Holiday Inn Express Washington DC - BW Parkway

Not sure why this location was getting such a bad wrap here... I stayed here 20.Mar.2017 and it was not bad. Probably 3.5 stars worth, but I'm giving it five to compensate for the poor reviews.

I was concerned about the security issue reading here, but the staff was very understanding and helpful. They pointed out all of the security upgrades made on the property and offered to refund my deposit if I still didn't feel safe. The parking lot has a fence, large lights, security cameras, and a night guard. I can understand this is right off the highway and more of a transient area, but I felt safe here.

Staff was very friendly all around and helpful. Good team both late on arrival and in the morning.

As for room condition, there are a few little details but not bad. Rooms were recently revamped with nice tub liners and the HVAC was upgraded too.

I'd stay here again if I am in the area.

Arrived with broken toilet terrible, sewage smell, and flickering lights in the bathroom. Do not recommend.

Booked a king bed room with whirlpool. Ended up with a double bed and a walk in shower. Apparently they dont have that room but its on the website. Clean though. Smh

At a recent event I booked 3 rooms at this hotel. All three rooms smelled like dirty socks. In one room paint was peeling on the ceiling.

Breakfast food was old, the bread old the bagels was hard didn't have banana's for the cereal. Food was horrible, biscuit was hard. Room didn't get clean. Guess fighting in there rooms. Security guard asking for cigarettes. Front desk clerk went in the back and went to sleep. Had a half of curtin in room. I will never stay again. Know thought in the breakfast at all. Guess was very rude in the breakfast room. They were touching my food.

This was one of the worst hotel stays I ever had. I had a business training in Hyattsville (I live 4 hours away) and decided to drive up the night before. I arrive at a little after 10 PM and no one was at the front desk. I called several times hoping that would catch someone's attention but it didn't. After about 10 minutes, the front desk clerk finally came in from outside and there were now two guest waiting to be checked in. Once I arrived to the room, the window was wide open so everything in the room was damp including the bed. I checked out the shower and there were bugs crawling around and hair from the previous guest was on the countertop and stopped up the sink! Not to mention there was mold everywhere in the bathroom. I have never experienced such disgusting conditions in a hotel and will not be staying in the future!

Don't let this place fool you with it's pictures! You are not getting what the pictures show you!

Upon entering our room we noticed right away that it smelled like mold and mildew. We tried to cover up the smell with perfume, but that did not help much.

We arrived in the early evening (around 7PM) and went to turn on the TV, but that was not working. We called down to the front desk and they told us they are working on the issue and that other rooms were having the same issue with their TV's also. We called again a few hours later (10 PM or so) and were told that the TV's were still not working. We registered a complaint with the front desk and they told us we would need to call Expedia to register the complaint since we booked through them. Once we called Expedia to complain they told us that the Hotel will not reimburse any money for the one day without TV. The hotels reasoning for not giving us any reimbursement was because we were uncooperative with them. Not sure what that means because we called down twice to complain?

The TV was fixed the next day and all we had was a little note that said "Sorry for the delay, TV is now working".

Another issue we had was with the drain in the tub which was very slow to drain. So you had to take a shower in your puddle of dirty water.

The pool in the pictures looks a lot bigger than it really is. Don't let the pictures fool you.

We chose this hotel mainly for the price. Next time we will spend a little more at another hotel to truly get what we paid for.

We had an emergency situation and we decided to check in to this hotel and the staff are really great and very friendly. And special mention to Thurston. He gave me a ride to the greyhound bus to take my mother and he waited for me until I spoke to the bus driver because my mom can't speak English I had to wait and request to assist my mother to get off to her destination. I'm so happy with their customer service here.

We enjoyed our time at the Holiday Inn Express BW Parkway! Tucked away just outside of DC, the location was perfect to get back into the city the next day while also enjoying a quiet night's rest away from the madness of Washington. We came in late & had no issues with check in, the hotel staff was very attentive & cheery. Our rooms were great, roomy & comfortable. We didn't get to use the pool but it looked great! Breakfast the next morning was the perfect way to start our days of site seeing the capital. The only problem with our trip is that we could only stay one night!

We stayed here two nights, mostly for sight seeing in Washington DC.

Pros:
The staff is incredibly friendly, and will try their best to help your needs. Very helpful and the attitudes are always positive and attentive. The staff here are great and very hard working.

The rooms are decent size and the TV channels are decent as well. The rooms are decorated nicely, and from my stay, room service cleans efficient and well. The beds are a bit springy, but clean at least and spacious.

One helpful option here is the shuttle vehicle they have here. They have their own private shuttle that can take you to the metro nearest to the hotel. Made it easy than bringing our own car downtown and parking it. They will pick you up as well after.

The cons:

The noise. High amounts of noise coming from the construction next door is incredibly annoying. When we stayed, they started as early as 6:30 AM. Going back to sleep was a problem with the constant noise of trucks backing up and dumping materials. Hopefully they finish this construction site soon. Also police and sirens went all night in this neighborhood.

The area. This area is not safe, it is a sketchy area. We read the reviews here and I thank the other reviewers here. We decided to get all of our stuff in our car and put it in the trunk to be safe. There are security cameras and floodlights, but we still had our thoughts about it. A few blocks down, is even worse shape. I wouldn't recommend leaving anything in your car that others can see. I'd also park in front of the cameras to be safer, and I wouldn't recommend going to get anything from your car after 8 PM. You also have to have your hotel card to use the elevators.

Room noise. There is a lot of room noise from where we stayed (2nd floor). Our microwave kept making odd noises to the point I had to adjust it every 20 minutes to stop it from making white noise. The air conditioning fan is loud but not super annoying. When I was in the restroom, I could hear water flow and loud bumping noises the whole time, especially when another guest was probably taking a shower above us. All in all, I had to wear ear plugs every night.

Ending:

Would I recommend this hotel? For in budget yes. It's not the worst hotel I've stayed at. In fact I this hotel has some great staff with tons of potential. I would not recommend though if you're staying long term or for more than a few days. But if you're doing a short trip to DC or sight seeing, it's not too bad. There is a lot this hotel needs to improve on, and I wish them well. Thanks for reading.