ikwia

I am very pleased to report that rooms (at least on the 10th floor, which is concierge level) now have safes!

SkiAdcock

Thanks for the update! Anything else about the property/service you want to mention, since we haven't had a report in 4 years? Thx!

Cheers.

ikwia

Sure...here are some random things that come to mind.

I stay here somewhat frequently (~30 times a year, sometimes single nights, sometimes week-long visits). I've been staying here frequently since ~2004, including an 18 month period when i was here every week Sun-Fri. Overall, I like the property.

The staff is very friendly and accommodating. The lounge attendants are very pleasant, although sometimes a bit chatty They seem to understand and implement Marriott policies correctly. For example, from day 1 they were happy to accommodate 4pm checkout per the policy. My 500 Plat gift points almost always post correctly -- contrast with my 60% rate overall.

The lounge morning offering is the typical eggs and bacon, sausage, or ham (in a rotation) with assorted pastries, fruit, and oatmeal. The evening offering is a single hot offering (on rare occasion, there are 2 hot items), plus veggies, cheese, make your own garden or caesar salad, chips and salsa or hummus, and a pasta salad. The hot items are very hit or miss; they range from delicious crab dip to tasteless chicken skewers. Often, it is a "full entree", such as pasta with meat, or rice with veggies and meat. Until recently, the lounge was open for breakfast Sat and Sun, but now they provide breakfast in the restaurant. You are put on a list, and I believe that gets you anything on the menu or the buffet, but I'm not sure. The lounge is now completely closed on the weekends (well, the customary schedule, reopening Sun evening) but is open during the day or drinks and snacks. Evening offerings start at 5 (not the typical 530) and go until 730, and then desserts come out. Pro tip: often the initial dessert is replaced with a much better offering once the initial offering is gone.

The shuttle bus can be very slow to arrive. If you're impatient like me, I'd Uber to the hotel for $5.95. Although it supposedly comes on a schedule, later at night, you need to call to get them to come.

Rooms on the 10th floor are typical Marriott, with some nice touches. They have refrigerators, safes, and EXCELLENT AC. Even in the summer, I can get my room to 65 or below easily...contrast with other hotels where getting them down to even 72 is sometimes a challenge. No microwaves in rooms, but they have a limited number available to borrow. Pro tip: there is a microwave behind the Starbucks in the lobby you can use to reheat food.

This property offers the 500 points/night credit for foregoing housekeeping. I very much like this option, since I don't generally like housekeeping regardless.

The pool looks to be typical. The exercise room is good. Plenty of cardio equipment for the typical demand. In all of my stays here, I've seen waits for equipment only a couple of times. There are TVs on the equipment, which get almost every channel besides, curiously, Fox News.

There are 2 restaurants, Champions and Chesapeake. Chesapeake is a standard-ish Marriott restaurant, with a seafood bias. Champions is a sports lounge, and is an OK place to watch a game. Bartenders are surly, drinks are average. Food isn't bad for the venue, but is overpriced. Surprisingly, they do get a fair number of people from outside the hotel. Champions goes to a limited menu at 10pm, and they take food orders until 1130pm, iirc, closing at midnight.

There aren't many places to eat nearby, but that is improving a bit. There is a Chilis basically next door, and a Starbucks and newly-opened Jimmy Johns just across the street. Further down the road, but still walkable, there is a Potbelly, Chick Fil A, and a 3rd place (I think Chipotle) opening soon. Even further down there is an OK BBQ place, a sub-par but passable Mexican place, a Ruby Tuesday, a Cracker Barrel, a Bob Evans, a Wendys, and a few lackluster fast food offerings. Just a bit further than that stuff is G&M, well known for its crab cakes, and a solid dinner option if you want seafood that's nearby. Going the other way, there is a Maiwand Kebab (not bad) and an Italian place that is OK (sort of hidden on the back side of a building). On the same road as the Maiwand is a McDonalds (the only place you go by between airport and hotel is the McDonalds). This entire area closes down pretty early...when I land ~10pm, the only option is Champions or Ruby Tuesday. When I land at midnight, there really are no options unless you go quite a bit past the hotel (15 mins?) to a cluster of 24 hour fast food. Even the nearby Jimmy Johns closes at 9pm (many I've seen are open until 2am).

That's about all that comes to mind for now. If you've got any questions, PLMK.

SkiAdcock

Wow - GREAT additional information! Thanks so much!

Cheers.

VA1379

How is the hotel with weight machines? As an airport hotel, do they offer breakfast in the lounge or restaurant before 6:30 am on weekdays and before 7 am on weekends?

ikwia

There are 2 weight machines. One is basically only for squats and bench press (and people into weightlifting may know of other uses). I forget about the other. I will get details on that and the breakfast hours next week (hopefully I remember). There are also free weights and kettle balls. I don't pay as much attention to the weight equipment, but I don't see it being used often (not sure if that's due to demand or because it isn't that great).

Lani1

Great day rate, $100

ikwia

Here is a quick update.

There are indeed 2 weight machines. I'm not sure that the other is called, but it has a weight stack and a bunch of pulleys that lift the weight from different directions.

As for breakfast, the lounge opens at 6:30, but the restaurant and small bites open at 6.

