I stay regularly at the ES and at the Hilton Embassay Row. I was at the Embassary Row last week, and the ES a couple of weeks earlier.

The refurbishment at the ES seems to be pretty much done, but truthfully, I couldn't tell the difference between the old and updated decor. Don't expect high thread counts. Exercise room is very good. Ask for a room on the top floor, facing north. Best view. Location is a few blocks walk to Dupont Circle and the metro, and a nice 10 or 15 minutes walk to the heart of Georgetown.

The Embassay Row is certainly one notch down from the cap Hilton, but the people are great. I've had refurbished rooms, and older rooms. The decor in the updated rooms is very nice, tasteful golds and yellows. The old decor is dirty-ish brown. On each floor there are two very large rooms. Try to snag one of those (rooms 16 and 17). The exercise room is basic and some of the equipment wasn't working last week (including the A/C which kept the room at 85 degrees, but they fixed it promptly when pointed out). Location is one block to Dupont Circle and the metro.

Either hotel is fine. I'm a Ritz-Carlton kind of person, but I like the ES and Embassay Row locations a lot, and the hotels are straightforward, nice people. What you see is what you get.