bobo809

A second vote for this property. Nicely decorated room. Easy transport to DC by taking the metro. The lounge is great. You can have a small meal in the evening and good breakfast in the morning. ^ ^ ^

belynch

FYI - received an email from the GC account last night offering 1,000 bonus SPG points for the WAG. Probably targeted at former guests from the way it was written.

The WAG is nice. Tried to stay there in June and it definitely has that new car feel to it. Just be warned that as a new property they're going through some growing pains. I stayed there on a night of a brown out to full black out and the staff dropped the ball in about a dozen ways. Ended up in a CC dispute because their accounting dept. was too lazy to ever return phone calls. That's the ultimate insult there.

Would I stay there again? Yeah, sure, why not. It is a nice property and I travel enough to know what I experienced was an incredible exception to the norm. But, if there is a problem with your stay, fully expect to encounter some serious incompetence.

entilzhaFT

They're certainly the best Westin in the DC area, but do beware the ongoing growing pains. Missed wakeup call plus alarm clock set 12 hours off ended what already had become a very bad stay. Some of the staff is fantastic.

Bulldog King

Well....I just completed my short stay at the Westin Arlington Gateway.....and I have to admit that it's a nice hotel.....with a very pleasant staff.

The regular rooms are decent sized.....with a widescreen TV as previously mentioned (until now, I've only seen them in the "deluxe" rooms at the Westin Chicago River North).

I had no problems with my in-room alarm clock....which woke me up right on time.

I would definitely consider staying at this hotel during my next visit to the DC/Arlington area.

A.J.

BlissWorld

I just came back from Westin Arlington Gateway and had another excellent stay. Kudos to Starwood! I took me a long time to decide on this hotel because I had a couple of other fantastic options (Hotel Palomar and the $99 Westin Embassy Row Ambassador suite with breakfast).

Like others had noted, it was relatively hard to locate the hotel. Many of the buildings around Ballston metro looked very simliar (I guess they were all designed and built by the same developers). I had to call the hotel to ask for directions.
Westin Arlington

The lobby was very nice and welcoming:
Lobby 1
Lobby 2
I walked up to the agent and was greeted with a warm smile. The agent recognized my Platinum status and informed me that I had been upgraded to a suite (Which I already knew because I checked spg.com the night before and got the usual sorry, we have your reservation but are unable to show you the details page ). She then offered me my platinum amenity, told me about the gym and platinum lounge (or club lounge, but she said platinum lounge ) and sent me to my suite:
Suite living room
Living Room Sitting Area
Bedroom
Desk and Window
Connecting Doors
Bathroom

After unpacking, I decided to lurk around the neighborhood. There was a Ruby Tuesday, IHOP, starbucks, Cosi, and 7-11 near by. It was also a couple blocks away from Ballston Metro station, which made it fairly easy to get to DC. It took about 15 minutes to get to Smithsonian.
Surrounding Area

It was really warm and humid so I decided to come back to the hotel early. When I walked into the lobby, I was greeted by a gentlemen who offered me a glass of flavored water and scented towel. It was very very refreshing. The agent who checked me in also went over and referred me by Mr Blissworld and offered tips for the surrouding area ^
Refreshment Station

I thanked them and headed up to the Executive Club lounge. I was the only one there and it was probably the nicest Westin lounge I had ever been to. The lounge itself was pretty small but very nicely decorated. Evening hors d'oeuvres were delicious and seemed more like a mini-buffet. A friendly staff came over to take my drink order and left me alone to watch TV. She even offered me more drinks to take back to me room (water and soda). I gave her a tip and she refused, but I insisted.
Club Lounge Dining Area
Club Lounge Living Area
Great View from Lounge
Lounge Offering
Lounge offering 2
Beverage

It was a very quiet and relaxing stay. Ballston area is pretty quiet in general. The area in which the Westin resides is relatively new, so there was limited traffic, which made it a perfect getaway for me. Westin Arlington is hands down the best SPG property in DC area. With its reasonable rate, I may just return to this property again. Every staff I encountered was extremely friendly and professional.

For anyone who likes a modern hotel with friendly staff, quiet environment, and a relatively low rate, I highly recommend this hotel.

luskinj

The Westin Arlington is awesome. Best part is the 32" LCD HDTV in each of the rooms and the Starbucks attached to the hotel. And there's actually a ton of restaurants nearby. I haven't stayed at the Westin Grand yet. That one's next on my list.

Just an FYI, while I was at the WER on Tuesday night, I met a friend out at 'The Hawk & Dove', a bar in Capital Hill. They have $1 wings every tuesday night. They were delicious.

dismal_scientist

I snapped a few quick pictures during my February stay at the Westin Arlington Gateway and wanted to share them with FT. I paid $129/night, but this was over the weekend. Weekday rates are significantly higher.

I actually crossed paths with another FT member who called me out on my luggage tag.

