Let me start by saying that I stayed at Oakwood Rosslyn, VA for about two months until I couldn't take it anymore. The building is the ugliest structure in the neighborhood, circa 1960, dark depressing brown. The lobby looks deceptively OK. Inside the apartments, it is just as depressing as looking at the building from the outside.
I have no complaints about the neighborhood (extremely convenient, lots of restaurants, close to metro, dry cleaners, Safeway, 15 minute walk to Georgetown, etc...).
Mind that it is in close proximity to a fire station, but it wasn't an issue for me.
I lived in a one bedroom, overlooking the front of the building.
The vertical blinds are very old and kept falling out of their holders.
I tried to fix them myself but they kept falling out.
When I requested service on that, they came and did the same thing I did: put the parts back in and they fell out after ten minutes. So, when you close the blinds there were gaping holes and the light from the street went in.
Then, there was the issue of plumbing.
It was maddening. I made service requests 2-3 times a week. I had a problem with every piece of plumbing in my apartment. They came to me on Thanksgiving and told me not to use the kitchen sink until further notice (the notice came the next day).
The furnishings are old and out of style. Not clean at all. I was very squamish about sitting on stuff. So I brought some cover ups from home for the couch and the armchair and covered the chairs with towels.
Now, regarding the reception team...terrible customer service (the maintenance people are actually nice and even though they slowly fixed my plumbing problems for good on maybe the tenth call, at least they tried and they responded quickly), but I mean the people at the front desk.
Not nice at all. One time I was so frustrated with my plumbing situation that I asked them to move me to a different apartment and the girl at the front desk said that will charge me 250 dollars for within Oakwood move! I inquired whether it would be better for business if I moved out altogether on account of this problem and she gave me a "You have to do what's best for you" response (which actually I did, thankfully).
The gym is a joke. It is small, has two treadmill machines, and there's no place to sit down on the floor to stretch.
The wireless internet is slow and unpredictable.
The phone I was afraid to touch, because they said it was free for like 20 mile radius.
It is ridiculously expensive.
I was at $114 a day housing allowance and they made it look like they were doing me a favor by taking me in.
Most people there are actually State Department employees and I know that they pay a lot more than that because the State Dep has some kind of a contract with them.
It's ridiculous! They are robbers.
I would never recommend it to anyone.
If you have other options use them first.
Leave this as a LAST resource only!
And in the end, they gave me a 10 am move out deadline. Even hotels give you more time to pack your suitcase and in this case you have to pack months and months of your life.
So realistically, you have to move your stuff the night before.