A Big Win in Washington, DC

Photo credit: Marriott Crystal Gateway website

We spent 5 nights in the Washington, DC area over 4th of July weekend.  Naturally, I turned to Priceline and Betterbidding.com to help me figure out where we would stay.  I was actually pretty nervous since I had no idea how hard it would be to get a hotel room for under $100/night in our nation's capital during one of the biggest holiday weekends of the year.  

After several low bids, I was shocked to win the Crystal Gateway Marriott for a whopping $70 / night.  Not bad! 

Our room was decent sized and Mr. J loved the larger flat screen. 

We rarely use the free products that the hotel provides.  However, I want to point out that I did like the Bath & Body Works soap that they had here.  The body lotion smelled funny to me, but Mr. J said he liked it.  It was something like Orange Ginger.  Meh.

I think our Marriott Rewards membership earned us a fairly high floor (14th), but I am not 100% sure about that.  Too bad we didn't have much of a view outside.  Pretty pic of the early night sky though, right? 

Food in the lobby bar as well as the restaurant The Mez was decent.  Actually, we ate brunch at The Mez and the buffet was typical Marriott fare.  Fine with me.  During our first night there, I had nachos and some champagne.  It tasted so good at the time, but the combination isn't the best in the world.

This Marriott was perfect for us in every way.  We were only 10 minutes away from where Big Sis lived and the hotel had an attached entrance to the Crystal City Metro station.  Even by cab, the hotel was a $20 + tip cab ride away from Tenleytown, in the heart of the city.  In addition to the great location, the hotel had a Starbucks in the lobby :-)