Kimpton Morrison House Alexandria
Jul 21, 2013, 10:27 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2008
Location: WAS
Programs: AA Ex Plt
Posts: 1,630
Kimpton Morrison House Alexandria
My Kimpton Alexandria curse continues. Maybe I am spoiled and have become a hotel snob, but the Kimpton Alexandria hotels miss quite a bit - Lorien much much much less than either the Monaco or Morrison House. In fact, my Lorien stay was a good stay other than being charged for things that were supposed to be taken off the bill (too small a $ amount to care after the fact)
Location: A half a block off King Street in Alexandria. Alexandria is a fun place to stay, but parking recently became a pita. Overnight parking passes used to be available from the visitors office down near the Monaco. No more. It's parking garages or hotel parking. Be careful with the parking garages b/c many are not 24 hr garages. Street parking is only 2 hours unless you can wait until after 7PM on Sat night.
Check in: As usual, a professional and courteous agent. I was given a suite and keys. Real keys!!! Wow!!!
Room: The suite was nice, two rooms and very formal. Unlike most of the funky Kimptons, this hotel is in a Federal style building and the furnishing match. I was a bit apprehensive with my room b/c it was directly over the lobby and entrance. No need to worry. The entrance is off the street and there really wasn't much noise. The bigger issue was the dog upstairs. Now I like dogs - even had a dog as an amenity (to play with not to eat
) - but I don't like barking dogs or ones that are scratching at a door trying to get out. Now this wasn't the hotel's fault and the noise was too intermittent (bark bark bark bark bark scratch scratch scratch scratch etc stop -- 20+ minutes later repeat) to do anything about it but it really was annoying. I felt bad for the dog 
. Second issue with the room was that the TV in the living room part of the suite did not work and it was never fixed (more below). Other than those items, it was a nice room.
Wine Happy Hour: Same Kimpton white and red - ugh again. The lobby area was smallish with more Federal style furniture. Maybe 8-10 total guests having a drink over the course of an hour.
Restaurant/bar: While some of the other things at this hotel weren't great, the food and service in the restaurant were amazing. I was first seated in the corner with much better open tables along the way to my seat (small room). The waiter comes by and moves me to a "real" table. First note of a professional waiter. Ordered from the Kimpton 3 for $35 deal and had the wine pairing for an extra $25. Great deal for some awesome food. And the waiter was great for the entire meal. His recommendations were spot on and he was professional from start to finish. I'd go back for the restaurant rather than the hotel.
Staff/Service: On my way to eat, I stopped at the front desk and asked for someone to fix the TV. Ok. Got back to my room after dinner and nothing. TV still didn't work. No idea if anyone looked at it or if the cable was out or what??? Didn't want to deal with it so I let it go. The next morning at check out, I spoke to the same employee and mentioned that the TV was never fixed. She stated that someone took a look but couldn't do anything. Full Stop. No I am sorry we couldn't fix it. No anything - very matter of fact, the TV is still broken. Further, rather than the typical Kimpton check out of how was everything, can I get you a taxi, do you want to check bags - nothing. Nothing at all other than here is your receipt. That is a Hilton check out not a Kimpton check out.
Amenities: The worst attempt so far. 1 piece of cheese and 6 crackers plus a bottle of water. I was in my room when the amenity was delivered and was a bit shocked, why even bother (the tip cost more than the food
). It seemed that this was the amenity that everyone received (?). I asked the delivery staff guy about my IC amenity and he was clueless as to what I was talking about. I suggested that he ask at the front desk and someone there would tell him what to do. The result was a bottle of wine to go with my piece of cheese and 6 crackers. I saw this result after I ate dinner so I really couldn't be bothered asking for gummy bears or more cheese after a wonderful dinner. (plus I would then feel the need to mention the TV and just didn't have it in me to deal with it).
Another iffy Alexandria Kimpton stay. With the costs in the same ball park as the DC Kimptons, I have to recommend those rather than the Alexandria Kimptons, and primarily based on service.
Cheers -
UPDATE:
So I just got off the phone with the Morrison House GM. What kind of chain is Kimpton? One that actually seems to care if a stay was up to par. Profuse and sincere apologies from the GM for the parts of my stay that did not meet Kimpton standards and thankful acknowledgement for the praise of the good things. I haven't experienced this level of travel industry CS anywhere. I stand by my review, it accurately describes my stay, but it now seems more like an off day at the Morrison House rather than part of the Alexandria curse. Based on my chat with the GM, I'll give the Morrison House another shot somewhere down the line.
Cheers -
Location: A half a block off King Street in Alexandria. Alexandria is a fun place to stay, but parking recently became a pita. Overnight parking passes used to be available from the visitors office down near the Monaco. No more. It's parking garages or hotel parking. Be careful with the parking garages b/c many are not 24 hr garages. Street parking is only 2 hours unless you can wait until after 7PM on Sat night.
