Just finished a weekend stay at the JW Marriott in downtown DC. Nice place, nice room with a great view, weekend C-lounge, no complaints.

But it got me to thinking...what, exactly, makes a hotel a "JW" Marriott instead of a regular Marriott? Since some Marriotts have weekend lounges and some JW's don't even have lounges, I don't think that's it. The quality of the room and of the C-lounge was on-par with a nice Marriott or Renaissance. But nowhere near a Ritz in terms of atmosphere, luxury, quality, or whatever. Just a nice hotel, like I'd expect from a good Marriott or Renaissance.

So...did I miss something? I will certainly return to this particular hotel again, but if it weren't for the weekend lounge, I wouldn't pay *extra* to return (over another Mar/Ren) because of the JW designation.

Is the intent that Marriott designates 1 hotel in a city - whichever one they feel is the nicest - as the JW? Some big cities don't have any hotels with "JW" on them. What gives?