Hilton Crystal City AKA DCA Hilton

I had my first stay of my most recent mattress run (read about why I did this here) at the Hilton Crystal City. The hotel is about a five minute drive to the Reagan National (DCA) and about a ten minute walk from the Crystal City metro stop.

The hotel is across the Chili's

and a ABC Store (for those of you from independent liquor states, Virginia has a regulated liquor selling operation. You could only buy liquor at ABCs, wine and beer must be bought at grocery stores, CVSs etc.)

The hotel's lobby is tiny.

The check-in desk was to the right of the lobby. There was one hotel employee checking-in guest at 4pm. There was a women with two children checking-in before me. I overheard that she had Diamond Status. He was explaining all the benefits afford to her ie the lounge, free internet etc. The employee went over every detail and the poor women was in a hurry because her two kids were running around the lobby. After she left, the employee answered the phone twice, had a conversation with the post man, went to the back office to deliver a letter and 5 minutes after checking in the other women, he finally got to checking me in.

My check-in took less than 4 minutes. 2 minutes he spent on the phone trying to figure out why my assigned room was listed as "dirty?" He mentioned that "he saw I had Gold Status," and that he placed me on the 10th floor for "easier access to the lounge." My favorite part was that he said since I was "staying only one night, I wouldn't need the internet code, right?"  Not the greatest check-in experience.

The ground floor, also, has a bar area.

No Guests for Happy Hour?

I was giving a room on the tenth floor, the floor with the lounge:

                                      

The lounge is known as the Crystal Club is open 7 days a week, 6am to 11am and 5pm to 11pm

I was given room 1000, at the end of the hallway:

The room was a great size (I kind of feel bad, they gave me it and I did not stay more than a few hours. I took a nap. I don't believe its a true mattress run, if you do not sleep in the room. Others might disagree, but you need to do SOMETHING on the mattress, to make it count.)

Facing the bed, the bathroom is directly to the right of the bed. Once you entered the bathroom area, the first thing you saw was an area with a vanity.

                                      

I wondered where the rest of the bathroom was? Was I given a room with no shower or toilet? No, it was down a further hallway in the bathroom area. Another sink

There was a shower, but I did not take picture. One thing I did notice was the room was aging:

 Chipped bathroom door. No big deal.

                                      

Rusted soap holder in the shower. Maybe they haven't gotten to renovating the room yet???

What bothered me a little was the peeling wall paper. Not just a little . . . 

And not just in the corner either. In the middle of the room and large chunks too . . .

I think the room may have had a fire or at least the sprinkler had been tripped. You can see the mold around one the sprinklers and on the walls.

If none of this was evidence that the room was dated, this sealed the deal for me . . .

2009-2010 edition

The view from my room. Below is a highway, but luckily you could not hear anything . . .

Down the hall was the lounge. When I went to the lounge, there was only one couple in there . . .

                                       

There were about 15 tables and seating for 30-35 people. The food was simple. Fruit, Veggies, Cheese and Crackers, Cookies . . .

There was one hot item. Some Mexican, beef, cheese and bean item. It was not good.

There was a fridge with sodas, water and juice. The food offerings were not enough for a dinner, but one could hit all 5 major food groups!

The twelve floor had the gym and pool.

The pool is directly through the gym (I did not take pictures, as there were kids in the pool. I have a policy of not taking pictures with kids in it, for privacy reasons.) However, there was a place to sun, during the summer time???

On the first floor, there is a restaurant, Bistro Ondines. I looked at the menu and it was reasonable priced for a hotel restaurant. Breakfast menu was $7-$11 and Lunch/Dinner was $9-$17. . .

Oh and the suggested price of my room:

HaHaHa . . . I paid 10% of that . . . who would pay $499 a night for this place?

With that sad, would I stay here again? No. 

Would I put my family here? No.

 Would I recommend the hotel to you? No. 

Personally, I don't know why someone would stay in Crystal City. If you are going to visit DC, there are cheaper places to stay closer to the monuments. Maybe you might stay here to grab an early morning flight, but a cab ride from the center of DC might take 15 minutes and $20 to the DCA.

My stay was good enough for its purpose: keeping my Gold status.