CMK10

Stay Report - 7/29-7/31

Location: Definitely the best part of the hotel is the location. There's a direct entrance to the Washington Metro. Follow signs to "G Street" when you're in the station and it's a quick walk through Washington Center. The White House was an easy .6 mile walk, the Mall was about three quarters of a mile away. Plenty of places to eat at too, I like Atomic Doughnuts two blocks away for a morning snack.



Hotel: I was last here in 1999 and it seems to have aged well. It is a bit sterile to look at, all the polished metal and glaring white, but still a pleasant place to be. The lobby has a couple of stores, a Starbucks with a really long line each morning and meeting rooms on the lower level. The one really annoying thing about staying here is there is only a single elevator bank. This can lead to long waits, long walks and crowded elevators.





Check In: Rushed and by a woman who didn't seem to notice (or care) that I was Diamond. She also asked what newspaper I wanted and when she listed the New York Times as an option, I asked for that. I got the WSJ and Washington Post on day one and Washington Post on day two...oh well. Also, I had applied a DSU and somehow there was a disconnect between Gold Passport and the hotel and i was instead charged rack rate for my suite. It took 15 minutes for it to get sorted out. Also, they had to check that my room was ready, when I got to the room and found it was sweltering, I realized this meant they sent someone to just turn the air on.

Room: The Grand Suite is as you can see, very impressive. A full living room with dining area and small kitchennette and a powder room and a large bedroom with closet and even larger bathroom. My only complaint was Hyatt thinking someone would only want three pillows on their king sized bed. Street noise is a little bit of an issue, but not as bad as it could have been.















Lounge: On the 12th floor and too small and crowded. The staff during evening reception was good, but when I arrived at 7:45 PM there was barely any food left and it wasn't replaced. I didn't use it for breakfast.











Overall it's a great location and the suites are really nice. For $150/night it was worth it and I'd be back, just wish service was a little better.

Mary2e

Thanks for the recent review.

Any comment on the parking situation? The hotel charges $40 a day

I'll be there in a few weeks and may need to find somewhere else to park - my rate dropped by $50 a night, and it looks like I may have to give it to the parking lot I did see that self-park is less expensive, but no in-out

One would think that for a weekend stay they might discount parking a bit...

CMK10

I didn't have a car but I did observe it was indeed $40/day during the weekend I was there. I actually don't know much about parking in DC I'm afraid. I hope you have a good stay though.

Mary2e

I looked around using the parking services, and many of them aren't open on the weekend and there aren't any in-out privileges at most that are.

I may be stuck paying it.

anubond005

Stayed here recently for 2 nights using DSU.
Suite- was of good size. I liked it with an extra half restroom plus jacuzzi in the main bathroom. They also offered rollaway bed free of charge.
Lounge - It was not good. I thought offerings were very limited, and prob worse than few HRs. Had few beers and wine and there were no charges for that.
Parking - Vallet parking was comped for the stay with in and out previlages.
Location - is good and wasn't too far from some shopping and good eating places/China town.
Overall, good stay but might go for PH next time.

Mary2e

Just back from a quick 1 night stay. I was upgraded to a grand suite and my comments are pretty much the same as CMKs starting with post #151 . I would swear we were in the same room

I booked an award and parking was comped. Valet is now $58 a night So for me, it was better to use an award than to pay the $179 per night plus parking than to just use points. The person at the desk asked if we had a car and used valet and then said it would be comped - but it still showed up on our bill and had to be removed.

Unfortunately, I can't comment about the local area, as I have a broken toe and couldn't really stroll and get a sense of the neighborhood. But it did appear we were close to everything.

I'll definitely stay there again.

Biggie Fries

Lounge still leave a lot to be desired?

Mary2e

It's certainly not as good as some I've seen, but they did have a hot item in the morning, along with the usual continental breakfast fare, and a hot item in the evening, along with the usual cold items.

Had I not been starving and not had a good meal all day, I could have easily made a meal out of it. I did have a few items and then went to dinner.

It was also not very crowded. It's not that large, and I could see how it could become an issue during the week, but it was pretty uncrowded on Sat night & Sunday morning.

Biggie Fries

Useful. Thanks!

Aventine

Their pool wasn't the greatest but can't believe they're getting rid of it in Jan. 2018.

myb821

I see a bunch of ppl saying parking was comped via award. Is that true??

rck3087

I would agree with these comments. I will say though that the walk alone would be a deterrent (sp?) in that I was in a room toward front of the property and had to walk all the way back to the elevator section of the floor, up the elevator, to the lounge.

I will say that the walk was worth it because I was upgraded to a suite with plenty of room (1.5 baths, sitting area, desk, bedroom, closet area, XL bathroom).

dpb132

On award stays, parking is complimentary for Globalists.

CMK10

Stay Report - 3/10 - 3/11

Check In: Annoyingly the World of Hyatt Elite desk was not staffed when I checked in at 4:30 PM on Saturday so I waited about ten minutes on line to get to an agent. When I did though she was very friendly and helpful and even thanked me for my lofty Discoverist status.

Room: I had a corner atrium view queen room on the 13th floor which was really nice. I liked the design of everything except the bathroom which I found to be a bit small. My brother, also a Discoverist, booked the same but was able to negotiate an upgrade to a king. I asked about suites but the only one they had was a Boardroom Suite and they wanted $150 extra so I passed.







Other: My family and I had drinks in the lobby bar where we received really friendly and helpful service when they let us order off menu. They also have a good draft beer selection. This remains my preferred hotel for DC activities and was worth the $189 weekend rate.

soliloquy

We need to book 2 rooms. 1 King room and 1 Double room. The points difference is 21K/night v. 15K/night with the former being for Club Access. We are staying 4 nights. Is it worth 48K points to have club access? This would use up almost all the points I have currently and there's a need to book pre-cruise hotel (2 rooms) this December that's probably going to run about $600 if I don't use points. Those hotel rooms will be 40K points total. So if I save points in DC, I can use the points in December. If it's worth the experience, I'll come out of pocket. But if it's not, I'd rather save $600.00.

DH goes, downgrade us? Why not just make us sleep on the street! lol