Crystal Gateway Marriott

We stayed at the Crystal City Gateway Marriott over the weekend for the Excel in Motion dance convention. There were also a few other conventions going on why the hotel, and it was large enough to accommodate us all.
It truly is a beautiful hotel with great facilities like the gym and Atrium restaurant, however, it is the little things that causes me to take a few stars away from the rating.
First of all, the biggest disappointment to me was the fact that they did not offer mini fridges. It’s fine that every room doesn’t have one, but there should be a way the be able to get one upon request-​the lady at the front desk told me they didn’t offer them for «medical reasons»…sure. I’ve stayed at cheaper hotels that have these fridges. As a dancer there for a convention, I needed access to food throughout the day and the food I had brought from home had to go to waste.
Another small, fixable thing that needs to be taken into consideration: the rental movie prices. Come on, $ 18? I could go to the movies for that price, and as a rewards member, I should be able to get them for free.
All in all, the Crystal City Gateway Marriott has a lovely interior and location, but it’s the little things that count and need to be looked at as well.

Best part of this hotel is the shopping center underneath! This is a convenient location and a nice walk to Pentagon mall.
The staff here was nice and accommodating. They were at my door to clean my room faithfully by 8:30am. I had the Jr suite and it was spacious with great view of the city. The bed was pretty hard though that it made my back hurt for days.
With my hotel package I had cookies, milk and water delivered to my room every night and that was a nice to have after a long day in the city. There are plenty of seatings for individuals or groups to chill throughout the hotel. One thing I did notice at this hotel there wasn’t any water in the lobby but they did offer hot apple cider. It seems to be unplug every time I wanted to try it & by 6:00ish it was gone from the lobby.
Overall a good place to stay!

This used to be my Marriott of choice because of the very convenient location, through a tunnel from the Shops at 1750 in Crystal City. I could hit the Market Basket for a light bite on the way in/​out. However, the service is «meh.» They have plenty of friendly staff, but mess it up. I’m a Gold member and they couldn’t find me a fridge or a robe (despite multiple requests) — in fact, after many stays there, I find that they consistently fail to personalize service. This all sounds fussy, but in an industry in which comparative advantages must be proven, I was unimpressed. The manager replied to my survey feedback so I give them credit for that, but meanwhile have started staying at the Crystal City Marriott instead, which provides better service.

Beautiful, spacious hotel with many amenities available. Upon checking in, we enquired about any upgrades that were available. For $ 25 additional we were offered a suite. At $ 109/​night it was a no brainier for us. We found the suite to be clean and well maintained. Our room was promptly serviced on our 2^nd day. Plus upgrading got us complimentary breakfasts at the buffet– Belgian waffles, omlet stations, and the like. The woman at concierge was very helpful in guiding us towards some site seeing activities during our day. Overall a very good experience!

Mostly, the hotel, location, and staff have been great. However, right now I am not sleeping — after 11pm the night before an early flight — because a ball they are hosting recently turned the volume way up to the point sleep is not possible. I called the front desk to no avail.

We wanted room service and ordered a salad of some sort, two Maryland she crab soups, a Chesapeake rockfish shrimp flatbread and a ginger ale. What we got was the some sort of salad which was apparently good, two lima bean soups, a burnt flatbread pizza that was black because it was burnt so badly. and two waters. The pizza (other than the burnt part) had no flavor. We called to explain how our order was messed up and they said okay, we will send you new soups. We got the soups and they are okay. It is not Maryland style and there is NO crab in there. It tastes more like creamy potato or clam chowder. and heavy on the cream. It’s good soup though.
Overall the food is overpriced and not that good. Save your money and go someplace else. (Not the underground though. no place is good down there either.)

This is the other Marriott in Crystal City, and there are others within the brand as well like Courtyard and Residence Inn. This one is further away from the airport, but they provide complimentary shuttles to the airport as well, which is shared with the other Marriot hotels in the area, so they might be a bit crowded during peak hours.
The lobby was much grand in comparison with the Marriot closer to the airport, and they seem to have nicer restaurants in this area as well. Rooms seem newer here compared to the other Marriot. Breakfast and Wi-​Fi are complimentary if you have at least gold tier with Marriot. Parking is also underground as well and it came with a daily fee.
Metro station may be access via walking on the surface around the corner or via their underground tunnel, and I would recommend the tunnel during winter time. The walk to the Pentagon was not too bad from here, and you can see the memorial site there as well.

