My sister booked this hotel for my wife and I while we were visiting the Arlington area for a family "get together". She said she had looked the place over and had talked to the manager and explained that she was booking the room for her brother (that'd be me!). She asked for king-non smoking room and had a reservation confirmation for the nights we were to stay.

When we arrived, the front desk staff had trouble with finding the reservation, but they eventually did find it. But when we got to the room, we discovered that they had put us in a "handicap equipped" room. The room was nice enough, but since I'm a little over 6'5" tall, the low counters designed for wheel chair access were just not made for me. I called the front desk and was told that although the hotel tried to give guests the room they ask for, there is no guarantee... and I would have accept the room since nothing else was available.

I was a bit upset, but decided to go with it... but after a half hour or so of trying to negotiate the handicap features, I called the manager and demanded a different room. He was not willing to accommodate my request to be put in a standard room, but I pressed him and reminded him that I had a reservation to return to the hotel again later that same week... a reservation I was more then willing to cancel unless he addressed the issue.

Throughout this conversation, the manager was firm but polite. His politeness went a long way in helping to keep a bad situation from becoming an unpleasant situation. He asked me to give him some time to "see what he could do" about finding a different room for us.

After 15 or 20 minutes he called back to the room and said that he had managed to find a room that would better suit our needs. He gave us the room number and my wife went to the front desk to get the new key cards. When we arrived at the new room, we found that the manager had put us in a two bedroom suite!

The room was excellent and we enjoyed our stay. And many thanks to the manager for taking care of the situation. He turned a bad customer service situation into a win for the hotel and we would definitely stay there again.

The hotel itself is in a relatively quiet area but it is still convenient to all the hustle and bustle of the Tyson's Corner area. The beds were comfortable. And the kitchen was well equipped and looked like it would be useful for someone who wanted to heat something in the microwave for in room consumption (although we had no need for it).

We didn't have a chance to try the complimentary breakfast or complimentary evening snack and cocktail, but other guest seemed to think they were a good deal and a nice extra.

Don't get me wrong... this is not a full service hotel or a five star facility by any means. But it is clean, comfortable and near enough to local attractions that it's a good choice (unless you're looking for a "destination hotel" with lots of amenities). For us, we just needed a clean, friendly, comfortable place to sleep... we didn't spend a lot of the day at the hotel.

Also, I should mention that, unlike many hotels in the DC area, there was no charge for parking... something that can really jack up the price of a room. And the hotel has wi-fi that works, another big plus in my book.

All in all, after a bit of a rocky start, a pleasant stay at the Staybridge Suites.