The good: Stayed here with my husband over busy memorial day weekend. The hotel was beautifully appointed, and very convenient to the Dupont Circle metro stop. The bell staff and doormen were extremely friendly. Check in was extremely quick, and the staff identified me as a Kimpton InTouch member. The room we had was a Queen/queen deluxe and had plenty of room. The bathroom was a little small, but the L'Occitane toiletries made up for it. The bed and bedding were very comfortable, and the robes are a nice touch. The hotel was booked for an extremely busy holiday weekend, but didn't seem to be overly crowded. Hotel is in a very safe neighborhood, and you need not worry about being "locked in" for the night as in other areas of Washington, DC. If you are young or young minded, looking for a hotel in a great neighborhood, with great access to the metro, and a super comfy bed, this is a great place for you!
Dining tip: We also highly recommend a local restaurant which is just one block away from the hotel named "Mark and Orlando's." Everything we had from start to finish was excellent! I would suggest trying to goat cheese grits cake, it was out of this world!
The not so good: When booking the room, I selected my InTouch room preferences, but unfortunately only a couple of them were met. I did request a high floor and to be far from the elevator, which was met. I also requested that the local paper be delivered each morning of our stay, which it was not. In fact our room was one of the few in the hallway that didn't get a paper. I also requested a specific pillow, which was not available. After calling that evening to have the pillows swapped out, we were told that someone would be right up to exchange our feather pillows. By 2am, I gave up, and ended up falling asleep with terrible head congestion (feathers don't agree with me) and opted for some Benadryl. The following day, I asked for the pillows to be changed again, and figured that this problem would be rectified after a 12 hour day of walking. No such luck. The last problem that we encountered was that upon checkout we were told that the printers were down at the front desk, and that unfortunately we could not review our bill, but that if we wanted to wait an hour it would be available. We had a 4+ hour drive home, and simply couldn't wait, so we left.
I did write an email to the hotel about the minor inconveniences in our stay, where I was offered a copy of our final bill, and an apology for not having the proper amenities. Being a preferred guest of the hotel chain, I wish something else would have been offered other than a simply "sorry." I travel quite often and sign up for most preferred guests programs, and I have to say that I've never had problems such as this with Lowe's hotels (which I consider to be most comparable to Hotel Palomar). For a hotel of this rating, caliber and price (over 230 a night) these minor issues should have been non-issues. I probably would've written a slightly better review had we been offered something to make us come back to this hotel. It was suggested by the manager to personally ask for her when we return, so that our InTouch preferences would be met. In my opinion, by being a preferred member, your preferences should be met automatically, or something else should be offered in place of it. I just wish this had been done.
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