Courtyard by Marriott Tysons McLean

The room was clean and quiet, the lobby was good, and the staff were helpful and professional. The lifts were fast, the location was excellent, and parking was convenient and free, which I loved. The room itself was good, too. The frustrating part was the AC. It was set to 68, then kept stopping for about an hour after running for 30 minutes. The room didn’t hold its temperature, so sleeping in the heat was really uncomfortable. We complained, but the staff didn’t seem concerned, and we started to assume it was intentional cost saving. There was no microwave in the room or on the floors, only in the lobby. I’d suggest adding one to each floor.

The room was clean and nice, and the area was very quiet. But the energy-saving thermostat uses occupancy sensors, and I get cold easily, so I froze. The shower water was barely lukewarm, and I didn’t even bother taking a shower. I’ve never had such bad luck at a Marriott.

The workers were really nice, and I appreciate them. The facility itself needs a revamp. The room made it almost impossible to sleep: the AC kept starting and stopping every five minutes, making a diesel-generator sound, and I couldn’t turn it off. It clicked several times whenever it started. The smoke detector flashed a green light right in my face, the fridge was loud, and there was a constant loud dripping sound hitting the wall above the bed. There were other smaller issues, like fitness room machines that needed safety repairs and yoga mats that could be newer. Google wouldn’t let me upload videos of the AC noise and flashing light, but both were awful.

The staff were polite and friendly, the location was great, and there are several restaurants and two shopping centers within walking distance. The rooms were relatively clean and well kept. Once you’re awake, showered, and out of the room, the hotel isn’t all that bad. There are several other nearby hotels that offer those same positives and maybe even comfortable room temperatures. I stayed a few weeks, and the AC was the worst hotel setup I’ve encountered. It uses motion sensors and goes back to the admin setting after only a few minutes without detected activity. The sensor is in the hall by the door, where nobody regularly stands, and there aren’t any other working sensors in the room. The thermostat may as well be a toy remote for an infant, making them think they control the TV. If you’re hot and set it to 68, the lowest setting, it switches back to whatever temperature they want after about five minutes if you aren’t walking around in the hallway. Most mornings I woke up to a room above 71. The system is loud turning on or off, and shuts down often overnight. I’m sure this is deliberate, not a glitch. For one full day, the AC didn’t work at all. They fixed it and forgot to enable the child lock, so for two days I slept comfortably and didn’t wake up sweating. After housekeeping came by, the child lock was enabled again and the room was uncomfortable. I’d open the window during the day for fresh air and switch the thermostat off to save energy, but after about five minutes with no hallway motion, it turned itself back on. If I walked up to the thermostat, it detected me and switched off again. Then I’d go back to the desk and it came back on. Eventually I left it running because there was no workable way to turn it off. The alternative was walking across the room to the hall every five minutes so the sensor would detect someone.