Stay Report: Hyatt Place Arlington/Courthouse Plaza
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)
The hotel in D.C. has only been open for a little over one year, and it is located on Wilson Boulevard within walking distance to many shops, restaurants, and to the two or three metro stations. There are two entrances to the hotel, one from the street one from a faux side street for cars to pull into for the valet. As you walked into the lobby, it smelled really nice and overall looked modern and fresh, but overall it was small. You entered into a small seating area and then proceeded to the check-in counters which were right in front of you. To the right of the check-in counters was the elevator, and connected to the check-in desk on the left was the bar/restaurant. There were seating areas all around and behind the elevators was a small space for the breakfast area. As I said, it was a compact seating area and felt even more compact when the breakfast rush was in full swing.
Hyatt had emailed the possibility to do online check-in so that is what I did and I received an email when my room was ready so all I had to do was collect the key. Unlike other hotels, such as Hilton, I was not able to preselect my room at check-in but I could change my room when I went to collect my key; the process to collect my key was very quick and efficient. Once I received my key, I had to use to access the elevators to the room. I was on the 6th floor, and the hotel overall has 8 floors. The hallways to the room were a bit narrow so they could fit the luggage cart but could not fit the luggage cart plus guest side by side; luckily the narrowness did not extend to the rooms as they were spacious and very comfortable.
As you enter the room, on the right was the bathroom which was more spacious than I had expected. The bathroom contained a sink, a toilet, a shower with a sliding door, bathroom toiletries of shampoo, conditioner, and soap, as well as a sliding door between the bathroom and the main room. As you enter into the room, on the right side are couches - one of which can turn into a sofa bed – as well as a table in front of the couches. There is a ‘partition’ between the 'living room' and the bedroom, and I put it in quotes because it only extends a quarter-way while the remaining section is open so it does not provide a lot of privacy. Across from the couches, along the wall, is a full size desk as well as a console which contains a TV on top and drawers on the bottom. There is a also a fridge within one of the cabinets of the console.
On the other side of the 'partition' is the bedroom. I had booked a room with one large bed and the bed was in the middle with a nightstand on either side. Each side also had a reading lamp as well as plugs next to each bed. The bed itself was comfortable and provided a decent sleep (much better than the sofa bed). Across from the bed was a the standing wardrobe which contained a hanging shelf to hang your clothes, a shelf on top, a safe on the bottom, the luggage stand, as well as the iron and ironing board (there was a lot in the wardrobe). Because the room was so spacious, there was still plenty of room to move around and the room did not feel cramped nor compact.
Hyatt had emailed the possibility to do online check-in so that is what I did and I received an email when my room was ready so all I had to do was collect the key. Unlike other hotels, such as Hilton, I was not able to preselect my room at check-in but I could change my room when I went to collect my key; the process to collect my key was very quick and efficient. Once I received my key, I had to use to access the elevators to the room. I was on the 6th floor, and the hotel overall has 8 floors. The hallways to the room were a bit narrow so they could fit the luggage cart but could not fit the luggage cart plus guest side by side; luckily the narrowness did not extend to the rooms as they were spacious and very comfortable.
As you enter the room, on the right was the bathroom which was more spacious than I had expected. The bathroom contained a sink, a toilet, a shower with a sliding door, bathroom toiletries of shampoo, conditioner, and soap, as well as a sliding door between the bathroom and the main room. As you enter into the room, on the right side are couches - one of which can turn into a sofa bed – as well as a table in front of the couches. There is a ‘partition’ between the 'living room' and the bedroom, and I put it in quotes because it only extends a quarter-way while the remaining section is open so it does not provide a lot of privacy. Across from the couches, along the wall, is a full size desk as well as a console which contains a TV on top and drawers on the bottom. There is a also a fridge within one of the cabinets of the console.
On the other side of the 'partition' is the bedroom. I had booked a room with one large bed and the bed was in the middle with a nightstand on either side. Each side also had a reading lamp as well as plugs next to each bed. The bed itself was comfortable and provided a decent sleep (much better than the sofa bed). Across from the bed was a the standing wardrobe which contained a hanging shelf to hang your clothes, a shelf on top, a safe on the bottom, the luggage stand, as well as the iron and ironing board (there was a lot in the wardrobe). Because the room was so spacious, there was still plenty of room to move around and the room did not feel cramped nor compact. 
The Hyatt Place does offer free facilities for its guests to enjoy such as complimentary parking, complimentary wifi (for members - some hotels enforce and check while this hotel did not), and complimentary breakfast. The hotel also provides a fitness center, a business center, and valet parking. The complimentary breakfast was standard which cereal, eggs, fruits, and coffee but the place where the breakfast was staged was way too small given the amount of guests and the seating area definitely could not handle the capacity of the hotel. The wifi was also not strong and could not handle the large number of guests in the hotel - if you had two devices you had to choose which one you wanted to connect to wifi. 
Overall, it was an interesting stay at the Hyatt Place. The rooms were spacious, the beds were comfortable, and the location was great as it was within walking distance to many items. The negatives were that the wifi was bad, the hotel could not handle the capacity for breakfast, the elevator broke down on the second night, and the housekeeping was understaffed so did not service the rooms on the last night (and the hotel is only one year old). I have had some great stays at Hyatt Place and some awful stays and this was in the middle - so while I wouldn't rush to book the hotel again, I also would not avoid it either. 