Best Western Washington Gateway Hotel Hotel - Page 1

I booked a room for two nights. When I arrived a few hours later, I was told that a room was available for only one night even though I had a confirmed reservation. I told the desk clerk that was unsatisfactory and asked to speak to a manager. He immediately told me that I would be able to have a room for both nights.

On the second night, I came back around 11:30 p.m. only to find that my key would not open the door. I went down to the desk and was told that I had checked out that morning! After arguing with the rude clerk who kept insisting that I had already left , I asked for a manager and an equally rude person came out and we went through the same thing. I had a receipt that showed I had booked for two nights, and I also had my breakfast coupon for the next day.

I asked what they had done with my luggage and one of them wheeled my suitcase out of a storage room. The clothing I had on hangers and my toiletries were all missing, and they were clueless as to what had happened to them. After threatening to call their corporate headquarters, one of them finally agreed to accompany me to my room to see if anybody was in it (they couldn't tell when they pulled it up on the computer!).

First the guy tried my key that didn't work when I had tried it and it still didn't work. Imagine that! Then he banged and banged on the door but nobody answered, nor did anybody answer when he called the room. The people in the rooms nearby probably wanted to kill him by this time. I know I did. He went back to the lobby to have a new key made and opened the door. Nobody was occupying the room and my missing stuff was inside. He tried to blame everything on the maid who had cleaned the room and said she had probably thought I had checked out because I had left my suitcase on the luggage rack. Do people commonly leave their luggage behind and their stuff all over the room when they are checking out???

When I went to check out the next morning, I complained about what had happened. The clerk on duty pulled up my bill and said, "But you already checked out yesterday." Since they were all convinced that I had checked out the day before, I got a free night's stay but what an incompetent bunch of people. I'll never stay here again.

It was convenient. I was treated wonderfully and they exceeded my expectations.

This hotel made me feel respected: I liked the very efficient staff, they were professional and friendly. There were good amenities and services.

Walking in we thought we'd made a good choice. The lobby was recently re-done and was very attractive. But looks are deceiving in this case.

Check-in took forever - not just ours, but every check-in I saw had issues. Everytime I went to the desk for something there was a line of people and they all had trouble checking in. The staff were very slow and all but one were rude and acted as if we were bothering them by being there. Even my husband thought so, and he has the patience of Job.

Our tub would not drain, and the surly repairman added Draino which made it a little better, but it was not fixed.

The bathroom was not quite clean, and three of our towels were not clean.

Breakfast (which was very boring and not that great) was included in our room rate, but we were never told about getting a "coupon" at the front desk before eating, so we were presented with a bill, $29.40 for the four of us! Each day we had to go get a coupon, and the first time they gave me a very hard time about it saying I should have gotten it at check-in.

The hours for breakfast were limited to 7-9 am. We needed to be at the metro by 7 one morning for an appointment in DC, so we couldn't even eat. To top it off, they charged us for breakfast that morning, but we checked out before breakfast even began! I'm still fighting with them over that one.

We were never given a Metro shuttle schedule, and only once was it available when we needed to leave for the city. Once the wait was going to be 2 hours! The van was just sitting there in the parking lot - surely one of the employees could have taken us over. We just got directions and drove ourselves. Thankfully we had no trouble finding a parking spot.

Also, we were hoping the kids could swim for a while each day to burn off some energy, but the pool was not yet open. They somehow failed to mention that when I made my reservations and asked about a pool.

The main reasons we chose the hotel were:

breakfast was included

free shuttle to the Metro

the pool.

All three were big disappointments.

We've stayed at lots of Best Westerns and never had a problem, but this hotel was an exception. Just about anywhere else would have been better.

The hotel was nice, to say it was a Best Western. The lobby was still being renovated, but the room was very nice (very comfortable bed, nice bathroom, no strange odors). I would stay at this hotel again.

The promised internet service was simply unavailable for the duration of our stay, three nights in April 2007. The lobby was a demolition zone, with workers using jackhammers to tear up the floor. I should have been warned when I booked the room, but was not. My family, two adults and two children, were placed on a floor wing with 35 7th-grade girls, who were happily slamming doors and giggling in the hallways outside our door until 10:30 in the evening. After being warned by the 'class trip' adults, that the girls were uncontrollable, we asked the hotel to move us. To their credit, they immediately gave us a new room. But we should not have been given the first room to begin with.

The hotel is very poorly designed and rather seedy. The doors were apparently designed to slam loudly when shut. The signs on the walls, indicating where to find your room, had a white foreground against a grey background, so they were unreadable to anyone standing more than two feet away. I kid you not. The elevators would stop with the direction arrow pointing the opposite of what you requested, and then allow you to go in that direction anyway. The 'free' breakfast was barely acceptable, no bacon or sausage. This is most unusual for a 'full American style breakfast'.

The tarp covering the swimming pool was partially off, leaving the deeper end of the pool uncovered. Was it that way all winter? It looked like a filthy mess. Somehow I doubt that the pool will be open first thing in the summer season. The vending machines were mostly empty. The hotel seems mostly used by groups, such as, tired European tourists or class trips. I only stayed there for the convenience of being near the funeral home where my brother's wake was held. This is definitely a low-end place. It is cheap but not worth the aggravation.