I really like this hotel
 

Transport from IAD

I took the SuperShuttle from IAD as bondiboy had recommended. The van was ready to go when I got in; I was the third to be dropped off. Time, airport to hotel: 1 hour. For the return, the van showed up promptly. It picked up at some nearby hotels, then headed to the airport. Again, this took about an hour.

Hotel Arrival
The hotel generally had about 3 folks outside. Any time I came up, in a van, taxi, or private car, someone was immediately at the vehicle door to open it and welcome me. Another is at the front door, opening it.

The handicapped entrance is some ways to the left, which doesn't seem convenient for those who need to use it. For those of us going directly in, there is about 5 steps to navigate with luggage. There are usually one or two staff in the foyer; 1 insisted on carrying my ultralight suitcase down the stairs.

Check in
I was cheerfully greeted, and helped by two at the front desk. I was the only one arriving at that time late on a Sunday night. A room had been preblocked for me, and my keys were already made up. I was told that the diamond perks are:

• flowers in room. (I'm surprised that in room decor would be considered a diamond amenity. Also, I saw staff delivering flowers to rooms; they had a full cart so either they had a lot of diamonds in the hotel, or every room got the flowers.)
• Continental breakfast (or $20 credit on any breakfast)

In addition, any Gold Passport member can have free coffee or tea in the morning. You just have to fill out that portion of the room service menu the night before. It's the lower right hand portion.

Lobby
It works for me. I really like the quiet, understated, calm elegance. The lobby, then lounge, and then restaurant run along the front of the hotel, and are in a fairly narrow space. Seating in the lounge is very comfortable and intimate. This same space is used for breakfast.

On the far end is the restaurant, which has outside seating as well as inside. The outside seating is somewhat below street level, and has a fountain at the end. The weather was perfect while I was in town, and I had the pleasure of eating lunch outside.

Room
I was upgraded to a junior suite, which was beautifully appointed. It is well described by NotSoFrequentTraveler above. I particularly liked the shower which is adjacent to the tub, and has no wall. I also liked the open closet, and the safe with an outlet.

My niggles about it:

• Living room has 3 chairs but no sofa nor footstool.
• There is a door to the adjacent room. Noise seepage was significant, and something the hotel really needs to address.
• As stated above, the open spots in the refrigerator for guests to use do not fit the Voss water that the hotel gives. Yet if they alloted two spots in the above shelf, there would be sufficient height.

Wired internet is free. Wireless is provided by T-Mobile, and costs $10/day. (There is also a computer behind the front desk which you can use, and can print boarding cards.)

Service
Good friends have stayed here, and I take their stories of poor service seriously. Thus, I was surprised to have amazing service. Anytime I asked for something (ice in the room, for example), the person would ask what more they could do for me. I was cheerfully greeted by multiple staff members anytime I walked thru the lobby.

I decided quite late Sunday night I was hungry, operating on west coast time. The front desk staff went to the lounge to be sure they were still preparing food, and called me back. When I got to the lounge, I was greeted as the person they were expecting. When I asked for ice water, I was given both a glass of ice water as well as an additional glass of ice. I found the service extraordinary, particularly for a US hotel.

There were a couple glitches that I haven't detailed. But I can roll with them, given what a beautiful hotel this is with staff who truly want to please. The noise problem in the room is my greatest concern. I was told that almost all of the junior suites have a door to the adjoining room, so it isn't a matter of simply moving.

I will definitely return to this hotel.

I just got back from a two room, two night stay using my last FFNs. The weather wasn't very nice, and I was feeling sick so I stayed in the hotel most of the weekend. It looks like a storm a few days ago took out most of the cherry blossoms.

Both our rooms were upgraded to corner deluxe rooms. I would call them Jr. Suites, 610 and 616. They had three sets of windows.

I thought the TVs were a little small, and there was no HD programming.

The bathrooms could use a heated floor like at the Paris PH, larger bath tub like the Chicago PH, a separate enclosure for the toilet, and dual sinks. The shower fixtures were all a bit loose, and the trim spins in your hand.

The bed was very comfortable though.

Service at breakfast was very slow. We had to ask for refills on our juice and water and it took a while before they got around to do it. When clearing off the table, a fork and knife fell off a plate and stabbed my dad in the leg. We saw the servers rearranging the chairs and dragging them across the floor, putting nice long scratches in the dark limestone. One person lifted a chair above his head and nearly hit a couple having breakfast right next to it.

I would also have to say that the continental breakfast selection was very skimpy.