Check in: As usual, a professional and courteous agent. I was given a suite and keys. Real keys!!! Wow!!!
Room: The suite was nice, two rooms and very formal. Unlike most of the funky Kimptons, this hotel is in a Federal style building and the furnishing match. I was a bit apprehensive with my room b/c it was directly over the lobby and entrance. No need to worry. The entrance is off the street and there really wasn't much noise. The bigger issue was the dog upstairs. Now I like dogs - even had a dog as an amenity (to play with not to eat
) - but I don't like barking dogs or ones that are scratching at a door trying to get out. Now this wasn't the hotel's fault and the noise was too intermittent (bark bark bark bark bark scratch scratch scratch scratch etc stop -- 20+ minutes later repeat) to do anything about it but it really was annoying. I felt bad for the dog . Second issue with the room was that the TV in the living room part of the suite did not work and it was never fixed (more below). Other than those items, it was a nice room.Wine Happy Hour: Same Kimpton white and red - ugh again. The lobby area was smallish with more Federal style furniture. Maybe 8-10 total guests having a drink over the course of an hour.
Restaurant/bar: While some of the other things at this hotel weren't great, the food and service in the restaurant were amazing. I was first seated in the corner with much better open tables along the way to my seat (small room). The waiter comes by and moves me to a "real" table. First note of a professional waiter. Ordered from the Kimpton 3 for $35 deal and had the wine pairing for an extra $25. Great deal for some awesome food. And the waiter was great for the entire meal. His recommendations were spot on and he was professional from start to finish. I'd go back for the restaurant rather than the hotel.
Staff/Service: On my way to eat, I stopped at the front desk and asked for someone to fix the TV. Ok. Got back to my room after dinner and nothing. TV still didn't work. No idea if anyone looked at it or if the cable was out or what??? Didn't want to deal with it so I let it go. The next morning at check out, I spoke to the same employee and mentioned that the TV was never fixed. She stated that someone took a look but couldn't do anything. Full Stop. No I am sorry we couldn't fix it. No anything - very matter of fact, the TV is still broken. Further, rather than the typical Kimpton check out of how was everything, can I get you a taxi, do you want to check bags - nothing. Nothing at all other than here is your receipt. That is a Hilton check out not a Kimpton check out.
Amenities: The worst attempt so far. 1 piece of cheese and 6 crackers plus a bottle of water. I was in my room when the amenity was delivered and was a bit shocked, why even bother (the tip cost more than the food
). It seemed that this was the amenity that everyone received (?). I asked the delivery staff guy about my IC amenity and he was clueless as to what I was talking about. I suggested that he ask at the front desk and someone there would tell him what to do. The result was a bottle of wine to go with my piece of cheese and 6 crackers. I saw this result after I ate dinner so I really couldn't be bothered asking for gummy bears or more cheese after a wonderful dinner. (plus I would then feel the need to mention the TV and just didn't have it in me to deal with it).Another iffy Alexandria Kimpton stay. With the costs in the same ball park as the DC Kimptons, I have to recommend those rather than the Alexandria Kimptons, and primarily based on service.
Cheers -
UPDATE:
So I just got off the phone with the Morrison House GM. What kind of chain is Kimpton? One that actually seems to care if a stay was up to par. Profuse and sincere apologies from the GM for the parts of my stay that did not meet Kimpton standards and thankful acknowledgement for the praise of the good things. I haven't experienced this level of travel industry CS anywhere. I stand by my review, it accurately describes my stay, but it now seems more like an off day at the Morrison House rather than part of the Alexandria curse. Based on my chat with the GM, I'll give the Morrison House another shot somewhere down the line.
Cheers -
Last edited by thegrailer; Jul 23, 2013 at 1:54 pm Reason: Chat with the GM
Sep 13, 2014, 12:05 pm
#2
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Programs: AA GLD, MR Plat, Home Depot ExPlat :)
Posts: 34
I stayed here on 9/12/14. I wasn't sure what to expect as I'm a new IC member. Operations Manager Guyan (rhymes with Brian) overheard me talking with the front desk clerk and introduced himself to me and was very friendly. I missed the wine hour, so I can't comment on that. I checked in to my room, which was ok. It was on a high floor, but not a suite like I'd just been given at the Lorien. The room seemed small and had a massive bed and couch in it, but the desk was tiny and very hard to work at. The view from the room was of a power pole and the office building next door. The amenity was a nice cheese plate and 2 bottles of German beer. They also put a cookie and some chocolate on the bed, along with a nice handwritten note. The bathroom was outdated and small, especially compared to the Lorien. In general it was a nice location, but seemed not in all that good of shape (scratched furniture, scratched walls in the elevator, etc.). The employees were all very nice, and the location was good, just off King street and right around the corner from a great coffee house.