I called the Hoilday Inn reservation telephone number to book a room in the Alexandria area and the employee recommended this hotel. The selling point was that this is a brand new hotel and that I would not be disappointed. This is not a brand new hotel, it is an old hotel newly acquired by Crowne Plaza. Very misleading.

Got this hotel at a great Priceline price, was a little leary of what to expect based on reviews I had read. We had 4 kids with us, 3 adults. Overall we were satisfied with our stay. Hotel staff friendly, rooms clean, beds comfortable, kids loved the rooftop pool. At check-in our rooms were "smoking" so staff upgraded us to rooms with beautiful view of Potomac. Free parking. Downside: hotel in somewhat unsafe neighborhood, not convenient to King street metro. Free shuttle to metro runs every half-hour but it takes you to Reagan Airport metro, not King street. Shuttle pick-up from Reagan back to hotel was 1/2 hour late. The next day we decided that driving to King street metro and parking at station was better way to go. We requested a refrigerator for room that took 3 phone calls to get. Otherwise, we were very satisfied with our stay and would book at this hotel again.

The hotel has recently been acquired by Crowne Plaza from SAS Radisson. It is tired, dirty and shabby and has a general air of depression and decay. It seemed that the staff were too few, undertrained and far from motivated - understandable I guess if the managers have been uncertain about their future during change of ownership.
In the room everything is old fashioned and tatty. The air conditioning is a huge machine in the corner that sounds like you have a small jet plane in the room with you if you start it up. The desk chair was broken and several lamps did not work.
I am sure that Crowne Plaza eventually will remodel the place and sort it out but until then avoid!

This hotel is currently undergoing a brand change (Raddison to Crowne Plaza). Despite the renovation, the hotel was quiet and clean. Our rooms had great views of the river and we only paid $50 on priceline. The area surrounding the hotel is safe; however, on one side of the street are the projects surrounded by $500,000 houses. . .for this reason the area is very safe as there many police around. The area is very quaint, nice shops and restaurants within walking distance. The hotel runs a free shuttle to the shopping area if you can not walk (about a mile each way). The beds were comfortable, the showers were clean, and the hotel staff was very knowledgable. Clemens (the front desk staff member) was very knowledgable about the area and willing to help us with all of our questions. The hotel staff is a great asset to the hotel. They were able to direct us to the best ice cream, the easist way to to the metro, and many other tourist questions. I would recommend this hotel to any traveler. It is a few minutes from the blue/yellow metro lines making it easy to get to downtown D.C. ALSO, ask for discounted parking rates. . .if you don't ask, you don't know what you may receive.