I was not informed about any Diamond benefits. We did have fresh flowers in our rooms, but I really doubt was our welcome amenity. At breakfast I signed for whatever we wanted. The first day, there was no mention about Diamond breakfast, so I assumed it would be taken off at check out. The second day, after breakfast, they said that the Diamond allowance covered all of it. At checkout I had to ask the agent to remove the charges for the appropriate amount for our first day. He didn't appear to know what I was talking about, but removed the charges.

Valet parking was also very slow. 20+ minutes at one point. There is no button on the phone for valet parking, so we always called the Guest Request number to request our car. We also watched someone explain to the parking guy how the intelligent / advance key and start / stop button works on the car.

Overall I think we would go again, simply because the rooms are nice and we like the area better than the Grand Hyatt. Even my parents commented that it appeared like amateur hour in the restaurant, valet, and check in / check out.

Pictures I took from our stay in October 2006. Excrutiating detail of the rooms, sorry I didn't take any of the public spaces.

My TH is a very patient person.

Credit card charged "in error" after check-out
 

Heads up for those staying on FFN/points award nights ... my credit card was charged whatever amount (either $60 or $80) they get from GP for award redemption plus tax.

A quick call to accounting sorted this out.

DCA to Park Hyatt Washington
 

From my research, please concur that the most efficient and economical way to travel from DCA to Park Hyatt Washington is to take the Metro train from DCA station using the Blue Line and drop off at Foggy Bottom/GWU station? And the hotel is just a short walk from there?

Thanks in advance for your response.

I'd say it's "walkable" but not really a short walk (definitely not a short walk if you have to drag a medium-sized/large suitcase as the initial walk is slightly uphills).

It is an easy walk unless it is July in 90 degree temps with 99 percent humidity.

The hotel does offer, albeit it is not very reliable, a car in house that will drop you off to various locations within the city. There is no charge either.

Just an update to my "complaint" to Hyatt GP regarding the Diamond Amenity. I basically told them that PH Washington's Diamond amenity is the most underwhelming out of all the PHs I've visited. I also mentioned that no Diamond member in the right mind would choose a Diamond amenity of a vase of (cheap) flowers in the room over 1,000 GP points (if that is at least given as an option).

Hyatt GP gave me 1,000 points and mentioned that it would forward my "complaint" to PH Washington.

It's an Audi A8L with the interior customized by the same designer / architect as the hotel. I was told that the car only runs during the mornings M-F, though I feel that might not be accurate.

They do have some service problems at PH DC. I had Privacy Please tag on my door and it was disregarded three times. Once even after I had spoken with Manager on Duty who promised to make sure that no one will come to close to the door.

Also the housekeeping was kindly enough to wake me up by calling to see if I want my room to be served for that day when I had the Privacy Please tag on the door.

I was at this property this weekend.

While I am happy to report that the Diamond amentiy of 1/2 bottle of wine is back - no more nonsense about the flowers being the "amenity", there are quite a few service issues at the property. My room was missing the TV remote control, so I called down to request that one be brought (along with the missing Diamond amenity), a remote was brought with a dead battery, so called down again the next day and they brought another one but it wouldn't work until they removed the fixed panel above the TV to reset something. Also, no newspaper was left either morning. Finally, the hostess in the restaurant was rather bossy about where 2 of us were to sit at a table for 4 for breakfast (we both wanted to sit facing outside - but she insisted that we sit where the 2 table settings were already set) :confused:

Just used my last FFN here. To all who are wondering about the pool - the pool is nice - just the right size and warm. My kids loved it and was in there for an hour. For comparison purposes, it is much nicer/cleaner than the DC Grand Hyatt. Is about the same size as the one at the Philli HR.

We liked the pool too, warmest pool water we've ever been in, didn't feel the need to use the hot tub.

One thing I noticed that did not change with the renovation is the entrance for guests to get into the pool, down the industrial looking stairway. You think they would have tried to make it a little nicer looking.

I was there this week, 5/1-5/2. Nice room and my diamond breakfast was through room service at 5:00am (a special accomodation for me). I did ask what there policy was on Diamond amenities as I was checking out at 5:30a, since I did not receive one. The front desk clerk said that she would make a note on my record. After reading this email, there was a short vase with a few astromerias, but I can't believe that they would think that was an amenity. The stay posted with just the basic GP points.

My worst amentity was a tiny (1.5") pear muffin with a shot glass of pear juice at the old PH LA. It was dusted with ground cloves which really overtook the room.