We just returned from Washington DC with our three children (9,6,4). We chose the Wardman Park for the Metro, its closeness to the Zoo and onsite parking accomodations for our oversized SUV. They also promised a large room for our large family (either two double beds with sleepsofa and a cot or two double beds with two cots). We stayed at the Wardman Park for four nights.
Here are the positives during our stay:
The SUV was parked onsite. We did get a very large room at the 'historic' Wardman Park Tower. It had two double beds and a loveseat and two very big closets and a spacious bathroom. The Metro was right at our doorstep and it was a pleasant walk to the Zoo. The workers, specially at the restaurants in the hotel, were very pleasant.
Here are the negatives we encountered:
The lines at check in were long. There were only 3 agents at the desk during the high volume check in time of 4 o'clock.
The Wardman Park Tower did not impress us. The Lobby was pretty, but our room is anything but. We were shocked to see the condition of the room. It was big but it was not pleasant to look at. I was told that the decor was in the 20's style. I say, whoever decorated it had no taste! The wall paper was peeling, the carpet was stained, the furniture was falling apart (they called it antique.. it looked more like it came from the dump!) and the bathroom was disgusting!
In the bathroom, there were holes on the ceiling, the sink was cracked (it looked like its been glued several times) and the bathtub was slippery and disgusting. It smelled musty, too. The diverter on the shower was broken so when we took our showers, water was coming out of the faucet and the shower (more on the faucet). Worse, the hot water was leaking so while turning off the hot water, hot water dripped on our hands and the knob was so hot! We called to report the problem, but the maintenance worker did not fix it (although we noticed wrench marks on the faucets). The furniture in the room were falling apart that one of the drawers missed one of children's foot by an inch!
We encountered housekeeping problems on our first night. We called for our cots, but they did not come until 4 and a half hours later. We called housekeeping twice and when they finally called back, they informed us that it was a fire hazard to have two cots in our room. They told us they will send comforters so that our children can sleep on the floor instead! After discussing our disgust with the night manager, he finally sent the supervisor of housekeeping at 8:30 pm who surveyed the size and layout of our rooms and agreed that the two cots did not pose any hazards. In the middle of the night, one of our children woke us up to tell us that there were pins poking him. The springs of the mattress on the cot were broken and many were protruding. We tried to bend most of it, but our son ended up sleeping with one of us on a double bed (you can just imagine how uncomfortable we were!). The next morning, housekeeping did replace the cot right away.
We encountered rude and inconsiderate guests. Our room is also very close to the Presendential Suite. Everynight someone was hosting a party in there and the guests passed by our room. They were loud, but by they were gone by 11pm. We really did not get to sleep until they were gone and that was annoying! After walking all day in the hot sun, we were looking forward to sleeping at least by 9pm!
The front desk employees could use more training! Prior to finalizing reservations, I had a rather lengthy discussions with the front desk employees at Wardman Park regarding parking and accomodations. It bothers me when employees can not answer simple questions like parking clearance and size of rooms. It took a while for them to find someone who knows the answer to my questions.
Hopefully, this review will prepare others who are planning to stay at this place. It is a very big hotel and there are alot of people staying here. During our stay, there were at least two conventions. We don't know what the newer rooms look like in the main hotel. The bellman told us they about half the size of the room we are in. The restaurants within the hotel are okay. Our children loved the barbeque chicken pizza at Harry's Pub and the breakfast buffet at Perl's Cafe is great. There are other restaurants outside the hotel which we tried , but if you are looking for really great food and atmosphere, I agree with other reviewers. Go somewhere else.
Next time we are in DC, we will not be staying at the Wardman Park.
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