I've been staying at the Sheraton Reston for weeks, so it was a real treat to spend the weekend here at the Westin. The room was great, and the gym was significantly better than most hotel fitness centers. I'm moving to the Sheraton Premiere Tysons Corner next week as it seems to be a better location than the Sheraton Reston. I'd stay here at the Westin, but it's too rich for my blood during the week.

Pictures here:
Picture 01 - Bed
Picture 02 - Bed / Chair
Picture 03 - Sink
Picture 04 - Gym
Picture 05 - Gym

Uniter

I stayed here last night and it's become my favorite SPG site in the DC area.

Rooms - Unasked, I was upgraded to a standard suite on the 10th floor with an awesome view. The flat screen TVs in each of the rooms were a nice bonus! No water in the room though (at least, no free water).

Amenities - Aside from the upgrade, I was offered the standard Plat amenities, but in case you don't know 'em, here's that they offered:
-500 SPG pts
-Comp movie ($12)
-$10 Refreshment credit
-Pretzels and beer

I took what everyone always takes.

Lounge - The lounge was super. In the evenings, they had some hot food (mini veg egg rolls and sesame chicken) along with cold food (different cheeses, three kinds of pasta salads, tomatoes and onion salad, toasted bread, crackers, baby carrots and string beans, and more) and free non-alcoholic beverages (soda and water). Fruit bowls were aplenty. The lounge itself has a great view from the top floor. Breakfast was also nice in the lounge as they had cold cereal, fruit, and bagels & lox (with all the trimmings - as a former New Yorker, I was pleased with this!).

Gym/Pool - The Gym was nice with brand new equipment (the TV displays on each machine were particularly cool). They had an extensive weight selection as well. The gym was pretty packed at 6:30 am on a weekday, though. The pool was decent, with an area for laps. It was open in the morning early and then in the evening until 10 pm.

Location - It's a good 20 minute ride on the Metro or via car from DC, but it's in a great location. Dozens of restaurants within a 5 minute walk and the big Ballston mall is across the street. There's a Harris Teeter supermarket about 3 blocks away on Glebe as well. There's also a fun sandwich type shop just outside the main door and Starbucks attached to the lobby (people were handing out in the Starbucks even after it had closed). Oh, and the Orange line Metro is a quick walk away.

Restaurant - I didn't have a chance to eat, but the atmosphere looked nice.

Overall, the hotel's newness, the good Plat treatment I got, and the good location make it my new favorite spot in the area.

Speechlady

Agree with all of the above--their club lounge is wonderful and as a Platinum SPG'er, I've been upgraded to a two room suite on each of my stays!

CIT85

I was at the WAG in July with family. I was first offered a suite on the 5th floor and a room on the 11th, SPG floor which comes with free water. The front desk agent then offered to move the second room to the 5th floor and said that the water would be free for Plat, and just ignore the price tag. We ended up with a suite and second room on the 11th floor where tag states that the water is free.

So, if you are in the non SPG floor, the water is still free for Plat.

n5177c

Anybody know if there's parking in the area? I hate valet and I hate paying $30 a night for valet even more.

dmbfan222

I am here right now, Valet is $20/night. There are lots in the area, but no "official" hotel lot".

dmbfan222

This puzzles me. As a Plat staying this weekend with plenty of rooms available at the hotel, the person at the front desk yesterday told me that they don't even upgrade Plats to the Club floor, never mind a suite. This does not sound right to me and I've never heard this from any other property before. There is plenty of availability on the Club floor (as well as suites) but I was told that I was not entitled to either.

I didn't push it too hard because he stated that the only difference between a regular room and club floor was that you got mouthwash (that may be the case). Has anybody else encountered this same problem at this property?

Bulldog King

More or less....

My second stay there late last year was as a Plat.......and I was not upgraded at all.....not even to the club floor.

Actually, I was given a room very close to the elevators.........IIRC, the same room I was given when I stayed there the first time while only a Gold.

I was told I could use the lounge......but considering how few people were there that weekend (the lounge was rather empty most of the time in the mornings), that wasn't much of an imposition.

Later on....I was chatting with the lounge attendant about various topics.....and was told about how empty the hotel was at the time.

So...it's not like they didn't have at least club floor rooms available......let alone other 'upgraded accommodations'.

At the time, I chalked it all up to them still being 'new'......as they had only opened not too long before my stay.

But if it's still an ongoing issue at this point.........perhaps it's time someone complains.

FWIW, I am considering a stay at this hotel for later this year........once again on a weekend when it's usually relatively quiet.

A.J.

eightmillionmiler

I stayed there earlier this week.

Reserved club room. At checkin told really full before I could even ask about upgrades. They must be used to plats asking for upgrades.

No upgrade, in fact I was in 1408 which from the map on the back of the door is the smallest room on the club floor.

Could have really been sold out or could just not care about plats. No way to tell from my one experience.

I will say that in it was a very good stay -- good service and attitude, just no upgrade or preferred type of club floor room.