Hang

arlflyer

Obviously an error, since the language has been very clear since the roll-out of any marketing material that elites wouldn't get Sakura Club access. But if they somehow promised it to you, I'd reach out to local management to see if they'll honor it.

iluvdoco

There's a very negative review up of the Sakura Club on TA. States it's little better than a regular lounge.

- No actual afternoon tea or snacks
- Sandwiches/late evening snacks poorly stocked
- Minimal food offerings during the day
- Staffing issues

arlflyer

iluvdoco

That snarky reply is uncalled for. I'd like to get the full details on the Sakura Club before dropping $400-$500 for a night. There is conflicting information about the Sakura Club, and it's not clear whether they offer meal presentations beyond those in the breakfast/evening. Your review mentioned that you didn't stay for lunch. I am very hesitant about staying a night here if their website advertises a more comprehensive Sakura Club service than is actually offered.

BlueZebra

There are lots of nice posts, and this first time poster couldn't find a single nice thing to say? Hmmm....

Portolan

It would be hard to have "no actual afternoon tea" since that is very clearly described on the web site. You'd think maybe people would complain??? (Of course they would and we'd read about it here.)

arlflyer

It's not snarky - for the record, the "one-and-done" reference was to the TA poster, not you. And there was no snark in my suggestion that you spend a night - you seem sufficiently invested to post many times asking about specific minutiae of the experience on this thread. And it's a lot cheaper and less exotic to go to than the places you visit and post hundreds of pictures of. So I was being pretty literal in my statement.

I've already given my explanation of the economics of the price of admission and in my experience it was well worth the price based solely on the evening service, so I'm fairly indifferent to any of the daytime stuff, though of course if their marketing is untrue they should be held to account.

iluvdoco

Only Flyertalkers K.L. and arlfyer have reported using the Sakura Club. Arlfyer stated that he did not stay for lunch. It's unclear if K.L. did. So the TA review is the first one to report on the afternoon tea service (or lack thereof).

Portolan

Well, we'll see. I have an eStandby upgrade request in for the lounge in November. My point was that if there isn't afternoon tea, I'd be asking for the upgrade fee to be refunded.

07TRflyer

Will be saying there this weekend.

Oregonflyer

Just stayed there. I asked and was offered an upgrade to Sakura club for $150, with no discount (as a Diamond). There was no reason for me to take it for a short stay. I was told they would take $15 off bill as the diamond benefit, but I did not see that taken off the bill. I love Conrads and my room was nice, but it was not upgraded at all and there were a few other things I found disappointing.

• We went to the restaurant shortly before 5:00 PM. It was completely empty. However, we were told we could not have a table without a reservation. By the time we left it was still largely empty. I can understand they had many reservations but that seemed very odd.
• We tried the lounge where we were told they had a full menu. Most of the tables there had reserved signs. We did eventually find an open table in the bar area that was not the greatest location and the menu was not actually the same as the restaurant. That said, the food and service were excellent..
• My room had a bottle of wine next to the complimentary waters with no sign and no mini-bar price list. Somewhat wary of it, I called guest services and was told that the wine was part of the mini-bar - not the arrival gift I believe I have gotten at every Conrad.

Lots of plugs and USB ports in the room, great shower, nice lighting controls, Conrad robes and slippers - more like an Asian hotel although I was told it was either owned or designed by a Swiss group, The interior is spectacular, and it's high quality as one would expect, but I would much rather get actual diamond benefits than have three people greet me at the entrance to the hotel and ask if I need anything. I guess my summary is that it meets general Conrad standards for the hard product but I was rankled by the way we were treated as a diamond in comparison to the way I have been treated in Conrads (and upscale Hiltons) outside the US. I am hoping this changes and look forward to seeing some reports that it has.

07TRflyer

Here is the Japanese whisky selection

https://ibb.co/943tbFY

arlflyer

jefftiger

I checked in earlier this evening for my first visit here. I'm underwhelmed, but I appreciate that I'll probably come off as an over-entitled tosser.

I booked a deluxe room and got just that. I wasn't offered an upgrade and I don't like to ask. This is almost the first Conrad property where I didn't get some form of upgrade (the Conrad NY also doesn't seem to do upgrades typically). And, there's definitely many rooms available this week, judging from a check on the website. That said, the deluxe room is attractive, substantial, and comfortable. It has a vaguely Asian Conrad feel. The lighting controls are very non-intuitive. After a few hours here, I still don't fully understand them and I consider myself pretty tech-literate. I had to call the services line to figure out how to turn off the lamp over the desk (there's a small button that perhaps I should have felt around for!).

I'm disappointed with the Diamond breakfast benefit. I was told that I'll get $25 per day to use at any of the food establishments. But, I gather that that amount won't actually cover breakfast.

Maybe the hotel will grow on me over the next few days, but I feel like I get more benefits and enjoyment from other Hiltons in the DC area. Given that I cannot find any government rate availability at the Conrad through at least September (except on weekends - not exactly when government employees are working), I don't expect to stay here again. I appreciate that the hotel is going for a very different demographic than government office workers. I feel lucky that I found the government rate when I booked many months back, likely before they worked out their rate structure in much detail.