected and we needed a place to stay for an extra 30 days (!), we spoke to the H.I. Express management and askled for help making an arrangement. The staff was great! (Special thanks to Armando, the business manager.) Suffice it to say it wasn't how we wanted to end our time in Springfield, but it worked out fine. Yes, we stayed longer than most ever will, but our experience gave us pretty good insight into the people there. We got to know the staff (whom we saw everyday) and it was our pleasure, they were just good people ... everyone from the ladies who cleaned the rooms (they were willing to work with us on a convieint schedule) to the guys who drove the shuttle to and from the Franconia-Springfield Metro Station (huge help!!). I also don't want to forget the maintenance staff wo helped us rearrange the room to adjust for the demands if a longer stay (they provided a microwave and better TV), and the morning breakfast crew who always had a little extra of something (Yoplait yougart, fruit loops, etc) for the kids before they left for school. Overall, they were all friendly, helpful and nice, especially to our kids (e.g.: on Saturdays they'd see us coming and going for soccer games and take time to ask how it went - very sincere, very personable). I know this review is atypical, and that you're unlikely to spend as much time there as we did, but I can tell you that the folks working at this place made it feel as close to a home as a hotel can feel. They really earned my respect as a hotel satff.

Stayed here prior to flying home after weeks trip in VA. Older hotel, but seems to have been updated recently, rooms very clean, nice area, restaurants within walking distance, gas station within a block, Check in was quick and friendly , breakfast was one of the best I've had at this brand, well stocked and serviced continually. No lines, no problems. All in all hightly recommended.

Spent two nights here in August and was so pleased with this place! Clean room and quiet for a busy hotel. Breakfast was excellent and their was plenty of room to spread out so you didn't have that cramped feeling you get at many hotel breakfast rooms.
The location is great although its very tricky driving around trying to get to and out of the hotel. I can't remember his name, but the front desk help was WONDERFUL! They have a shuttle to the Metro station in town (about 5 minutes away) and that made our day in DC so much easier. The front desk suggested where to get on and off the Metro and made for an easy day and no driving!
My only little complaint is the shuttle only runs until 9:15-9:30, and we came back at 9:45 so we had to get a taxi-again the front desk suggested a taxi company and we had a great ride back.
Highly recommend this location !!!!

I had to travel to the Alexandria area on business for a couple of days. I chose this Holiday Inn Express based on location and price. Close enough to Alexandria and DC proper that I could get my business taken care of and still get to do a little touristy stuff, but far enough away to avoid paying the really high tourist prices.

The hotel itself is an older property; 1980s maybe. However, it's been well taken care of. Remodeling was done sometime in the recent past. Overall, the hotel was clean and modern looking. The room itself was well furnished with a king bed, couch, coffee table, dresser, LCD TV, desk and chair. The bed had a selection of firm and soft pillows to choose from (I preferred the firm). The bed itself was comfortable and I slept soundly. The walls are fairly solid; I didn't hear anyone in the rooms next to me even though they were occupied. My room faced the freeway, but traffic noise was distant and unobtrusive. The bathroom was clean and the water pressure was good. A few caulking rough spots and some dust in the corners was about the only thing I spotted through out the room that would be considered a negative.

For in room entertainment, the TV signal was clear and the channel selection was the fairly standard mix of kids, news, networks and movie channels. I didn't watch TV much because wifi is offered free in the rooms and it is fairly speedy. I was able to stream Netflix content with no problem. However, downloading a standard definition movie off of iTunes took a couple of hours.

The hotel offers a breakfast bar. It's the fairly standard coffee, bagel, cereal and juice type with the added bonus of scrambled eggs and sausage. Coffee was good and the bagels were fresh. The eggs and sausage, not so much. Then again, I haven't found many hotels that serve eggs and sausage that taste like anything but the instant microwave kind (ie - not as good as the real thing). The cereal selection was a blend of adult stuff like Raisin Bran and kids stuff like Fruit Loops. The staff kept it well stocked and it the serving and dining areas were kept clean.

A couple of plazas border the hotel with small shops and fast food. A few blocks away are more eating and shopping areas. So if you need to grab a quick bite or forgot your toothpaste, you don't have to drive far if at all.

So overall, I'd stay here again. It's got a good location, is well managed and offers up a quiet place to lay your head while visiting the nations capitol.