Stayed in 1462 last Wednesday. Room was supposed to be non-smoking, but it reaked of smoke. Housekeeping did what they could, but it was pretty bad. We made due for the one night.

The 62 rooms are larger with two full windows, but I like the 59 room a little better because of the config with the sofa.

This hotel is still a nice place to stay in the area.

Cafe Italia is a short walk and also on the Rewards Network.

For the gay/gay friendly, Freddie's Beach Bar is a hoot. It is a short walk and has decent entertainment. Wednesday is $6 burger night and drag queen bingo. We had a blast!

I was a bit confused for a bit as to which forum I was in !!! :D

:D.

I had a room that stunk there too last Saturday. They ended up moving me to a hypo-allergenic room (didn't ask for that, that's what he moved me to), which was a room with some sort of portable air filtering device in it, the only problem is that hvac vent was really noisy, so I called engineering and the guy fixed it quickly. No lounge here, so breakfast buffet was comped for Diamond members. I added a $3 tip to the $18 breakfast charge and the entire amount was removed from the bill.

-David

It must be a $3 limit. Two of us had breakfast and I added a $5 tip. My bill showed $2 for gratuity.

Stayed here this week for two nights. Diamond upgrade to the two window king - 1400. Most of the stuff remains unchanged - solid, if unspectacular rooms. Desks are a little small - hard to work on. Staff is fantastic - front desk, room service waiters, valet parkers, restaurant servers - all above and beyond. Noticeably different from many competitors in the WAS market.

I stayed there again this week and received an upgrade to one of the Ambassador Suites. The front desk clerk seemed a little clueless and didn't mention anything about an upgrade - if I didn't know that the 30/32 rooms were Ambassadors, I would have probably thought I hadn't received an upgrade. I wish they had bigger televisions in the sitting area of the Ambassador Suites - they are the same TVs as in the rest of the guest rooms but they are tiny for the wall space. One of the Hyatt Place TVs would be far superior for that configuration.

The deli across the street moved from the US1 side of the building to the Hyatt side. It also expanded and added a bar, and most important for guests is now open to 9pm ("or maybe 10 if people are watching sports and drinking"). The night of my arrival, I didn't feel like walking to 23rd Street, so I had a perfectly acceptable sub sandwich there at 1/3 the price of a similar meal in the hotel. For guests who do not get the free breakfast, this should be a solid option.

As a Diamond, I took the free buffet. The first $1.50 of my tip each day was comped, the rest went on my bill.

That whole comp breakfast gratuity issue is one of the few drawbacks to this hotel. Hypocritical that room service has a mandatory 20% gratuity. Yet when the hotel is "paying", a 10% gratuity is good enough. ...?

For a buffet breakfast, the wait staff isn't doing much beyond refilling coffee. I tip $2.50 and so it costs me $1 out of pocket, and I'm fine with that.

Any other diamond perks at this property - afternoon snacks, cocktail hour, etc. like at the Grand Hyatt up in DC proper? The rates at the Crystal City HR are crazy low for the next few weeks so we're planning to notch another night or two towards re-qualifying for diamond.

No, not really. It's just a cheap rate and a couple of shuttle buses. The deli across the street isn't bad, has a little bar which I suspect is cheaper than the hotel and a little mini-mart which is reasonably priced, and is open until 9pm-ish.

What's the parking situation on the weekend? I have a function near DCA but need to fly out of BWI so I will have a rental car.

Any street parking or inexpensive garages?

Supposedly some of the garages at Crystal City (not the Hyatt garage) are free but I've never tried them and I have a feeling that they close up.

There is street parking but it can be a little tough to find right by the hotel. If you don't mind walking, there's plenty of weekend street parking on Eads Street in back of the McDonald's. But that's a good 2.5-3 block walk.

If you're stuck with needing a garage, I suspect that the Holiday Inn or the Courtyard have cheaper ones.

Have tried to read TripAdvisor to get a great answer, but no luck, so here's my question...

Planning to stay here next week. I ideally need access to the Metro to make it to GWU and U of MD. Do you think the extra $100/night is worth staying at the HR Washington at the Capitol?

Not looking for anything exciting, but access to the Metro is imperative. Anyone have any thoughts on how reliable the shuttle is from HRCC to metro in Arlington?

The shuttle runs like clockwork. On every quarter hour to the Crystal City Metro station, every 20 minutes (00/20/40) to the airport. No need to call. I think they stop the Metro one later in the evening, but the airport one goes to at least midnight.

For point of reference - I take a taxi to Navy Yard when I'm there because I don't feel like showing up at the client site like a sweaty mess. Cost is always $18-$22. So unless there is a physical issue preventing a taxi ride, you're still better off at the Crystal City location than the HR/Capitol.