Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel Review

Booking & Stay Details

Booking this hotel was another last-minute decision. I used to stay at the Residence Inn in Springfield, but I wanted something closer to D.C. if possible and if the prices were acceptable. While browsing the Marriott App, I found the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel. I decided to book this one, as their rate would include complimentary parking at the hotel. I booked directly through the app.

Location

The Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel is located in Arlington, VA just outside of Washington D.C. The hotel is next to the Arlington National Cemetery and has easy access to the freeways to get you into D.C. and around the area. It is also conveniently located near Fort Myers and the Pentagon.

Parking

The hotel comes with a parking garage with plenty of parking spots. Parking is $32/day at this hotel. I was lucky enough to get a rate which included complimentary parking. The parking garage would not be big enough if you have a lifted truck or come with a trailer. Big SUVs like a Suburban are no problem. However, the hotel has a little outdoor lot across the street where they also park their shuttle vans. You would be able to park your bigger vehicle or trailers there.

Shuttle Service

The Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel offers a complimentary shuttle service to Reagan National Airport (DCA). Frequency of the shuttle varies by time of day. The general operating hours for the airport service are from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. and it runs on top of every hour. In the morning, every half hour. These times can change, so make sure you talk to the front desk about shuttle times.

Besides the shuttle service to the airport, a shuttle service to the Pentagon City Mall. The shuttle runs every hour on the half hour. The first shuttle leaves the Sheraton at 9:30 a.m. and the last shuttle leaves the Mall pickup location at 9:30 p.m. The shuttle will drop you off at the Ritz Carlton, which is across the street from the mall.  

The shuttle buses are also not in the best condition. Besides the check engine light, on one of the buses the door wouldn’t work automatically and the driver had to push and pull them open manually. I was also worried that the shelf installed in the baggage compartment of the shuttle would collapse.

Check-In

I was able to get on the last airport shuttle of the day. I had a small line in front of me during check-in as my bags were the last ones out of the van. They also don’t have a dedicated elite check-in line. Overall, it took only like 10 minutes to get to the front of the line. Check-in itself was easy and straight forward. The most time-consuming thing was the agent writing all the food & beverage vouchers for my week-long stay. I don’t know why they don’t do that ahead of time.  

Check-In: 3 p.m.
Check-Out: 11 a.m.

Deluxe Guest room, 1 King, Capitol view (Room 902)

This room is the second to last room on that side of the hallway. As you enter you have a small entryway past the bathroom which will lead into the main area of the room.

The vanity with a single sink and a wall-mounted mirror is actually located outside the bathroom. A closet is located at the opposite site of the vanity. The bathroom itself is rather tiny and comes with a shower/tub combo unit. There used to be three wall-mounted dispensers for shampoo, conditioner and body wash, however the body wash dispenser is gone, only the mounting is left. One single-use bottle was provided as backup. Both of the other dispensers were so depleted, I was only able to use them for two showers. I don’t know why staff doesn’t refill the bottles. There is actually a level indicator right on the bottle to make their life easier.

As you walk into the main area of the room, you have the King-sized bed on your right. It comes with a nightstand on either side. Only the right side of the bed has power outlets at the nightstand. On the other side you have wall-outlets a little farther away.

Opposite the bed is a large TV which is mounted above a dresser. The dresser has two drawers and a door which should house a small refrigerator. However, they placed the refrigerator outside the dresser, right next to it and extended the cable to plug it in. The refrigerator would fit into the space behind the door. It seems just like another rush job at this hotel.

On top of the dresser is a ice bucket as well as a coffee maker.

Attached to the dresser is a sitting bench, which works great to store suitcases or other belongings.  

Next to that is a circular table with a single chair. The table has a bunch of power outlets right in the center. However, this is the worst table I have ever seen you could provide as a work desk in a hotel room. The area with the power outlets is raised, so you barely have enough space to set up a laptop on the desk area around it. You won’t be comfortable using it. If you set your laptop up on top of the power outlets and use a wall outlet, your laptop will be all wobbly as the desk and power outlets are not flush. The desk can be height adjusted via two buttons right in the center. This lets you use the desk in a standing position, but you still don’t have enough space to even set up a laptop. Just horrible.  

In the other corner of the room is a sofa chair. The AC unit is mounted right underneath the window. There is a remote control for the AC mounted on the wall next to the dresser. Don’t bother using it. It doesn’t work. You have to use the controls directly on the AC.

This room actually offers a pretty good view of Washington D.C. You can see the Air Force Memorial, Pentagon, Washington Monument and even the White House from here. You can also watch planes landing and taking off from Reagan National Airport.

1 Bedroom Suite, 1 King, Capitol View (Room 1522)

I left for the weekend and checked out of my room. Before I left, I asked the front desk agent if they could put me in a room on a high floor and she told me she would see what she could do. After I came back from my weekend, I got upgraded to the top floor of the hotel. Well, the top floor with guest rooms. On the 15th floor you have half of the building with guest rooms and the other half is meeting rooms. The best part about being on the 15th floor, you have your own “private” elevator. There is an Express Elevator to the 16th floor which just holds meeting rooms and the gym, however, you can also select the 15th floor. It is just weird, as you have to walk through a set of double doors, which are labeled on the other side with associates only.

Besides being moved to the top floor, I experienced another surprise when I opened the door. I got upgraded to a 1 Bedroom King Suite. The room door leads you into the living room part of the suite. This part is huge. It comes with a sofa bed, two chairs and a round cocktail table. Opposite the sofa bed is a media console with a large TV on top of it. Next to the entrance door is a closet with folding doors.

However, the doors are so crooked and you see it when you close them. This Sheraton was once a top-notch hotel but management definitely forgot to spend money on the upkeep of so many things. This suite is one of the most expensive rooms you can book here and you got it outfitted like that. I got the free upgrade and I didn’t mind these issues but you would expect more from a Sheraton in such a prime location.  

