W Washington DC [Master Thread]
 

Not a stay report but I did read this on the Bliss Spa in the hotel. Some nice pics!

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogart...und/12970.html

An Early Look at J&G Steakhouse
 

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogart...tes/12967.html


http://www.washingtonian.com/blogart...tes/12981.html

W hotel gets ready to open its swank doors
 

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/24342.html

http://www.suburbanvideo.com/whotel/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Washin...el/75440182684

Here's an article w/some pictures:

http://www.welovedc.com/2009/07/14/s...with-pictures/

I'll be on the roof for a few (very pricey- $15-$17) drinks tomorrow night. Enjoy!

I stayed there last weekend and the staff was fantastic. I had two rooms as I was travelling with my parents, sister, and her family. They upgraded both rooms and gave us exterior rooms which were nice. The POV bar was accessible with our room keys though on the weekends you have to go down to the lobby and take a dedicated elevator as the space is often fully booked and they need to limit the number of people up there. My nieces and nephew loved all of the crazy furniture and had fun up there in the early afternoon when it was not too crowded. Everybody was very helpful and excited to be working there.

The beds were great and the temperature controls were too considering the heat and humidity. The rooms are not huge but they are nicely decorated and the location is fantastic. Al Maliki was staying at the Willard next door and so there were secret service people everywhere and the road by the entrance to the W was blocked off. It was not too much of an inconvenience.

Parking is $45/night for valet service.

I left my keys in the room and got a call soon after I left and managed to have them fedexed back to me to arrive at my work before I got back. The staff really tried hard to make my stay a great one.

This is most appreciated, thanks for the excellent report! ^

/mod

Now that we have an actual stay report (thank you, sfozrhfco!), I've split the post out along with the links to press reports, and made this the master thread. I've relabeled the other thread as "pre-opening discussion" and locked it. It's my hope that this makes it easy to find actual hotel experiences. I'm still eager to hear more reports, as the property sounds very interesting. I, myself, have a reservation in September.

/mod

OK, here we go, Aug 1-3, family of 4 (2 small children), free weekend nights award stay.

Called ahead and got preupgraded to spectacular room with 2 queens.

Arrived by cab on 15th street entrance. Nobody there to help with bags, so had to carry two heavy bags all the way to reception. Turned out 4 bell boys were waiting doing nothing at F street entrance. So better use this one, as it seems the main one.

There is a CVS as well as a Liquor store two blocks away. Metro Center stop is also two blocks.

No further upgrade for the room (partly because of our 2 queens request, and probably partly I am no longer willing to kiss front desk feet and beg for one). Nice girl told us we were given a 'really spacious' room. Well, to cut things short, if that was spacious, I would not want to see the other rooms. It was pretty much filled with the 2 beds, and there was no tub in the bathroom. Nice furnishings (all creamy/white colour), but disastrous view to a tiny inner courtyard. No privacy and no light coming in. Nice 'Plat upgrade'. Plat amenity is choice of points/t-shirt/movie.

1 set of bath amenities (incl face wash), noise coming in all night from hallway and elevators (was a Sat night). Fiji water for 9$.

When we wanted to have lunch at POV, we were going up but told there was 'standing at the bar only' for hotel guests. Not quite in line with the 'reserved tables'. So we tried to make a reservation for the next day. The girl at the elevator downstairs (who is handling the POV reservations and the crowds coming in) told us to 'either make a reservation on the internet, or call this number'. Impressive service if you stand in front of a hotel restaurant. My wife went up and was able to make the reservation for the next day upstairs. Food was very nice, and the view is beautiful. Prices are reasonable (beer 6$, snacks/burgers 10-16$).

Some other observations:

- Spa looks more like a shop, and is for treatments only (as usual for W, no jacuzzi/sauna, etc.). Sweat/fitness is decent.

- The hotel was very busy on a Sat (much less so on Sun), and we did not feel hotel guests were given priority. In a way, we felt this place still needs to decide whether they want to be a hotel or a popular hang-out/club/bar.

- Morning coffee and water all day provided foc in lobby - old check-in desk.

- Since it was my wifes birthday, they brought up a tray of chocolate and (admittedly horrible) red sweet bubbly, together with a card - very nice touch.

- found the W CD cover in the room cut open and the CD missing. Since I did not want to be charged for it I handed it to the front desk. They apologized and promised to get me a comp one. Did not happen, but was not charged either.

