gleff

The Westin Arlington Gateway had its official opening and ribbon-cutting today.

I went over for the ribbon cutting and took one of the tours they were giving throughout the day. I'd been over a few months ago while it was still under construction (I had to wear a hard hat.. We started out at the hotel's temporary offices in a building behind the Holiday Inn down the street, saw a mock up of a guest room, and then headed over to the property.. After being taken out for a nice lunch at Willow, that is ).

I have to say that the new building is a site to behold inside! That new hotel feel is just great, and the design is pretty sweet. It's very light and airy, modern in look and feel. I've said before that it reminds me in some ways of the Westin Melbourne. Certainly the lighting scheme does.

The top two floors aren't done yet. The official open for those floors is March 15, but staff concede that isn't going to happen. That's where the executive lounge will be (top floor), so there's no lounge available yet. Apparently there'll be at least one larger suite suitable for entertaining/cocktail reception on the top floor. There might be more than one between the two floors, but they apparently haven't gone final on configuration yet.

They say that the parking garage will be connected underground to the metro, but I'm really not sure how that's going to work. In any case, since they say 9 months off I'd expect it to take even longer.

Health club is complimentary to all guests. There's a workout room with nice windows out onto Glebe Road. Complimentary bottles of water there (so no need to buy the overpriced bottle in your room). Treadmills have plenty of modes, lots of electronics, and TV -- but no internet. There's also a lap pool. Condos are being built next door, and it appears as though residents there will be able to see directly into the pool area I'm told that the big Starbucks in the lobby will deliver to the pool.

The bar area is small, just a row of stools. There was originally going to be another long row of stools facing the other direction away from the bar, but I guess they decided it would be odd to have folks in the bar looking into the restaurant so there winds up being just a bunch of standing room on the counterspace where those stools would have gone.

Internet is wireless in public spaces, wired in the rooms.

Though the hotel is open, valet parking price isn't yet determined. Probably $15 for overnight. I'm told the restaurant will validate.

I went up to see the meeting space which is nice, all up on the second floor. The hotel offices are on the 3rd floor along with the pool and health club and some rooms, I believe most of the Westin Workout rooms are there. I'd actually suggest avoiding rooms on the third floor, I could smell the pool all the way down the hall as I got off the elevator (perhaps they'll figure out how to alter the chemicals to avoid this?).

The rooms themselves seemed quite small to me. Of course the heavenly bed is there and the heavenly bath (which just amounts to the curved shower curtain rod and the dual overhead spray). Plasma TVs are in all the rooms. As previously mentioned, just wired internet - no wireless in the rooms (a bummer for new construction IMHO).

There are twelve suites currently open (that is, twelve suites outside of the top two floors that aren't done or fully determined). With over 320 rooms, I imagine upgrades won't be easy for Platinums (similar to Westin Grand I believe.)

Frankly, the suites just felt like nice large hotel rooms, there's a living room area separated off from the bedroom that's still about the size of a regular hotel room. I imagine these will be the ones in the upgrade pool. Nice furnishing and modern feel, but not that large and spacious.

The bathrooms in the regular rooms are pretty small, and aren't much bigger in the suites. The suite bathrooms do have a separate room for the toilet and shower together which can be closed off from the sink and mirror.

They were giving massages in the suite being shown today

All in all I'd say that this is a better hotel than the Hyatt Arlington, Hilton Arlington & Towers, or any of the Crystal City hotels. I'd say it's a draw -- very different pluses and minuses -- between this and the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City. (Those familiar with the Pentagon City Ritz know it as the worst of that chain.)

This new Westin has some very nice staff. Everyone smiles and acknowledges you. When you ask where something is, they take you to it instead of just pointing or giving directions. Hopefully they can maintain the friendly, helpful, positive attitude! ^

Rumors overheard during the day: Westin Embassy Row was sold, will remain a Westin, and will finally get some needed renovations. There's consideration of a W in DC, they're looking at a few sites but most likely will be Capitol Hill.

ghia74

I stayed there last night and just checked out. It is a very nice hotel. The directions that are available on the site are not the best since it sends you down Glebe Rd which does not offer an easy u-turn to the entrance. When I finally arrived the staff was very friendly. From pulling up to walking to the desk I probably had 5 people ask if they could take my bag. Check in was easy, they Preferred desk had my room key ready and waiting. I was not offered an upgrade, I actually checked in with a co-worker who was Platinum, no upgrade for him either. I will attribute this to the fact that not all rooms are completed yet. Since I was there 1 night it did not make much of a difference.

