30
Dec
The Westin Arlington is a lovely hotel. The lobby is just outstanding, I’m a big fan of their lighting concept. The gym and pool are nice. It’s still new construction, I first visited with a hard hat and then attended opening day less than three years ago.
My only real beef about the hotel is that their standard rooms feel small, and there are very few suites.
Fortunately I managed to snag one for five days recently. The hotel was a virtual ghost town, occupancy was so low that they had closed off the top four floors. No suites available at checkin but they were happy to prompt just as soon as one became available and switched rooms without difficulty.
The club lounge was closed for renovation, which is a bummer because the lounge has always been excellent here.
The suites are stylish. Not all that large, and the bathrooms really aren’t much bigger than in a standard room. But having that second separate room makes a huge difference, in my view, over the course of a long stay.
DCSPG said,
Gary, you’re usually on the money, but can’t say I agree with your comments. For a year I was in DC every week and had a chance to stay at all of the SPG properties along with some other chains.
How is this hotel’s lobby outstanding? It’s a simply a hallway to leads to the front desk from the main entrance (which is basically two desks or so). The Westin Grand has a lobby with more character.
Also I actually found the hotel a bit depressing and bleak. The hallway lighting was dark along with the room lighting. Some of the suites also were plagued with weird rattling sounds. The color scheme didn’t help either.
I realize the whole point that I and many others stay in Westin is the comfort of consistency regardless of what city or country you’re in but this hotel is overly generic, reminds me more of a four points.
Gary said,
The lobby lighting is a matter of taste, I really like it. But then I don’t really enjoy the Westin Grand’s lobby which you prefer. One might say this lobby is trying to be a Westin version of a W, but then that rather suits my taste.
The hotel is certainly consistent in my experience, almost all of the rooms are alike and they certainly have the heavenly bed. Service has been consistently good.
I believe i noted that I don’t like the regular rooms, though, too small. I do like the suites though I’d prefer if they had larger bathrooms.
The club lounge is outstanding, and something that so many of the new Westins are missing.
I do agree that in many ways this hotel is generic. It was built as a cookie-cutter Westin, from one of the stock plans. I’m not sure how you can say that you value consistency and yet are concerned that the property is generic. The basic rooms *are* generic. And consistent. I prefer the suites.
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