Took a short trip to Washington DC for 17yr old son's Spring Break. Arrived Easter Sunday evening and checked into our 1 bedroom suite overlooking St Johns Church, the "Presidents Church". Check in was easy taken care of by the multinational Front Desk personal. The location cannot be surpassed as it is right across the street from Lafayette Square which borders The White House. Lovely large living room (son slept on pullout although he could have slept on a roll-away) and bedroom with all the attention to detail you would expect in a luxury hotel. Both rooms were appointed with a French flavor. The bathroom was very pretty with separate shower and tub, large marble slab vanity with 2 sinks and a high tech toilet with all the amenities. The concierge was helpful, friendly and pleasant.
Be sure and have a drink or snack in the "Off the Record" bar. The walls are covered with wonderful caricatures of current and past political heavy weights and the food and drink (try the Sidecar) are quite good. We had breakfast in the Lafayette dinning room every day, quite pricey but good and the coffee is really hot, the way I like it. My husband used the small exercise room which was more than adequate.
I do have one con...our room was on the 5th floor and as I said, a view of St John's Church. The street noise (we had a symphony of garbage trucks Monday morning) as well as the taxi whistles of the doorman are easily heard even after 11pm. I don't know if anything can be done but thought people should know. My son and I travel with small Vornado fans (yep, weird) and they helped to mostly drown out the noise. So travel with a fan (the hotel has fans as well) or get a room that doesn't have a view of the White House or church. We had another son come in for the night and he stayed in a room tucked back in the hotel and had no street noise.
Even with the noise I would no question stay again. Wonderful, wonderful hotel. Oh, this is the hotel where Pres. Obama and family stayed before his inauguration so this historical hotel has some pretty good recent history to brag about as well.
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