The most quiet hotel room ever: Bethesda Marriott Suites

In a post I had recently, Gene made the following comment:

Avoid Doubletree Bellevue Hotel room 530 (A review)

There really is no such thing as a quiet hotel room, I’m convinced.

Well, to be clear, I’m not exactly the most sensitive sleeper out there. For 3 years, I lived within the vicinity of an ER ambulence bay, or the main route for ambulences heading towards the ER.

In fact, one of my best nights of sleep was actually at a place where there was some mild road noise and police sirens. I once stayed at the Marriott World Trade Center (courtesy of Lehman Bros). My room had a great view over West St, and even though it was high up, there was still a fair bit of road noise. I’ve also stayed at a variety of other urban hotels without quibble: Sheraton NY, W Union Square, W San Francisco, Marriott San Francisco, Westin St. Francis San Francisco, etc.

It’s just that Doubletree had so much big rig noise at night. Yipes!

So here’s the twist: I once stayed at hotel that was so quiet that I was actually slightly unnerved, and had trouble falling asleep. It was in the Fall of 1999, when IBM took me out to interview for a position at their Global Services division. They paid for a room at the Bethesda Marriott Suites. Here’s a picture of it from Windows Live Local:

Out there in the middle of a corporate park, surrounded by nowhere, it was unbelievably quiet. Also, the rooms there are suites, so they are enormous – and equally quiet. If you’re looking for insanely quiet, try going there on a Saturday.

(BTW, if you’re looking for a place to stay where you’ll see people puking and people shouting all night long, try the Travelodge South Strip. Great location, great prices, but oh so shady!)