THE ALEXANDRIAN, AUTOGRAPH COLLECTION

I'd like to preface this mediocre review by saying that even though the hotel was blah, everyone who worked there was very nice. So this isn't a dig on the employees, but a general dislike for the hotel/property. We arrived very late & while trying to check in the front desk had a hard time processing my credit card. Not sure what the issue was, perhaps it was that I was traveling, but they couldn't get an authorization & had to try 2 other cards. (all had plenty of credit). But we finally got that worked out & then up to our room. We get to our room & the keys hadn't been coded, which was annoying, as it was now after midnight & we were in the very last room on the 4th floor. But as I said above, the front desk employee was very nice, sincere & helpful, perhaps this was just a bad night for me. The room....no key for the minibar. It wasn't offered to us upon checking & didn't feel like calling or going back downstairs to ask for it. Thankfully there was water on the table for us. Refrigerator was a college cube refrigerator - just plunked under the window. It was odd. One robe in the closet & I honestly thought it was left by the previous hotel guest. It was leopard, which is fine...but not for my husband. & it just looked used. Bathroom was ok but a bit beat up & the carpeting was crunchy. I was under the impression that Autograph Marriott hotels were supposed to be a bit more boutique-ish, but this one was just really disappointing & not worth it. We always stay in Marriotts, due to their point program, but not sure if we will make Autograph a place we will stay again. I've had nicer rooms in Courtyards/Fairfield Inns. & this property was not cheap either. Almost $400 for one night.

The pluses for this hotel include a spacious room and comfortable beds, and people trying to provide helpful services. But on our visit we encountered a long series of problems, especially with maintenance, and overall, a lack of attention to detail. For example, when we checked in to our room, we found a minibar fridge that needed a key, and we had not been given one. We called down, and one was brought up. Then we looked in the closet, and there was only one robe. We called down, and a second one was brought up. Then one of the bathroom door handles fell off. Later we discovered that the cable TV wasn't getting all the channels, including the basketball playoffs. We called down, and a repair person arrived, and got it to work temporarily. But after he left, it broke down again. And he had told us that a repair crew would have to come back the next day to move furniture, crimp wires, etc. When we called down to the desk about this, the clerk offered to comp us free high speed internet, which we didn't need at all. The next morning, we were awakened by a miserable saxophone player on the street. Not the best experience. We were comped free parking, but I'm not sure whether that was done to compensate for our troubles, or was done by the friendly hotel clerk when we checked in.

Another fantastic Marriott Autograph Collection hotel! Perfect location in Alexandria, spacious rooms, and an excellent pool/fitness center, this hotel must be on your list of great spots in DC suburbs. Parking was tight, but otherwise, it was awesome.

I booked this hotel based on the "Autograph" branding, thinking that I would be in a "unique" property. But if The Alexandrian's steadfast mediocrity is any indication, I'll be skeptical of other so-called unique places. The whole experience was generic and, while fresh coats of paint were in evidence, they effect was charmless. My air conditioning chugged so loudly throughout the night, I couldn't hear my mobile phone ring.

This is a lovely hotel in a pleasant area, and the staff were very friendly and helpful. Although we had a slightly reduced rate for a conference / meeting, it was still an expensive stay - especially considering that breakfast was not included in the room price. The room was fine and the bathroom pretty good, although both felt slightly dated compared to the contemporary and striking lobby area. The catering at the meeting was very good, so I have given a generous overall 4 rating based on the location and food. Slight grumbles would be that the bottle of water in the room was priced at $5 - which was a bit steep since a similar bottle cost $1 at the pharmacy over the road, and there were no tea / coffee making facilities in the room either - although plenty of coffee places close by. The other slightly negative thing is that we were told when booking that there was a shuttle every half hour from Ronald Reagan airport but we waited and waited and no shuttle showed up. In the end, we rang the hotel and they said they would send the shuttle but it then took well over an hour to arrive, and we had a to call a couple more times, so we probably would have been better just getting a taxi. It is very well placed in Alexandria with lots of shops / boat trips etc within easy walking distance but overall it would have to be less expensive for me to consider staying there again.