EkekoBWI

My recent stay revealed that my earlier comments (post #81) largely still hold true. Some small updates:

Breakfast is comp'd for Premium Rooms and consists of a very basic continental breakfast. On weekdays, this is supplemented with eggs to order. Nothing fancy, but good enough for most business travelers. In a pinch, there's now a Dunkin Donuts 2 blocks away near the Ballston Metro Station (which seems to have knocked out the two mom and pop bagel shops that formerly occupied the area).

PAYAGE is still a great deal...and MAGC is still confusing staff.

Gym is in good shape (little used?).

Mall down the street is slated to get a complete remodel. This should have happened a decade ago, but better late than never.

Buildings next door (retirement home) and across the street (old Marymount University annex) are presently getting a facelift. Never heard any construction noise from either, but I'd recommend asking for a high floor to escape the Glebe / Fairfax street noise.

Pinzimini (in-house restaurant and where breakfast is served) used to have daily happy hour specials that would draw a crowd. These great deals seem to be no more and replaced with 50% off drinks during the hours immediately after work. That move places it in high competition with the countless other places in Ballston and Clarendon.

All in all, this is still my go-to place in NOVA with easy access to IAD, DCA, and DC.

platbrownguy

Posting with recent data. This place has had deals on Travelzoo for $89-99 per night including full (not just continental) breakfast buffet. I managed to get BRGs from these package rates for a 4-night stay ($74.25/night) and then a 10-night stay ($66.75/night), which is a killer rate, for stays where I am working out of the Gateway building next door. Seems the property is a little squirrely with rates -- they apparently intentionally loaded a rate with "breakfast for one" on SPG.com, whereas the Travelzoo rate includes "breakfast for two" -- so at first, my BRGs were denied, but after I pushed back and showed that Travelzoo allows a booking for one guest the BRGs were approved.

No upgrade on 4-night stay (but I did need my 9 a.m. Your24 check-in which was approved, so I was fine with a regular room as a trade-off). Upgrade to executive suite on 10-night stay.

Breakfast varies from way picked-over to quite good, depending on the time of day. At 6:30 a.m., there's a nice display of items that change, such as tomato-mozzarella salad, a platter fruit with large pieces of avocado, a spinach salad with berries and feta, a varied cheese board, chia pudding, etc. There are also the usual suspects -- again, at 6:30 a.m., the generic scrambled eggs are actually edible, but by 9 a.m. everything is sort of picked over and random food items have fallen from their original source into some other dish, etc., so not as great.

Free computer & printer in lobby is slow but works, and was very useful when I needed to print 20 pages on the fly without running across the street.

Overall fine but dated hotel. Fridge in room is cold. No problem getting green choice points (but also getting towels, etc., when needed). Gym is not huge but big enough and was never crowded. Would stay again when I need to be next door but probably not otherwise.

Mr. BoH

The hotel restaurant (Pinzimini) has been closed for a few months for renovation. I just finished a stay here and it says the restaurant is due to reopen next week. Will be rebranded as Commentary Social House. Hopefully that comes with a menu overhaul - I always thought Pinzimini was pretty bad.

arlflyer

Fortunately there has been a wealth of new openings in the immediate vicinity. The places in Ballston Quarter (rebranded Ballston Common) are generally quite good - True Food, Ted's, and the quick-serve places in the food court are definitely a notch above what they replaced (though RIP Rock Bottom). Bistro 1521 across the street from the Westin gets a lot of good press, the new Bronson Bierhall from the A-Town folks is surprisingly palatable, and there are of course the old standbys like Rustico, Big Buns, Rus Uz, etc.

ExArkie

I just checked in to this hotel a couple of days ago. Confirm that restaurant and bar are closed for renovation. One sign I saw said that it would be complete "September 2019," which they obviously missed. Breakfast is a buffet (and several tables) set up in the lobby, a space that is definitely not amenable to that arrangement, but the hotel gets credit for making it work. When I returned to the last night, the bar was also set up in the lobby, using the same table arrangement.

Mr. BoH

Agree - a lot of good choices in the area. I am partial to Uncle Julios myself. Though sometimes (if it’s raining or if I am lazy) I’d prefer the option not to leave the hotel.

arlflyer

Yes, agreed. I'm a huge room service person myself - worth saving 30 minutes a lot of nights. Since I've been local I've never stayed - does this Westin do RS out of the restaurant or the standard Westin (Eat Well) menu?

Mr. BoH

The new restaurant is open. They did a nice job with the remodel - sort of an airy “farm kitchen” vibe. Bar seems smaller than before. I didn’t get a chance to eat there, but the menu seemed like standard pub fare.

365RoadWarrior

Any recent stays? I picked up some particulars from the website. Gym is open with capacity limits. There is some form of breakfast service, confirmed (by phone) In the restaurant. Sounds fairly normal.

MSPeconomist

Has the executive lounge reopened?

platbrownguy

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I thought this place's lounge closed years ago? Well before covid, like 2015-16. Would be news to me if not; I spent a few weeks here in summer 2018 working out of the building next door and I never heard a peep about a lounge!

Boraxo

Any recent reports? Assume the rooms are just basic Westin, nothing special?

arlflyer

Yes, that's right. Stayed there a couple weeks ago and rooms were standard Westin. Was upgraded to a corner suite without asking / using SNA and the space was nicely laid out and well taken care of by Westin standards (by that I mean just the sheer amount of use that Westins get, you always tend to see a decent amount of wear and tear on the properties of the "standard" vintage). Perfectly nice and in my book I would take a basic Westin over most other places - I just always know what I'm going to get. I'll also add that Ballston isn't a bad place to be these days - quite a bit going on with all the redevelopment having taken place.

365RoadWarrior

Thanks arlflyer. Any other recent stays? Website suggests no breakfast restaurant, but phone call indicates restaurant is open. (I suspect website is just out of date.)

gleff

Restaurant is indeed open