The bedroom is separated from the rest of the suite with a simple door. The layout inside the bedroom is pretty much the same as the regular guest room layout. It comes with a King bed which has a nightstand on either side. Opposite the bed is a media console with another large flatscreen TV. This time they actually put the fridge inside the media console, not outside as in my previous room.

The bedroom also has the same weird round table as my other room had. You can adjust the height, but it’s not really usable to set up a laptop.

The bathroom was a bit different from its layout. The portion with the toilet and the shower-bathtub combo unit was a bit smaller and did not have the extra counter space. Also, the arrangement of the dressing space before the bathroom is a little different. It comes with a vanity with a single wash basin and a large wall-mounted mirror. The closet is off to the side. Inside is a safe, iron and ironing board. The lining of the ironing board was already ripped in multiple places.  

In this room the remote control for the AC was actually working. The bedroom and the living room both have a large window which faces the U.S. Capitol. Besides that, you can see the Air Force Memorial even better, as you are higher up. The Pentagon is also easily to make out and if you look closely, you can see part of the White House from here. Definitely a place with a good view.

Public Areas & Amenities

Lobby

The lobby has very tall ceilings with a mezzanine level. Most of the ground floor is taken up by meeting/convention spaces and the restaurant area. The lobby near the front desk has a few seating options. The lobby makes a great impression when you walk in. However, there are only regular glass doors or revolving doors. It’s tough to get in and out with a luggage cart or wheelchair at this hotel. No automatic sliding doors at all.

Business Center

The business center is located near the hotel’s restaurant. It comes with two workstations and a printer as well as a lot of extra desk space to set up your own laptop.

Fitness Center

The fitness center is located on the 16th floor. You can take the express elevator from the lobby all the way up to the 16th floor or just the regular elevators. Even though the fitness center is on the top floor of the building, it is built to make you feel like it is located in the basement of the hotel. It does not have one single window where you can enjoy the view from that level or at least get some daylight. Otherwise, it is a pretty well-equipped fitness center which requires your room key to enter it.

Pool

The pool at the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel was closed during my stay and it looks like it will be something more permanent as the hotel tries to save money on maintenance.

Guest Laundry

There is no guest laundry facility as the hotel, however they offer dry-cleaning service. A bag and form for this service should be in the closet of your room. However, pickup is now only Monday, Wednesday and Friday, compared to the noted Mon-Sat on the paperwork. I don’t know what the big issue is with having it picked up daily. The hotel only has to call it in, is that too much work for the front desk? Be aware, even though you dropped it off early in the morning and selected same-day service, it might not come in until a few days later. That happened multiple times to me.

Housekeeping

Daily housekeeping is provided by the hotel, however you can opt-out and put your DND sign on your door.

Dining

Breakfast

Breakfast is served at the hotel’s restaurant. The bar/cafe area of the restaurant opens early every day and you can order breakfast straight from there and eat it at the cafe or order it for to go, which I did on my working days.

The breakfast buffet is great, lots of options from scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, fruits, yoghurt, salmon, cereals, toast and much more. On request they can also prepare different styles of eggs. You need to ask; it is nowhere noted. Unfortunately, most of the time the service is also not the best. It takes forever for the servers to notice to refill coffee or orange juice. The restaurant is usually not even busy and it is still hard to flag down anyone to have your coffee refiled.  

Dinner

Dinner is served at the same place and the menu is pretty good with different kinds of options. However, service is also bad here and it takes forever to get your food, even with the restaurant empty. The food was okay for that long of a waiting time.  

You can also order food at the bar and eat it right there or have it packed for to go.

Marriott offers complimentary breakfast for Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador elites. If you have one of these and you haven’t received your coupons during check-in, go back to the front desk and ask for it. The same elites also get a $25 food and beverage credit voucher which can also be used for dinner. Somehow, they have two different vouchers, one is for breakfast only and the other one is for breakfast and dinner. Unfortunately, you can’t use the voucher at the gift shop next to the restaurant, which also offers snacks and drinks.

Gift Shop

Besides offering a lot of Washington D.C. gifts like shirts, mugs, memorabilia they also have lots of snacks and drinks to sell. The store opening hours are not consistent with what is advertised. I have seen the store closing earlier than posted.

Room charge is an ordeal here. You have to give them your name and room number, they will call the front desk and then you still have to sign a receipt, actually two receipts just for the store.

Club Lounge

Just as you expect, the lounge is closed in the past Covid era. Marriott was actually one of the better brands re-opening lounges after all the restrictions got lifted compared to like Hyatt. But this hotel didn’t.

Conclusion

I really liked the proximity of the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel to the City and the view from the high floor room. Other than that, the hotel didn’t impress. Lots of the building needs maintenance, like the not working AC controls mounted on the wall in my room, the wallpaper coming off in the hallway and nobody is working on it. The faucet handle in my room was so hard to turn, I was worried I would break it. Looks like they did a bit of remodeling and painting in some parts of the building, but paint splatters are all over.

Wi-Fi is horrible. I selected the enhanced internet option, which is normally $15/day if you are not an elite with certain status. Internet speed is so bad, especially during the evening hours, that you can’t even stream a movie. Even after I called their internet provider to help troubleshoot, they couldn’t do anything. I am still waiting for the callback from their support team to straighten things out. It hasn’t happened even after been gone for over a month now.

Overall, I was not very impressed with the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel. Many amenities like the lounge and the pool are closed and it doesn’t look like the hotel is planning to re-open them anytime soon.  

If it wasn’t for the complimentary parking and the somewhat good views, I wouldn’t have stayed here that long.