Was kind of cool to be the first one using a room. Bed was immaculate and the pillows need to be broken in. Furniture is what you expect from a Westin. The bathroom was rather small and the heavenly shower is the same 2 shower heads you get in the Grand or Embassy Row. After stays in Westin Sydney and Shanghai I have an appreciation of what a real Heavenly Shower is,

The flat screen TV's are a nice touch. And the channel selection was great. They have Comedy Central, which as a fan of South Park and the Daily Show; I like to have in my hotel. The DC Westins do not offer this channel.

Gleff saw more of the other areas of the hotel than I did. I did check out the gym which is nice and offers free Poland Spring bottles. The pool is kind of small and offers a peep show to the workers across the street. I got charge $20 for valet parking which is $5 cheaper than the DC Westins. The lounge is not open though I was offered free drinks in the restaurant.

I spend most of the time at the Sheraton Premier which is close to my work. I will stay in DC when I meet friends for dinner every once in a while. The 3000 point bonus is a nice incentive to move some of my stays there from the DC Westins. I hope the staff stays as friendly because it really does make a nice touch. Hopefully my next stay will allow for a room upgrade and I can report on that. ^

UA_Eagle

Great to hear the hotel is shaping up very nicely, as I'll be checking the place out this Saturday and next Saturday (to get the 3K per stay, plus FT 3K for 3 stays bonus--thanks William!). A bit surprising that there isn't any wireless in the rooms--do the rooms have Ethernet ready to plug in or should I bring mine? And is there that usual fee for accessing Internet ($9.99?) in your room?

Thanks for the positive report!

DukeFlyer

I also stayed at the Gateway last night. It was nice to be the first person to sleep in my room. I agree with the above posts...room was small but had a nice feel to it. I especially liked the HD plasma in the room. First time I've watched High Def in a hotel room so that was definitely a plus. The staff went out of their way to greet me...both during check-in last night and check-out this morning. I also recognized a few of the staff from the E-Row.

I was sent up a bottle of Shiraz and a box of candy shortly after I checked in. A co-worker who is also Platinum received a meat and cheese tray. I'm not sure how they determine who gets what, but regardless it was a very nice gesture.

The gym was a slight upgrade over the Embassy Row (haven't been to the Grand's gym). The treadmills had built in television monitors which was a nice addition. Even without the 3k bonus, I would consider staying here over the E-Row. With the bonus, it's a no-brainer.

UA_Eagle: my room did have the Ethernet ready to plug-in, so you should not need to bring a cable. Sorry, I didn't notice what the pricing info was.

grant.p.miller

I also stayed at the Arlington Gateway last night and had a very enjoyable experience. The in room internet surprizingly was 14.95 instead of the usual 9.99. Even so I'm more than willing to fit the bill on the extra five dollars for the HD television and extra channels.

UA_Eagle

Just a quick report of my stay there last night. It was a pretty nice stay overall. When I arrived, a bellhop was out immediately to take my bag, and we went off to the checkin, where I was checked in efficently. It turned out there are NO self-parking, and that valet parking is $20. However it appears they didn't charge me for parking--either they forgot or were kind enough to waive the charge.

I got a room on the 10th floor, which wasn't a Preferred Floor. Apparently the 12th and 13th are Preferred floor and I'm a bit surprised they didn't put me up there, as a SPG Gold, especially since the hotel didn't appear to be full. Maybe it was just oversight, or most of the guests were staying on the west side of the building on these floors (the side with the best view). No, I didn't ask them why, as it wasn't that big of a deal.

Air conditioning in my room wasn't very good--it wasn't strong enough to cool down my room to my preferred temperature (other hotels has no trouble cooling down to my preferred temperature).

