I try to give hotels the benefit of the doubt. Usually something positive emerges in a bad stay that you can talk about. Alas, my recent stay at the Embassy Suites Tyson's Corner did not meet any of these criteria.

This hotel is poorly run, from top to bottom; from reservations to rooms to food service. Read my story for an entertaining tale and know that I do not recommend Embassy Suites Tysons Corner in any way for anybody.

Every hotel has a bad day and with the Embassy Suites Tyson's Corner, we had three of them. I wanted a short easy vacation with my family and believed the Embassy Suites Tyson's Corner would offer that opportunity. I was wrong. The entire reason I chose the hotel was because they told me they could get a specific channel on TV. Without going into a lot of detail, it was very important to see a show on this channel, due to a family member being featured on national TV. This show was the core of our vacation and the entire reason i chose to stay at the Embassy Suites Tyson's Corner. Three people I spoke to said they received this channel. They were all incorrect. After three calls to the reservations desk to confirm they had the ONE amenity I needed, they all said they received the specific channel – they don’t, although the reservations desk continued to tell me they did.

Of course, I made the reservations, dropped hundreds of dollars to stay, arrived, and found out they were wrong the entire time. I could easily say it was bait and switch, or that thy said it just to get my money. I think it is more accurate to say their reservations people are clueless and should not be trusted to find out critical information about their hotel. Their consistent wrong answers were simply second rate, bush league, customer service. And that is only the beginning. When told about the problem, the Manager of the hotel made sure to seize defeat from the hand of victory. Did they have a TV that could receive the certain channel I needed? Yes. Was it available? No – the game was on that night and the manager could not allow it to be used for anything else. This short-sighted tactical mindset is something that undermines customer service – we could have filled that bar with people simply due to the great family story that came with it. Nope, the manager could not see it. Thus, we went to a local mall, spent more hundreds of dollars in another restaurant elsewhere, when all of that could have gone to the Embassy Suites Tyson's Corner. So, I guess they get a two circle score just because they do not understand the hotel business.

Another indicator? Pay as you go internet. Anyone who reads my reviews knows that I think pay as you go internet is the modern equivalent of paying for towels. And those hotels who do it normally have free internet in the lobby (very slooooow internet), but you can at least use it to check your mail. Not here. At the Tyson's Corner Embassy Suites, you pay for everything—another way I have heard this referred to is ‘nickle and diming the patron. But wait – there is more – the room we were in did not have a comforter for the fold out bed – another indicator of lack of leadership. Beware of the air conditioner -- all night long -- 80 decibels on the meter app we downloaded. Like sleeping in wind tunnel. I am not even going to go into the 10 minutes we had to wait for a drink at the ‘Manager’s reception’ because there was only one bartender (who was working his tail off). Eventually a manager came out to assist but that was a shadow of the help needed. There was no food for the manager’s reception until 15 minutes after it had begun. The second day was no improvement, having to wait over 12 minutes just to get a drink at the ‘reception.’ Breakfast, highly touted by Embassy Suites Tysons Corner was fine, except for the non-smiling staff and the nice staff lady who elbowed me out of the way in front of the coffee so she could put the grounds in the machine. She never said excuse me and then stepped in front of the elderly lady who stood between her and refilling the sugar bowls. The poor older lady almost lost her balance as the worker moved in front of her.

This hotel is poorly run and led, from the reservations to the management to the food service. I will not stay here again and I do not recommend this hotel for any type of stay. During my stay my temper ran from flat angry to frustrated to disappointed. They should know how to do better.