SkiAdcock

Hotel website:

https://www.marriott.com/hotels/trav...ph-collection/

"The 45-room Morrison House, a proud Autograph Collection hotel and the city’s only AAA four diamond hotel, is decidedly boutique. Guests delight in the intimate nature of a stay here where interacting with the staff and other guests comes naturally. The beautiful Federalist-style building is tastefully decorated with a nod to Alexandria’s Colonial past while embracing a modern look featuring every comfort. A literary touch can be found in the hotel’s library and elegant in-room writing desks. Morrison House is a block from famous King Street and only a few blocks away from Alexandria’s waterfront. Ashlar Restaurant, the hotel's signature restaurant serves fresh seafood and other locally sourced refined but approachable American cuisine."

"Morrison House located in Old Town, surrounded by the best of Alexandria. Stroll to King Street for one-of-a-kind shops, fine and casual restaurants. Nearby is Market Square and Waterfront Park. A nearby Metro stop provides easy access to Washington DC."

42 rooms, 3 suites
Valet parking $29/day
Pet friendly

hockeyinsider

Stayed here as a Marriott platinum-premier. I booked a basic king/queen garden view room. No rooms have double beds. Online check-in not available at this property, but I noticed the Marriott application indicated I was pre-upgraded to a "premier" corner room with king-sized bed about 24 hours before arrival.

At check-in, I was told as a platinum-premier I would receive both bonus points and a voucher for a complimentary drink at the lobby bar. The lobby with its attached formal drawing room, bar, and restaurant are nice spaces. Think faux colonial-meets-boutique hotel. I was given a choice of 750 points or breakfast vouchers. The gold/platinum vouchers are good for a continental breakfast or $10 discount off anything on the menu. The problem is NOTHING on the menu is under $10 except a yogurt parfait. The continental breakfast is toast and pastries. Coffee wasn't included. It was $4 for coffee. Also, apparently, the voucher doesn't include tip and tax. I complained after breakfast and was told supposedly the gold/platinum vouchers aren't supposed to be given out. I was then given a complimentary breakfast voucher for the remainder of my stay, which include 1 entree and 1 beverage. Again, tip and tax excluded. In practice, the voucher included 3 beverages: water, juice (not freshly squeezed, despite menu saying so) and coffee. The service was OK one morning because there were other guests eating breakfast. The other morning the service was non-existent as there was nobody eating breakfast except for me.

My entire time at the hotel I felt like maybe there were 3-4 other guests in the entire hotel. It felt dead. I felt bad for the staff, including the excellent young bellman/valet who continually addressed me by name but had nothing to do. The front desk attendants basically hid away in the office. I caught one of them sleeping.

The room itself was spacious and had views of the side alleyways and neighboring properties, which was quaint as the hotel is located in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. It featured a very nice 43" LG television (the production date was 2016, according to the label on the back) that swiveled from the wall, where it was attached. Unfortunately, it wasn't really viewable from the two sitting chairs placed in front of the no longer functional fireplace. Instead of a closet, the room had an armoire that included a closet on one side and open shelves on the other. The bottom of one side included a mini-fridge. The closet was barely useable because an ironing board took up most of the space. No complimentary water was provided. The two bottles of water (standard Marriott distilled in-room water) were $3 apiece. The room also lacked a coffeemaker. While complimentary coffee was provided in the lobby I never drank it because I didn't want to walk down in my pajamas at 5 a.m. for coffee. The king-sized bed was comfortable, but the pillowcases didn't fit the oversized feather pillows. A lamp was placed on each nightstand, but one of the lightbulbs wasn't working. One bathrobe was provided. It took a full day to get the slippers I requested. I was supposed to receive turndown service, but it was never provided.

The bathroom was spacious and included two sinks. Water pressure in one sink was low. The other was fine. The toilet had an old wooden seat that was painted. Water pressure for the toilet was low, too. It generally too two flushes. Toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, body soap, and hand soap) were from Pure, a brand that I've never heard of before. Soap was replaced each day, but the other toiletries were. There was also a jar with face/makeup remover wipes and Q-tips. The bathroom was clean, but needed a good regrouting of the tiles.

The rest of the room and all of the public spaces were clean and fine. Staff were generally friendly but as I said earlier they seemed like they had nothing to do because guests were nonexistent. At one point, I counted a bartender, waiter, cook, valet parking attendant from a third-party contractor, hotel bellman/valet, and front desk attendant. I never saw more than 3 or 4 other guests.

All things considered, this is a quaint hotel that would be perfect for a weekend in Old Alexandria. However, it's really more of a bed-and-breakfast than a full-service hotel, which it claims to be. I'm also very surprised it can maintain its AAA 4-diamond rating. For example, I ordered room service dinner one night because I was too tired to go out. They don't have trays or carts for room service. The bartender, who brought my dinner, had to make two trips to carry everything. The meal (chicken Cesar salad) was delivered 1-hour after I ordered it. There is also a shuttle van that will drive you (for free) to the nearest Washington Metro station, which is otherwise about 10 minutes away by foot.

Two other things: The hotel has both USA Today and The Wall Street Journal each daily, perhaps 20 copies between the lobby and restaurant. They also get the WSJ on the weekend, which is nice. No folio is slipped under the door nor is it emailed on day of departure.

truptravels

I tried to checkin in at this hotel last week with my gold confirmed reservation, but they were oversold and moved me to the Morrison House down the street. Not what you want to hear at 10PM after a day full of flying.
https://truptravels.com/2018/07/19/n...t-hotel-in-dc/

SkiAdcock

My guess is based on the multiple calls in advance, the property was originally oversold. By the time you arrived they had a cancellation, hence the ADA room being available. Not sure why they didn't want to give it to you. Once you got into the haggling situation though, both sides went out the window a bit. If they offered you points to move you, you could have invoked the ultimate reservation guarantee saying they were walking you. At that point they would have probably given you the original room, which you have previously stated you were ok w/ getting, especially given how late it was. But the back/forth between you & them for a minimal amount of points & the inconvenience of moving I don't get. I would have just told them no thanks on the points & to either make the key or honor the walk guarantee.

BTW - nice pics. The property looks lovely.

Cheers.

C17PSGR

+1

Enforcing the walk and room type guarantee keeps hotels on their toes!

hockeyinsider

I've stayed at Morrison House, Autograph Collection a couple of times. Both hotels are owned and managed by the same group. In fact, guests at Morrison House, which is basically a glorified bed-and-breakfast inn, can use the fitness room and other amenities of The Alexandrian.

The biggest issue with Morrison House are somewhat tired rooms (bathrooms need updating, TVs are old, air conditioning has issues), inconsistent service from staff (no turndown service, despite some rooms supposedly coming with it) and questionable games regarding the breakfast benefits for elite status guests. When I last stayed, they were giving elite status guests coupons for $10 off breakfast, but that didn't cover the cost of anything on the menu. After complaints, they claimed they were giving out the wrong coupons and instead gave me a coupon for 1 entree and 1 beverage, but not tip and tax. Trip Advisor indicated this was their excuse for being caught, as the practice seemingly continued after my stay.

Breakfast itself was pretty good. The bar had decent drinks, but the food for dinner was pretty bad.

Dn10

Dn10

fotoflyer88

Booked this for March w a 35k cert, will report back on Breakfast options though will probably just opt for points instead.

SkyTeam777

Interesting that Morrison House offers free evening wine hour from (randomly) Sunday to Tuesday, but the other property does not.