Not posh but perfectly comfortable, give it a chance
Based on some negative reviews we almost avoided this hotel. Glad we gave it a chance, as it turned out to be completely fine. If you are looking for a posh hotel with all the nice touches, go elsewhere. However, for our family of 5, this hotel worked just fine. First off, we needed early check-in as we arrived on a very early flight. Regular check in is at 3pm but they were able to get us in by 11am. Call ahead to request early check-in. The front desk staff was friendly and there was always a doorman to welcome us coming and going. We had a suite on the 9th floor. The room was not huge, but spacious enough and clean, and the beds were very comfortable. We had a suite with two queen beds in the bedroom plus a sofa bed in the living room. A large desk in the living room worked well as a place for us to eat or read. As others have stated, the bathroom is small. But, it does have more counter space than some others I've seen- at least it wasn't a pedestal sink as we've encountered elsewhere. Our bathroom was very clean, no issues there. Right outside the bathroom was a small area with a closet and full length mirror. My daughters and I used the top shelf of the closet for all our hair stuff, which helped free up the bathroom counter, and this worked just fine. On the first day we asked housekeeping for a couple of extra towels, and for the rest of the week they never forgot to leave us 5 towels. That was very nice. The suite also had a full kitchen with a stove, sink, dishwasher, microwave, and full size fridge. Perfect for a family that does not want to eat out for every meal. As others have stated, yes, this hotel is a little dated. If they were to replace the carpet and draperies it would be a huge improvement, and the sofa upholstery could use an update, but none of these issues ruined our stay. The lobby is very small, but who hangs out in the lobby? What the lobby did offer was free (good) coffee, tea, and fruit. One disappointment was the pool. It was hard to find a hotel in DC that had a pool, and we chose this one partly for this amenity as we were traveling in August with kids. However, the pool is TINY, and worse, it closed at 8pm, which made it very difficult to use when we were spending full days sight seeing. We had to purposely come back to the hotel before dinner one day in order to let the kids swim because we had promised this. That was disappointing. As for location, this hotel is great. Just a couple of minutes walk to the Metro station, and very near several restaurants- try Roti- very yummy and quick. Also very near is a wonderful two-story Whole Foods market which offers both full groceries plus bakery, deli, coffee, and both hot and cold buffet items. Grab your bottled water here for CHEAP before you head out to sight-see. You'll pay $3 a bottle or more on the Mall when you're desperate, but less than $1 at Whole Foods for a big bottle. There is no on-site restaurant or bar at this hotel. The ice machine was out of ice when we tried it. They laundry facility worked well but we had to wait for a machine late at night. Overall our family of 5 was comfortable and this hotel worked well for us. We had no issues with cleanliness or other factors that would deter us. We would stay here again, but hope they'll extend the pool hours. Oh, and they forgot our cookies at check-in. We survived.