Lots of money cannot change the fact that the Shoreham structure is from long ago, not meeting top standards of today. But before I tell the story, I do want to say that the people of the hotel are very professional and totally nice, trying in every way to
make you feel good. It is not about them. Nor it is about hotel management, technical staff, they deserve to be rated 100% too. So is furniture, furbishing and all that. All my less glorious remarks are due to the fact that the hotel is from a time long gone. On arrival it took me 2h to identify a room with usable wireless signal strength. One would think this is the current standard. Yet the walls were not build to allow wireless signals in and transmitters are out-doors, I see them on the roof few floors below. I am pretty sure that 80% or more of rooms will not have signal strength which allows you to have modern life. The fall back position is the lobby with a fee and strong wifi. Than there was the West Wing elevator: the Shoreham has 850+ rooms and 2000+ guest capacity 8+2 floors served by 2x2 elevators. When one breaks down, that cuts 25% of capacity which is by itself hardly sufficient, but really, the cut is 50% of one wing since wing connectivity is poor, I saw nobody switch wings, but many who walked 8 floors. That elevator issue should be rare, but during `my' week, both West elevators were broken and one was out of commission for at least 3 days in the week; note that I attended a meeting
many in the group wanted to go up or down at the same time, the situation was pretty grotesque. Than there is A/C. Clearly this is not a hotel which had A/C when build. So each room has its own modern unit with a pushing noise overnight,
or you decide that August in DC means sleep with open window (that is up to 3 inch open). I know that aside of me a few people in my group opted for this
solution. To roundup the AC case, the meeting room temperature was a challenge. Not that it was too hot, I think there was just no way to persuade the system to keep the main Regency Room above 65F. On balance this is superbly renovated
old charm with very capable team running it. But the team cannot perform miracles.
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