Home2 Suites By Hilton Falls Church

The room had a big king bed, a full-size fridge, dishwasher, plates, cups, and cooking utensils, so it’d be a good place to stay for a while. Check-in went smoothly, with polite and friendly staff. Breakfast was excellent: cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, waffles you make yourself, bagels, assorted muffins, and eggs, sausage, and biscuits for breakfast sandwiches. The location was great, and although the area is still developing, it was quiet over the weekend. A very nice hotel.

You can hear people in other rooms talking, walking, and using TVs and radios, and the windows don’t block the noise. Construction woke us very early, around 6:00 a.m. Parking is quite inconvenient. The staff who are there are friendly and nice, but there just seem to be too few people to help. At least it’s handy for places to eat.

The property is new, clean, secure, and has plenty of parking, with lots of restaurants within walking distance. The shower water gets hot quickly, though the pressure is pathetic, presumably because of efficiency targets. Once the construction site covering the block of the old VT Northern Virginia Center opens, Metro should be an easy 10-minute walk. For now it’s not terrible, but you have to cross Haycock twice at lights to use the sidewalk. Finding the hotel and parking is a mess. You may drive around the block four times trying to work out where to park and where the entrance is. Google calls it “ABM Medical Office Parking.” The hotel door is in the middle of the Falls Station Blvd side, marked by a tiny colored sign. They need hotel parking signs, signs from the garage to the lobby, and a door sign drivers can actually see. The room’s master power switch by the door times out while you’re asleep, so the bedside lamp won’t turn on when you wake up. Keep your phone close and charged. The bathroom lights use odd touch-sensitive switches. Keep It Simple, Stupid, it’s hard enough to find your way in the dark. Wi-Fi was hit or miss, cell coverage was somehow zero in the lobby, and the sound insulation isn’t great. You’ll want to run the fan continuously. The breakfast area seems arranged by someone who’s never eaten breakfast. Put plates before utensils, with the utensils somewhere obvious, then the food. Bowls should be before oatmeal, toppings beside the oatmeal instead of over by the biscuits and sad sausage patties, and waffle mix before the waffle maker. Also, I don’t know what off-brand TV channel package this is, but I haven’t seen video this grainy since 2007.

A major snowstorm delayed my flight, so I checked in the next morning for a five-night stay. They cancelled my reservation and charged a penalty even though Hilton offers a snowstorm waiver. I called customer service three times that night, and they wouldn’t help. Parking was closed and far away. After driving around the building for 15 minutes, I found a spot three blocks away and dragged my luggage through the storm. There was loud noise from the floor above all night, throughout my stay. Truly subpar.