The River Inn is a pretty recently updated hotel in the adorable, quiet neighborhood of Foggy Bottom, just 2.5 blocks to the Metro (Foggy Bottom/GWU on the Blue/Orange Line). I stayed with two other people for three nights in a nice-sized Corporate Suite, which includes a queen bed, sofabed, desk, flatscreen TV, kitchenette and dressing area outside the bathroom.
At first glance, the room is very, very nice and brand-new, as the photos on their Web site would have you expect. The furniture made the room look very modern. The dressing room had a large mirror and marble counter - this space really let us spread out. When you start looking around, through, three things give away the age of the building: the kitchenette, the bathroom and the curtains. The kitchenette was everything we needed for a quick stay, but the appliances were pretty old. Same for the bathroom - the glass shelf along the mirror made everything look modern and polished, but the fixtures just dated the place. The tiles in the shower needed a good cleaning. The towel bar was the kind with porcelain holder on either side of a plastic four-sided rod. My sister, who was traveling with me, and I agreed that it reminded us of the bathroom in our grandmother's house that was built in the 1950s. The room's curtains were tattered and frayed with holes in them.
Overall, the room was very clean and comfortable and a great value (under $200 a night). But just a few little updates could really take the room to the next level.
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