Nice location and solid hotel choice but with additional charge
Dec 4, 2023 beckysaurus Boston, Massachusetts
I have been coming to this hotel since the 1980s, but have not been here in about 10 years (maybe stayed 10 or 11 times total). It has changed a lot since I was a kid. At one time, I thought of it being upscale but now it is just average in comparison to newer places. Almost every time I have been here is for a conference (with my mother when I…
Read more
I have been coming to this hotel since the 1980s, but have not been here in about 10 years (maybe stayed 10 or 11 times total). It has changed a lot since I was a kid. At one time, I thought of it being upscale but now it is just average in comparison to newer places. Almost every time I have been here is for a conference (with my mother when I was a child and now for me for work). The hotel is conveniently located at the north end of DuPont Circle and about a 10-12 minute walk from the Metro (all slightly uphill), a 20-30 minute cab ride to Capitol Hill (depending on traffic, cost $15-$26 depending on cab, Lyft, or Uber), and about 35-45 minutes to Reagan National Airport on the Metro. The conference space and rooms are pretty standard for conference rooms. The room itself was decent but nothing remarkable. It was a medium size and had standard bath (shower/tub combo), king bed, dresser, television with direct TV, a desk and desk chair, and a side chair. The in-room safe fit my large laptop but the closet doors were tough to manage as they didn't slide well. There was a coffee maker with regular and decaf and teas. They would refill the coffee, etc. if you asked. There was no fridge but I asked for one from the front desk and they brought one to my room for use during my stay. The desk chair was a little short for me and made it slightly uncomfortable for working. The destination charge is a bit annoying. First off it is taxed so it is really a $23/night additional charge not $20, but you do get $20 credit towards food, which is easy to do since the hotel charges $23 for a burger (it was very good), $19 for a short rib sandwich, and $18 for a garden salad. A regular coffee was $5 and beers were about $8. The thing I did not like about it (besides kind of being forced to eat at the hotel) was that I used the digital key and didn't realize the credit existed until the next day and so lost out on day one. The front desk folks were really nice and helpful. My room faced the front of the building and overlooked the entrance. I would not recommend being on this side since it faces Connecticut Ave, which can be very noisy, specifically, there were sirens pretty much every 15-30 minutes at night at least until midnight. I had to use earplugs one night (the other nights were not as bad). Walgreens is the closest 'market' to the hotel, but there are a lot of good food options and restaurants. It was a bit harder to find a lunch option than a dinner option since it seems like a lot of places now just open at 4 or 5 pm. Nearby lunch options were Sweetgreen, Kramers, Panera, a few pizza places, and few Thai places etc.. There are good restaurants, some bars, a hookah bar, a board game bar, and Assets strip club all within a 15 minute walk. I felt safe walking around in this area even at night but did not go on an of the side-streets at night and did not walk alone. There were some sketchy characters at night though, particularly around the liquor store.
Read less