Overall, we felt:

+: location, hip feeling, nice decor, staff friendly

-: room size, upgrade, overall amenities, business/noise

banzani ---



Thanks for the report -- since I have heard that it is difficult to get points on reward stays, I think I will opt for the T-shirt.

You are right, of course, but the best way to make sure that they post automatically is to have some incidental charges. If you don't, the hotel has to jump few a through hoops to get it done...and, as we've seen, they are sometimes unsuccessful in doing so.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Having not had an award stay yet, I relied on what others have found.

I knew I read this recently about the difficulty of getting amenity points on award stays -- and I did.

It was your having posted a link on this very issue! I read your thread and followed your embedded link and voila!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/12010612-post8.html

Trip Report
 

Just spent 2 nights at the W Washington DC. Booked two rooms, one with FWN and one with points - thoughts below:

Arrival -
We drove in from Virginia and since I knew it was the old Hotel Washington, I had no trouble finding the property. However, if you DIDN'T know that, it would be a challenge. On the 15th street (more common arrival) side all the signage still says "Hotel Washington". A couple of the friends we were traveling with (also driving) got a bit confused.

On arrival we had very good help from the valet and luggage attendants. Valet is $45/night for guests, BTW.

Upgrade -
I had been keeping a close eye on the available suites in the days leading up to our trip, and knew that Fantastic Suites were available. When we arrived, we had been pre-booked into two Spectacular Rooms next to each other. When I asked about the Fantastic Suite, the desk clerk was more than happy to look and move us into the Suite and keep the other (non-plat) guest in the upgraded Spectacular Room.

Suite -
The Fantastic Suite was in many ways Fantastic. It had a Fantastic view of the Washington Monument, a large, separate living room, queen size bed, soaking tub, large bathroom, all in all a very nice room.

There's a 32" flatscreen in the bedroom and a 42" in the living room, both with HD programming. There's also a separate work area in the living room with a large desk and a charger base with tips for nearly any kind of cell phone - great touch.

Couple of complaints:

The bathroom doesn't have a door in from the bedroom, and though it has a door that leads to the tub and shower (yes, both) there is no door to the toilet. Therefore, there is no real privacy for anyone using the bathroom unless there's no one in the bedroom. Not great design.

Also, our bed was just not as comfortable as the usual W Bed - can't put my finger on why, and it was clearly brand new, but just wasn't up to snuff.

The Hotel -
The hotel itself is really nice, a modern but respectful renovation of a classic property. It is clearly brand new, with new carpet smell still lingering in many areas.

The lobby is large, with the Living Room bar area taking up most of it, and the J&G Steakhouse (a Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant) on the far end.

There are three small elevators that go up to the 9 floors of rooms, with one of them typically reserved in the afternoons and evenings to shuttle people up and down from the POV Lounges on the roof level (more below on those).

The Bars-
Ok, here's one of the love/hate parts of this hotel - the POV lounges (indoor and outdoor) on the roof level. These have become DC hotspots that book all their tables 2 weeks in advance and are booked solid on weekends. This means LONG lines and crowds in the lobby on weekends waiting to take the small elevators up and down. Hotel guests can avoid the lines and go up with their keys, but it's standing room only.

When you throw in the DJ that's in the Living Room area, there aren't many places to go in the hotel and have a (reasonably) quiet drink. The exception is the Wine Bar that's under the J&G Steakhouse, which is a neat space, but very small and usually crowded.

All this is relatively par for the course for a W, I know, but the crowds and lines in the lobby tip it a little more over the annoying edge for me.

Restaurants -
There's only one real restaurant in the hotel, J&G Steakhouse, which also books up pretty tightly in advance, though they definitely try and accommodate guests. We had brunch there, which was excellent.

Overall I'd rate the hotel highly - we had a great stay - but definitely be aware that it's a "scene" spot on weekend nights. :)

I've been up to the POV lounge a couple times now...and here's some "inside" tips. If you'd like to go there on a Friday/Saturday night, be prepared for LONG LONG lines - like 60 minute plus waits! However, if you're a Starwood Platiunum enter the hotel itself by the entrance on F Street and bring your Starwood Platinum card with you! Go up to the conceirge and ask him/her about going upstairs for a drink. I've had a lot of success with this, and have even negotiated better prices on drinks after flashing my Starwood Plat card. I have no idea if this is an official policy or if the staff is just being nice, but it works. I was able to get 20 shots of Jameson (yes, for a group...not just for me) for $100 after talking to the bartender and showing my card - a nice savings of $100!

The bar staff downstairs is truly awful though...awful service, slow drink-making, and an openly rude staff. Upstairs is a lot better.