The hotel was alright. It was cleaned daily while we were out sightseeing. The front desk was very nice and extremely personable. I’m very pleased with how quiet it is. I wish there was free breakfast for the price that we paid. The parking is kind of complicated. On the outside there is a lot of construction going on. I assume it’s for renovation purposes. The view from my window is the pool and construction as well. But over All I can’t hear them and it’s comfortable enough to sleep and sight see a lot.

Good location. Easy metro access for anywhere in DC and multiple restaurant options within a couple of blocks. Hotel was very quite, friendly professional staff, and clean.

This is a very fine four star hotel and conference center that really shines in service and support.
The rooms are comfortable, the beds are great, the linens are great, it is always clean and everything is perfect all the time. That is the Marriott family of hotels, for you.
This one is an upgrade from most, and has that little extra cushiness and comfort that distinguishes a really nice hotel from just a place to stay.
The location is fantastic. The Crystal City underground connects to the hotel. The Pentagon is within walking distance, as is a charming row of restaurants in the other direction. The metro is literally adjacent. DC is at your fingertips, here.
The standout is the staff that works here. Everyone we dealt with was helpful, capable, and positive. Thank you, Gateway Marriott, for taking such great care of us!

I had to rebook my flight and ended up staying here overnight. I was pleasantly surprised. The room was spacious and comfortable. The staff was swamped when I checked in on Saturday night yet were extremely helpful and welcoming. Meanwhile, there were large groups of people having drinks and children playing around in the lobby — they seemed to be enjoying themselves. The area is great — safe and without the hustle of being downtown.
This would be among the top of my list for my next trip.

I stayed here for three nights to attend a conference held at this hotel.
Location: 5 – 10 mins drive from the airport. They have free shuttle available from/​to airport/​hotel. I was lucky enough when I showed up at the shuttle bus stop at DCA, the bus came within a few mins. When I was ready to leave, I came to the lobby at 10 mins after o’clock and was told a bus departs at 20 mins after o’clock every hour. So if you just miss a bus, just take metro or taxi to avoid a long wait. I took metro to DC one day. It was very easy. A few mins walk through the mall, connected to the hotel, within 20 mins on blue line, I was at the downtown.
Service: it was what I expected for Marriott and the price they charged. We had a negotiated conference rate but I thought it was a but pricier considering this is not located at the downtown DC.
Food: I ate every meals at this hotel. They served breakfast, lunch, and dinner reception. Considering they were conference food, they were not too bad at all. In fact they were much better than other conference food I had in the past.
Room: room is more spacious than I expected and enjoyed it. I liked the bathroom amenities especially make up remover towels. Those come in handy for us ladies. My only complain was towels. I don’t know what kind of quality control they have in place but the first towel I grabbed was so thin and old. The one next to it wasn’t bad at all but throughout my stay, I found some towels to be thin and old. I have to think back if I was staying at a motel for a moment.
I am going to ask for fluffy towels in my profile next time when I come back next year

Haven’t had a chance to review this hotel I stayed at in DC back in March until now. No need for an intro for this chain… this is the Marriott for crying out loud. We expected the staff to be extra courteous, public spaces easily accessible, and rooms clean… all check. This hotel indeed exceeded our expectations. The minute we checked in, we were greeted by every single staff that passed by. This is considered as a business hotel in DC near the Reagan National and walking distance to Metro. Here are the goods:
1) Enormous 2 level lobby with several seating areas, concierge services, Einstein’s Bagels, FedEx Kinkos, lobby bar w/​happy hour & 2^nd floor restaurant.
2) Underground passage way to Crystal City Metro so you can avoid the bitter cold weather. Hotel is also close to 23^rd St bars & restaurants strip & Pentagon City.
3) Free street parking (from 8pm to 8am. i think) but its $ 25 for self-​parking w/​in and out privileges. Wish it was included with the rate but I guess this is DC /​VA.
4) Our room was clean w/​traditional Marriott furnishings. Writing desk, LCD, 2 beds w/​view of front of building.
5) Spacious modern bathroom and good hot water pressure too.
The only thing missing was the in-​room wifi but they offer free wifi in lobby. We paid about $ 125 per night which was not bad at all. The hotel was what we expected from a reputable chain and having the Metro within a few steps is very convenient. Will consider staying here again.

