Crowne Plaza Hotel - Silver Springs, MD: B+

I stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Silver Springs, MD for a week on business. Overall, it is a good hotel that has only a couple of areas for improvement.

The room size was good. Given this is right next DC, I expected the rooms to be a bit smaller. But they were what I would consider a standard size room. It had plenty of room for a desk, sofa, and chair along with a king bed. The heat/AC worked fine.

The bed was solid with plenty of support. It was a bit too firm. But it was a quality bed. Oddly, it had 4 half size pillows. They worked but I can't figure out why they don't have full size pillows. Included in the room were several items to help you sleep. It came with ear plugs, an eye mask, a lightly scented "linen" spray, and a CD with relaxation techniques and some soft music. A very nice touch.

Always a source of anxiety, the alarm clock was extremely complicated. The manual should have been included in the room. The alarm clock had a touch screen which I've never seen before. It took me 10 minutes to figure out how to turn the radio on instead of the CD player for the alarm.

The TV could use a few more channels and reception on a couple of channels was fuzzy. The hotel also has free wi-fi access throughout (including the restaurant). The desk and chair were comfortable for laptop usage. A few more outlets would have been good.

The bathroom was a normal size and perfectly clean. All the normal personal care items (soap, etc.) were included and were of good quality. The coffee maker in my room didn't work.

The decor in the room was fine. What was odd was the choice of "castle brick" wallpaper in the hallway. It was truly hideous.

The restaurant in the hotel was pretty good. I ate there three times. The crab cakes used jumbo lump meat and had little filler. They were very good. The filet minion was very good and perfectly cooked. The chicken picatta was also very good with a fine caper sauce. One disappointment is the salad. It looks like basic iceberg lettuce salad mix from the super market with a slice of cucumber, some soggy crutons, and some canned sliced olives. Dressing was on the side and home quality. Another problem was the side vegetables. They were cooked well it's just they looked very tired. It was puzzling since by looking at them you'd think they were cooked to death either by boiling or steaming. Instead they were crisp. Odd.

Again, a pretty good hotel with little to detract from it. Perhaps a better choice of wallpaper and a bit more detail in the kitchen could help. But, definitely a good choice for the area.