Location: 14th Street a few blocks from either the Red or Orange/Blue metro lines. CVS across the street for late night snacks but no booze available. There is a package store down the street on L Street. (I think it was L). Anyways a little further down L Street going west is a "nice" dive bar called the Post Pub. The breakfast place across the street from the lobby was bleh. Small bagels and too long a wait for an empty store.

Check in: As usual, a professional and courteous agent. No suites available

Room: The room was nice and it overlooked Thomas Circle. Huge windows to see the Circle, National City Church and Luther Place Memorial Church (had to Google those to see what I was looking at). Quiet room. No street noise either. The bathroom was different. A big free standing tub to the left and a shower to the right with the sink and loo in the middle. The shower was like an "s" with curved walls, no door and a rainfall only shower head coming out of the ceiling. The outside shower wall was the bathroom wall. That was different - something I hadn't seen before.

Amenities: Close. I received an email from one of the managers asking what I wanted. The email was a a play on the namesake who was an early head of the OSS (William "Wild Bill" Donovan) - agent X kind of stuff. I was supposed to reply all with my requests so that the front desk would get the info too but my email was kicked back as undeliverable. No messages getting through to the front desk for me . I tried again - no go. Next try was a call to the hotel. I did speak to someone who said that she would take care of the amenities. We joked a bit. I asked for the Presidential Suite and an open bar. I got drink tickets, wine and cheese. The CVS noted above was useful to get gummy bears late night b/c they never made it to my room.

Wine Happy Hour: Kimpton white - ugh. The red isn't much better. There was also some sangria and that was much better than either the red or the white. For the first time at a Kimpton, I was asked to show a room key at happy hour. Apparently, this (all?) Kimpton happy hour was noted in a print article as a DC hang out leading to non-guests enjoying some free booze. Very understandable behavior.

Restaurant/bar: One of the few Kimptons that I've eaten at. What a great meal. Zentan has small plates rather than appetizers and main courses. I ate a lot. It was really good. And the cocktail menu was real drinks rather than a chocolate martini and the like. The waiter was great too. Even got a Moroccan recipe from him and a better technique for making preserved lemons. The bill did climb with the food and drinks so be careful. It got expensive fast but it was a lot of fun and well worth the cost (I hope ). I also visited the rooftop bar to use my amenity drink tickets. Same great view as the room but outside with a bar and a pool. The pool was not open for swimming at that point. The bar had a clubby feel and many non-hotel guests were enjoying a beverage or two. It was a younger crowd with bouncers. Much better than the W in DC (IMO a ruined grand old hotel b/c of the clubiness), but still kind of odd to have bouncers in a hotel.

Check out: Professional. How was your stay/do you need X, Y or Z.

Another win for Kimpton. Note that this is a "new" Kimpton and is eligible for a freebie night For IC.

I've had two more stays at the Donovan House since my first posting. Both were wonderful. Last stay had a great upgrade to a big suite. I booked late and there was no amenity but the service recovery was fantastic. I was offered drinks and sushi at Zentan. ^^. I drank a few beverages but was in DC for the soft opening of a Laos restaurant and was too full for food. While I have been whining and moaning about what I believe is a not that great a roll out of Kimpton Karma and many unresolved issues with the new program (suites, transferability of tier awards, etc), it is hotels/staff like the Donovan House that make a Kimpton fan.

Cheers

My favorite Kimpton in DC. More street facing rooms than the Palomar, more upscale than the Helix, plus proximity to 14th Street bars and Logan Circle.

Looking forward to staying at the Donovan House next month as it will be my first stay at a Kimpton. I got a status match to IC, any insight into what I should expect (if anything) staying there as an IC member?

Both times I got a really spacious room on a high floor with an incredible view of Thomas Circle. Very satisfied.

And the spread of the ridiculous resort fees in the hotel industry continues...

As a heads up, the Donovan is now charging a $15/night "Hotel Fee" that includes internet (which is free for all Kimpton Karma members anyway), local and long distance calling, and car service within a 2-mi radius of the hotel for 2 hours in the morning.

What I find most disingenuous about this new fee is that it is NOT disclosed anywhere in the reservations process. I only discovered it because, while making a reservation, I didn't understand why the taxes were pricing out so high and initially assumed that perhaps the reservation system was incorrectly calculating the taxes. (Only the total of the taxes for the stay is shown; there is no break-down.)

Digging through the FAQs on the hotel's web site, I found a reference to this new "Hotel Fee":

http://www.donovanhoteldc.com/faq/index.html

While I have gotten accustomed to resort fees at actual resorts, I refuse to book at any of the city center hotels that are now charging them, so I will be booking at a different DC area Kimpton for this stay.

Ridiculous. And, like "fuel surcharges," applies to award stays too.

Ridiculous. No off of my go back to list (except for the bar).