So I won’t lie: my first impression of this hotel was not good. It did win me over a bit during the remainder of my stay, but the initial night of just getting to the hotel and settling in really left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I’ll get the bad out of the way first: this particular Marriott is buried in a sea of business’ and curvy roads, many of which are one-​way or which simply do not link up with nearby parallel roads. This means that without solid directions, you’re not going to get anywhere specific very easily. You’ll be able to see your destination as you drive back and forth, but you’ll constantly be wondering how in the world you just get to said destination itself. Unfortunately for my travel companion and I, we 100% lacked the solid directions we needed to handle this mess. Our GPS didn’t even recognize the hotel address, and it actually took us the wrong way entirely at one point and told us our hotel was in the middle of a bridge. Not that this GPS error is the hotel’s fault. What IS the hotel’s fault is the total lack of navigation assistance on their website. This is not an easy area to get around in, especially for a non-​local driving in at night. Put some guidance on your website, please!
With no working navigation systems, no signs telling us how to get to which Marriott (as there’s at least one more Marriott near this one) and no online assistance, we spent a total of 45 minutes fighting with the navigation system, driving back and forth and up and down busy roads that barely connected to where we needed to go. And all of this was after we finished eating dinner on King St. in Alexandria, which is literally located a bit down the road. So you can imagine that I was not pleased by the time we finally found the door that we needed (as opposed to the door to the apartment complex that’s located on the opposite side of the same building as the Marriott). I was further aggravated after checking in by two things. One was just how tiny their underground mess of a parking lot was — this was certainly not a good garage for larger cars like ours, though we managed to navigate carefully and safely without hitting anything. My final aggravation of the trip was when we checked in, collapsed in our room… and discovered that wi-​fi is only free in the hotel lobby. Seriously? It’s 2015. We shouldn’t have to trek down to the lobby for wi-​fi, especially in a hotel as big, noisy and crowded as this one was during our stay.
Now, all of this said, there were definitely things about this hotel that I really liked. It’s a decently sized hotel, and it’s actually quite a lovely one. The enormous lobby is full of couches, chairs, and even a well decorated and notably popular bar area. They have both an outdoor and indoor pool, plus a hot tub, as well as a full dining area and a section just for special events, all of which is on the 1^st floor above the lobby. Additionally, the food that we ate during breakfast in this dining area was actually quite tasty, and the hotel even let my companion and I split a meal with no extra charge. Our room itself, though lacking in wi-​fi, was always the right temperature (no clunky thermostats that don’t work here!) and — between the beds and the chair they’d set up by the enormous viewing windows — had plenty of room for just one other person and myself to spread out.
And the biggest perk of all, this hotel connects directly to the Crystal City shops and the metro via a walkway in its lobby. As much as finding the hotel aggravated me (and aggravated is a kind word here), at least once we checked in I didn’t need to deal with an awful shuttle service like on my last trip to D.C. Instead my travel buddy and I just ducked on down to the metro and traveled into the city, then came back when we were ready each day — no cars or buses necessary.
I am admittedly on the fence about returning here in the future — I’d have to check their website and/​or see if the final destination address in my navigation systems has fixed itself before committing to that. It really was a lovely, comfortable hotel. I’d just need to know that I can get to it more easily next time.