DELee

Confused?

Anyway, those of us with MR elite status who spend time at the BWI Airport Marriott have lost our view - the Concierge Lounge on the 10th floor has been closed and is being modeled/remodeled/renovated to be turned into some unknown purpose.

Photos below were taken 08/09/17 and 08/10/17.

Currently the CL is now temporarily located on the 1st floor in the Pennsylvania Meeting Room with a beautiful view of the rear (east) parking lot.

FWIW, hours of the CL as shown in the photo below are M-Th 6:30 a-10p, F-Sun 6:30a-12n, Sun 5p-10p. Since the CL has historically been closed on Friday afternoon through Sunday evening, someone who stays over the weekend during the model/remodel period while the CL is in the Pennsylvania Room can let us know if this schedule is correct.

The newly modeled/future CL will be located on the 1st floor on the east side of the restaurant space and appears to be more in line with some of the MClubs that share the buffet with the restaurant - for me, the Essex House comes to mind - but we'll see what it really means when it finally opens. The sign seems to indicate that the future CL will be open 7 days a week and sharing the full breakfast buffet.

As shown, the sign indicates that the new CL will open in September - but, as with all renovations/remodels, we'll see.

Additionally, there was a sign opposite the elevators on the 1st floor indicating that they're doing some sort of construction work - whether this notice is related to the former 10th floor CL space or something occurring on another floor (which I didn't see but really didn't look for) or the new/future CL, it isn't clear.

David

LoganFlyer

Sounds like an M Lounge is coming.

SkiAdcock

Thanks for the heads up DELee. The sign that mentions the lounge (and it does sound like an M Lounge) mentions buffet breakfast daily when it opens. Doesn't say anything about Fri-Sat night offerings though.

Cheers.

mathprof

Just checked in for a one night stay. Lounge is still in the temporary location on the first floor. Cheese, salad, crackers, hot veggie pasta, and some sort of chicken in marinara sauce along with some fruit and chips. Not sold out at 7:10 and waiting another few minutes for dessert. Dishes cleaned by the friendliest lounge attendant ice ever seen. Honor bar here that is not watch ed like a hawk by the attendant. Interestingly, door opens without key card and attendant isn't checking if you have elite or lounge room key.

DELee

CL has been completed - now located on the 1st floor next to the Chesapeake restaurant and across from the Lobby Bar. From the hours posted as well as the info card inserted into my room key packet, elites with CL access will have now breakfast 7 days a week. Based on info card as well as the same sign just inside the entry to the CL, access is 2 people per room with option to pay a fee to add more.

Lounge is currently clearly new but noisy - the hard tile floor and lack of a full height wall separating the CL from both Chesapeake as well as the rest of the lobby means that lots of unwanted noise bounces.

WRT breakfast buffet, hot and not hot selections nothing like some of the joint buffets with MClubs + restaurants such as at the Crystal Gateway Marriott or Essex House but at least there's now one additional hot server dish versus the set up in the old CL when it was on the 10th floor.

Overall, because of the different sections of lounge, etc., the new CL feels much more impersonal than the more collegial feel of the old CL.

Anyway, here are the shots that I was able to take in my brief visit last week.

David

ikwia

I've had several stays here since the new lounge opened, and I agree with the poster above...it is VERY noisy (especially when the bar outside the lounge gets busy) and does feel less personal. I miss the view, and I also much prefer having the lounge on the 10th floor instead of needing to go downstairs and walk through the lobby. I sometimes like to sit and work in the lounge instead of my room, and this is much less convenient with the lounge downstairs, e.g., if I forgot something in my room, want to run to the bathroom, etc.

The morning breakfast now has 2 meats and potatoes, vs the old model of 1 meat and no potatoes. There is a station set up that appears to be well-designed for omelettes but I've never seen it in use (including on weekends) and multiple employees have no clue what it is for. I was very surprised to find out that the CL breakfast IS the restaurant buffet. So in a way, it does follow the M Lounge model of letting CL guests access the full breakfast buffet...just with a really lame buffet ;-)

The evening offerings have improved slightly, on average, from what I am used to at this hotel. The evening food hours have changed from 5-7:30 to 5:30-7:30 (which is the more traditional Marriott schedule). On Saturday and Sunday, the lounge closes after breakfast, but on other days, remains open for drink access. There is no evening food service on Friday or Saturday.

If this had the improved amenities of some of the M Lounges I've seen, I wouldn't mind the trade to the ground floor, but overall, I preferred the old system.

lamphs

Just an update as of Sunday, March 5, 2018. I concur with DELee and scottmlew with a couple of updates. Lounge was open Sunday evening, but no staff appeared to be present either time I stopped in. First time was around 8; I expected some variety of snacks, but only cookies were out. No honor bar. A credit card wine dispenser. Ended up going to Champions, which was lousy. After Champions, walked back through and grabbed a cookie. Breakfast Monday was the standard Marriott fare - full buffet. Not sure whether eggs cooked to order were available - I only had 15 minutes. I did notice at the breakfast table, there was a menu for 'small bites' or something like that...basically an abbreviated version of the Champions' menu.

As a Gold, I was on the 9th floor, likely a standard room, but perfectly sufficient for one person/one night.