Category 5 Hotel (not Cat. 7 as listed in the first post)
M-Club on 1st floor, evening hors d'oeuvres service Sun-Th only
Despite its name, the property is not actually in Georgetown but about a 20 minute walk from it. It's closer to DuPont Circle - Neighborhood for hotel is known as "West End".
Property Details: 9 floors, 462 rooms, 8 suites
Washington Georgetown Marriott [Master Thread]
Washington Marriott Georgetown
1221 22nd St Nw Washington, DC US 20037
Washington Marriott Georgetown (newly renovated) (4 Photos)
Washington Marriott Georgetown
Summary: Nice rooms, good staff, convenient lounge.
Check In
Friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable front desk staff. Clearly trying hard. Good elite recognition and thank you! Hotel was sold out during my stay, so no upgrade available. Separate elite line, but was unmanned. The team knows the hotel and lounges, and they seem to enjoy working here, which makes them very pleasant to interact with.
Room
Standard above average Marriott. Rooms are newly refreshed. Modern finishings with clean lines and a minimalist aesthetic. Good power outlet accessibility with USB ports. Two outlets and one USB port are available at the desk. An actual working desk is in the room in addition to a small cafe table. Lightning, outlets, and wifi speed allows for very good productivity. Small bathrooms though. And some rooms, like mine, have unimpressive views of construction next door.
I will address wifi specifically since it's important to me and many others. I just did a speedtest and I'm getting ~8 Mb down and ~0.5 Mb up. The connecting is stable. I've been able to work remotely very well!
Dining
24-hour M Lounge. Of note: evening appetizers are still served on weekends! Very good selection. Two hot appetizer mini plates, salad, charceuterie and cheese. Lots of drinks available. On a sold out night I did not have trouble finding a place to sit. I did not attend breakfast. All day, however, there are snacks like hummus and yogurt to go. The yogurt is Chobani, which isn't exactly cheap. On a general I feel as if the food options at the lounge reflect that same general above average quality. The lounge staff is quite nice. They answer questions informatively and are efficient at cleaning up plates. Open 24 hours. Fun note: nice candy selection with to-go bags! Malt balls, Runts, Reese's, chocolarte covered raisins. Also trail mix and jerky to go!
The lounge space itself is like the new rooms. Modern and airy, which clean lines. Several separate areas allow one to be close to TV noise or find a quiet spot to work. Definitely a plus to this hotel
Location
Has this thread talked about how it's not actually in Georgetown? ;) Short walk from Metro and very close to George Washington University. Lots of restaurants within 5-10 minutes walk. About 15 minutes to Georgetown. 5-10 minutes to Foggy Bottom Metro station. Convenient Walgreens next door. 10 minutes to Duport Circle.
Overall
Solidly above average. Nothing stunning, but certainly modern with good staff. Would I go out of my way to stay here as a treat? No. Would I happily return if I wanted to be in the area? Yes.
I have some issues with it though (and they are incredibly small).
The small bathrooms, all I want is some counter space.
Each room I have been in has had those Fairfield Inn style "closets". I don't like them. They're too narrow, I can't keep my shirts and pants apart far enough, and there's usually an ironing board tossed in there too. Don't get me wrong, I *want* the ironing board, but there must be a better way.
The restaurant, while it has some nice things on the menu, would be better I think if it had just a few more items. Great tacos, but a burger would be nice. And, hot dogs aren't exactly my style. I'm guessing since there are so many dining options in the area, they don't want to compete.
The lobby, I like it. I like the whole space. But people tend hog the tables there. That's not Marriott's fault, of course.
The lounge, I love it. The food is great. And they have Uncle Brutha's #9 and #10 sauce for your eggs in the morning During that snowstorm-that-never-was-a-snowstorm last month, several of us worked from the lounge all day. The WiFi was strong. I ate way too much candy. I fear the lounge is so good right now because it is new. Actually, one of my stays was when it *just* opened after the remodel, and they had free wine tastings, and even more food. Once the hype and newness goes away, I hope it doesn't just become a boring lounge.
The Good:
The new M Lounge is great - maybe one of the best executive lounges in all of the Marriott family hotels in the USA. The ambience is very pleasant, and the food offerings, at breakfast time, during the day snacks, and evening canapés, are of high quality. The service by the staff was very good. Very impressive.
The Bad
1. Upgrades
I'm a Plat and I nicely asked about an upgrade when I checked in for a one night stay. I was told they only have a select group of rooms available for upgrades for Plats. So I asked if I could have a corner room. I was told that was an 'executive king' and there would be an upcharge of $40. I probably had an incredulous look on my face because she added that all the upgradeable rooms were taken.
As a Plat, I have never been charged for a nicer room. Especially for something as pedestrian as an executive king.
Also, there is a special area for Elite checkin but it was never manned whenever I walked through the lobby.