Staff dedication, excellent breakfast, and dated but well maintained rooms summarizes this property.
Regular guest at this property.
My favorite rooms are 1601 and 1701, as the offer an amazing view!
Staff:
From check in to check out, the staff at this property are always right at me service amd happy to help. Check in with Lydia (i know im spelling her name wrong) is always awesome. She takes time to welcome you into the property, reviews your room rate and stay info, then asks what else she can do to make your stay awesome. Ive had her send towels, water, toiletries, and even a fruit and cheese try up to my room. …never a problem!
Checkout is unlike any other hotel i have visited. The entire managment team flanks the hallway between the front desk and the exit, greeting you and honestly asking about each guests stay. They really care!
The house staff is great as well. Ive had some rooms with problem, and German (service director) personally saw too it that all issues were resolved. What dedication!
Rooms:
The rooms here are obviously dated, with aged styling and older technology. The rooms are exquisitely clean and maintained. I think you would be hard pressed to find run down items or finishes in these rooms. Additionally, the bedding is wonderfully soft and fresh. The hot water is extremely hot (about 180° F) so be careful whwn you take that early morning shower. Televisions are decent, but the outdated remotes and hotel managed content system is flaky.
Food:
The breakfast in the restaurant is superb. Whatever you can dream of, they have in ample quantity. Assorted nuts and dried fruits, meats, salmon, cheeses, pastries, cook to order hash and omlets and waffles amd french toast, various sausages, bacon, breads, biscuits, amd much much more. If you stay here, treat yourself to this breakfast. You wont regret it!
Dinner items are not as amazing. The steak is bland and usually cooked incorrectly. The burger is good, but the hamburger buns are crusty and seemingly old. The one evening highlight is the house special Krispy Kreme doughnut bread pudding with Jack Daniel’s glaze. Its excellent!
Overall, this is easily the best choice in crystal city. Try it out and see what you think!

Old hotel. The rooms look pretty much like those in any other older Marriott. Nothing too special about the place at all… the staff were nice and the rate ($ 149 a night) was very reasonable. I’d probably stay there again. Wifi is not free though.

This hotel has some great staff. A little boy with sever Hemophilia lost Rexie (a stuffed animal who is with him when he gets Factot VIII injections) inside of a wall. This Marriott pulled out all the stops and rescued Rexie from inside the wall. Thanks goes to the GM and building engineers. It was a difficult task.
The place is extra special — not your run of the mill Marriott.

Dieses Hotel ist wirklich ausgesprochen gut. Angefangen von der Lage, direkt an der Crystal City&der Metro über den Service, am Telefon und an der Rezeption wirklich ausgezeichnet, bis hin zu den Zimmern und dem Hotel an sich welche sehr sauber sind und alles beinhalten, was man gerne in einem gehobeneren Amerikanischen Hotel haben möchte, ist alles top.
Das einzige Manko:
Wifi ist nicht gratis, nur in der Lobby, aber dort auch nicht flächendeckend und nur sehr langsam.

Upon walking into our room we saw the bed had been messed up and there was a open condom wrapper on the night stand. Then as my girlfriend walked into the bathroom she saw the used condom in the toilet. This is the 3^rd incident I’ve had at a Marriott hotel and it will be the last.

I got a room over the weekend on short notice for $ 75 (including all taxes) on
through their discount option (not pick your price, but the other one). I would definitely not stay here if I had to pay the rates they were offering directly, which seemed to range from $ 108 — $ 188 when I looked.
Pros:
–Great building and rooms. Very modern, sleek, clean.
–Great access to the metro. You don’t even have to go outside, you just use tunnels.
–Helpful staff
Cons:
–The fee for wifi in the rooms seems crazy to me ($ 13 or so?)
–The overnight parking fee is $ 26. I’d recommend parking on the street (free overnight) and just moving it in the morning.
–I wish they had cruelty-​free, fragrance-​free toiletries.

Crystal Gateway Marriott is located in Arlington, VA. It is pretty close to DCA and the hotel offers a free shuttle for transportation from DCA to the hotel and back.
I stayed here one night and attended a conference here the next day.
The hotel lobby is nice. The staff at the front desk were friendly and efficient.
The room was adequate and acceptable for the price point. The bed was comfortable and the room was adequately stocked with towels and toiletries. Overall the room was nice but nothing special.
The conference rooms were spacious and a comfortable temperate. We had everything we needed except the internet was down most of the morning.
This was not my very favorite hotel but I would happily return.