My husband, 2 cats, and I stayed at the Residence Inn at Tysons Corner from 6/29-7/5/07 after we moved out of our apartment. Here is the good, bad, & ugly:

Good:
* Most of the staff are friendly and helpful.
* Hotel allows pets (the main reason we chose it).
* Hotel has modern and laundry facilities
* Hotel has gym and pool.
* Comfy bed and pillows.
* TV has 3 HBO channels.
* Kitchen has full-size fridge, 2 stovetops, microwave, dishwasher, utensils, plates, cups, and other cooking utensils.
* Free Internet in room and free computer downstairs in the lobby, with free printing.
* Hotel has shuttle.
* Breakfast and a light dinner are provided. They are both decent. The breakfast has several selections, such as yogurt, bagels, doughnuts, eggs, bacon, waffles, fruit juices, milk, cereal, fruit, etc.
* Lots of restaurants in walking and driving distance, including Subway, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Panera Bread, Japanese, Korean, and Thai.
* Close to the Tysons Galleria mall, a very large mall.
* Lots of parking and the parking is free (very unusual around here).
* Our room was pretty quiet. It was rare we heard other guests.
* Use of the Tysons Sports and Health Club is free for hotel guests. It is a really nice big club that is very close by.

Bad:
* Rooms are smaller than they look in the online pictures. The kitchen, office area, sofa, tv, and bed are all in one room, so it’s a studio (we thought the bedroom would be a separate room). We stayed at the Residence Inn at Dulles after this, so called and upgraded to the 2 bedroom there.
* Bathroom is tiny. I giggled when I saw it, thinking of the TA reviewer who said your knees would get shattered if someone tried to come into the bathroom when you were using the toilet. I left the door open when I used the bathroom because it was too annoying to close it.
* There is no “guide” to the hotel (a book that gives you information about the hotel amenities, hours, etc.).
* The outdoor pool is small and right by the road and entrance. The pool chairs are right by the pool, so I was splashed several times by unruly children while trying to read.
* The gym in the hotel is small and only has cardio machines.
* They allow pets, but do charge a non-refundable pet fee of $75, however.
* The TV doesn’t have many good channels besides the HBO channels. I would have thought it would be a good idea to have a VCR/DVD player at a Residence Inn, but they don’t have one.
* The shuttle only runs on weekdays during the “rush hour,” not during the middle of the day, on holidays, or weekends. I was really disappointed with this and felt it was false advertisement.
* I wish the breakfast and dinner had been healthier – everything was cooked in lots of oil and was very greasy. Suggestions include using less oil, using cooking spray, having baked potato chips in addition to regular chips, etc.
* No safe in the room. You can use a safe at the front desk, which I don’t like as much.

Ugly/Annoying:
* They have a monthly schedule with the dinner and apparently activities on the room fridges. However, since we arrived on the night of June 29th (a Friday), we didn’t know about this as they had already taken down the June schedule. When they put the July schedule up Monday afternoon, I was upset because it appears they offer weekend activities and it also advises of the free use of the local health club (which we would have used over the weekend had we known about it).
* The microwave in our room was broken when we arrived the evening of the 29th after a looong day moving. We informed the front desk that night. Nothing happened. We told them again on Sunday afternoon. Monday afternoon the front desk called and said the microwave needed a part that wouldn’t arrive until after we left. We didn’t want to change rooms after we unpacked and didn’t want to further traumatize our cats, so the front desk clerk begrudgingly gave me the key for the empty room next door to use their microwave (he initially suggested I come down to the front desk every time I needed to use the microwave to get the key!)
* Whenever I pressed the “Front Desk” button on the phone, I got a busy signal. I finally walked down to the front desk and mentioned it. The maintenance person came to our room, pressed “0” and said it was working fine and acted like I was an idiot to expect the “Front Desk” button to actually connect me to the front desk.
* Getting repeatedly splashed with water at the pool by loud unruly children – not really the hotel’s fault, but I wish parents could control their children more! The “lifeguard” did nothing.

So, all in all, a decent place and it covered our needs, but they could do a few things to improve (the Residence Inn in Dulles we went to after this was much nicer).