2. The room
a. No desk
b. No drawers to store things in
c. No closet per se, instead only a cutout area with a rod and some hangers- very Motel 6 cheap looking
d. The tv was mounted on the wall facing the foot of the bed, and it could not be swiveled. So if you wanted to watch tv in a chair, it was at quite an angle.
e. The door to the bathroom was frosted glass, so at night, when you go to the bathroom and turn on the light, it fills up your small room with light thereby disturbing anyone else in the room trying to sleep. I really hate that.
f. The A/C was noisy.
Last edited by HookEm; May 20, 2017 at 5:42 pm
a. No desk
b. No drawers to store things in
c. No closet per se, instead ony a cutout area with a rod and some hangers- very Motel 6 cheap looking
d. The tv was mounted on the wall facing the foot of the bed, and it could not be swiveled. So if you wanted to watch tv in a chair, it was at quite an angle.
e. The door to the bathroom was frosted glass, so at night, when you go to the bathroom and turn on the light, it fills up your small room with light thereby disturbing anyone else in the room trying to sleep. I really hate that.
f. The A/C was noisy.
As has been belaboured over and over again here, this property is not in Georgetown proper, but many nearby hotels claim the same affiliation.
Front desk staff is excellent and the person manning the Elite check-in desk even managed to handle an incoming flight crew and efficiently check me in at the same time, apologizing for the "delay" (I didn't sense any need for the apology). I was also proactively asked if I'd need a late checkout.
I asked for a Suite, was told by the agent that she wasn't sure any were available and King bedded rooms were scarce tonight (Suites were selling online but I took her word). After she genuinely looked in the system, she told me that she was able to find me an Executive King on the second floor and asked if that would be okay. I told her it would be.
The room is located in the "Business Wing" of the hotel which is a three story section accessed by a separate elevator. It is a proper one-bedroom suite with a large bathroom, though it does not match the description or photos of the one-bedroom suite listed on the hotel's page. It overlooks a small interior "rooftop courtyard" (non-functional I believe) so while there is no view so to speak, there is absolutely no street noise.
As previously mentioned, the room is minimalist but well appointed and clean. There are still a few things denoting the age of the property (such as the large gap underneath the entry door and the aging shower door) but the renovations turned out excellent with ample plugs by the bed. The only "complaint" would be that the television in the bedroom of my "Executive King" is completely undersized.
Official parking is valet only and $49 (plus tax) per night. Upon check-in, I was able to find a spot a block and a half away. Upon returning later this evening to unload luggage (luggage assistance was fairly slow), it took ten minutes or so of driving around, but I was able to find parking three blocks away. Note that this is really only effective for a Saturday night stay.
Oddly enough, I had some leftovers that I wanted to reheat and was told that there are no microwaves anywhere on the property (although I am GLAD to know there are none in the kitchen to be honest!) as the owner has made it very clear that he doesn't want a single microwave in the building.
The M-Club Lounge is open 24/7 for self-service and has evening appetizer and breakfast servings 7 days a week. Snacks and sodas are kept stocked and offer a large variety.
The self-serve coffee in the M Club lounge is now illy. I don't know when this changed, but it has changed. Also, the coffee machine now works. Before, it always broke down. The machine also now has a skim milk option for cappuccinos and lattes.
Self-serve wine prices have increased with some glasses around $15 and $18.
You can also order restaurant food and have it delivered to the lounge. I don't remember that being an option before. Now, they even have menus on most of the tables. Cheese at night has been downgraded from a two or three variety gourmet cheese board to standard concierge club yellow/orange cheese cubes.
Overall, I share other sentiments that this is one of the better domestic Marriott lounges. It would be nice if they had at least had some champagne or more premium wine if they're going to sell it at such a steep price. I don't understand why the hotel charges so much for wine when there are so many bars and restaurants in Washington with better wine at better prices.
Room service has been downgraded to the newer Marriott Bites concept. You're still charged a room service fee and the food prices are about the same as traditional room service, but the food comes delivered in plastic containers in a paper bag with plastic cutlery. The Cesar salad with grilled chicken is good, though the parmesan cheese is grated and not shaved.
Upgrades are difficult here. Even just getting a slightly bigger room. Staff are generally pleasant, especially in the lounge. The lounge attendants take a lot of pride in their work. I've seen the same ladies for months now. They're very cordial. Not Singapore or Hong Kong service, but much better than many other properties. No newspaper delivery, but newspapers -- Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post -- were available every day in the M Club and in the lobby.
My room had a desk, but the desk was built into the new long hutch and cabinets. The TV is great, in my opinion. Massive. Like 55 inches or more. Unfortunately it doesn't swivel for the chair.
No water is provided in rooms, which is kind of annoying because the M Club doesn't have bottled water. Only a fountain with three taps: sparkling chilled, chilled still and non-chilled still. You can however bottle it yourself in a small glass jug.