Resturant was pretty good, if a bit overpriced. However a warning about breakfast--they will serve you a small pot of coffe and happily charge you for $7.50, which I consider it a rip-off, as most hotels charge you only 2 or 3 dollars for unlimited coffee. Also in the lounge, the chairs and sofa are too deep to sit comfortable, at least for me (I'm only 5'4" tall....)

I've commented on the survey the preferred floor, AC and coffee issues above. I'll be going back there next weekend, for the FT bonus and 3K stay bonus. Although I'm not to sure if I'd stay there again after next weekend.

Overall, a very nice new hotel, that can use a few improvements. It's better than the Hilton a few blocks away (which I've stayed at a couple of times before).

KENNECTED

The original poster mentioned that the top two floors weren't ready/complete.

thomas3633

I also noticed the same AC problem. With the heavy comforters of the Heavenly bed I like a farily chill room around 65 degrees. Couldn't get the room much cooler than 71.

With the exception of the AC problem and the $20 valet parking, I was very pleased with my stay on standard room on the Ninth Floor with room furnishing very similar to the westin carsurina in Vegas

As mentioned by preivous poster, The Large Widescreen LCD TV's are equipped with High Def Channels and Pay movies, A first in my travels (I've seen many rooms at hotels equipped with HDTV's with analog programming).


As far as Platinum recognition , no upgrade to speak of, but they may still be working on preferred floor rooms and suites so hopefully upgrade chances will improve.

This Westin Arlington Gateway is defintely a good alternative to the Westin Grand DC, and the Westin Embassy Row although, I hope rumored renovations at the Embassy Row will bring it back to the top of my list for the DC area (I love always being upgrade to suite there).

gleff

There are 12 suites currently completed. There may be a couple more on the two uncompleted floors, but perhaps not -- those floors are likely to have larger suites suitable for gatherings which I don't expect to be in the upgrade pool and I'd guess that those will crowd out other suites.

UA_Eagle

Right, those incomplete floors are 14th and 15th floor. 13th and 12th are Preferred floors. I suspect that the West side of the building is going to be quite popular, as it has a very nice view out there. The other side faces other buildings and there isn't much to see out there. Hence I suspect that anyone who want to be upgraded to those floors AND have a great view may have a hard time getting one, especially if they're not Plat.

SNA_Flyer

Sounds like a great place to stay. I'll be in DC next month and will have to try it out. Our office is in Crystal City, but it looks like the Metro stop is close by so I can avoid a car.

gleff

The metro is right nearby the hotel, but it's an orange line stop and crystal city is on the blue line -- so you'll need to change trains at Rosslyn. During commuting hours, when the trains run frequently, I'd expect door-to-door to be about 35 minutes.

BookerNYC

Am in the middle of a 4 night stay at the new Westin (and have another week booked later this month). I'm up on the eleventh floor with a nice view out to the west. Rooms are furnished very nicely and the HDTV is a plus, but I'll second the above comments about the AC - I had it jacked to the coldest temperature and on the highest fan setting, and still had to sleep without the comforter last night. Was planning to say something this evening when I got back to the hotel but seems it's not just my room or floor!

Staff is very friendly and VERY eager (which I guess is to be expected when your hotel is 6 days old). When checking in last night I asked about suite upgrades and was told there wasn't a single one available -- which seemed a little fishy to me, but I was too tired to double check with the Plat Concierge and do that routine.

Planning to check out the gym and pool tonite. All in all, a very nice addition to the neighborhood and I'll probably make this my default over the Sheraton Suites down in Alexandria.

And oh yes -- my room DOES have wireless access (albeit to the hotel network, so you'll still shell out $15 for 24 hours.. still prefer wireless to wired though)

thezipper

... sounds like a nice place, but the weekend rates are outrageous! The lowest AAA rate in April I could find is $229, the lowest promotion rate is $159... more power to them if they can get this on the weekends!

gleff

I'm seeing that $159 prepaid rate frequently during the week and a $134 prepaid rate on weekends.

Moving forward a few months I start seeing "Best Available Rate" @ $129 pop up.