Another W is coming to Washington D.C. No, don't worry George W. Bush doesn't have a son or relative with the same name and presidential aspirations.
Rather, W Hotels have announced their first W property in DC. The historic Hotel Washington (its the oldest hotel in DC!) will close down on January 1, 2008 and renovations to transform the old hotel into a standard W boutique hotel will take about a year, so says W aficionado Andrew Calvo on his blog, Passions of a Zealot.
Lately, we've been bored by W Hotels but looks like they are trying to spice up some of their nightlife offerings. Andrew writes:
The W Hotel Washington DC is incorporating a feature which I have noticed that W is beginning to implement in a lot of their new projects - a rooftop bar (off the top of my head I know the W Dallas, & W NYC Downtown has them - the NYC Downtown has two) which is something that not too many major brand hotels seem to have.
While the W Hotel DC will be across from the White House, Dubya won't be able to live near his former digs as this W won't have residences inside.
Fourth of July is just two weeks away so in case you are headed to a big city for some fireworks fun, we'll be taking a look at hotels with prime fireworks views. Have a favorite hotel for gawking at bombs bursting in air? Send it our way.
The Hotel Washington is taking reservations for a seven-course dinner in its rooftop Sky Terrace Restaurant for the Fourth of July. The hotel is a stone's throw - okay, two blocks - from The Washington Monument. This nationally televised fireworks display, watched by millions, is launched several hundred yards to the west of the monument, so we're talking about serious ringside seats here.
With the National Symphony Orchestra playing at The U.S. Capitol, the effect is as cinematic as it is patriotic. Plus, you'll avoid the claustrophobic mob scene and security checks down on The Mall.
[Ed. Note: Welcome to our Good Rate/Bad Rate feature where we look at hotel prices in the same city and decide which one most deserves your hard-earned benjamins. Rates quoted here were captured on April 9, 2007 and are subject to change. Enjoy.]
Something tells us this year's April 22 Earth Day event in Washington D.C. is going to get a lot of attention. There should be plenty of fireworks around Capitol Hill, including inside the halls of Congress.
If you plan to attend the Earth Day event but enjoy feeling as out of place as a Greenpeace activist at the Detroit Auto Show, we would suggest the JW Marriott Pennsylvania Avenue. You can mix it up with the corporate lobbyists for $429 or more in a "Quality City View Room." (Travelocity had it listed at $429, Expedia and Hotels.com at $489.)
Rooms that fall under the "Quality Room" designation are only $199 though, which begs two questions. First, what's "quality" about it? Isn't this like a hotel ironically calling its smallest standards "superior" rooms? Second, just how good does a view have to be to warrant a doubling in price?
It's not like you get all that much for your money either, especially compared to this week's Good Rate at Kimpton's Palomar. Here is the amenities description: "One king bed or two double beds. City view. Desk. Wireless Internet access (surcharge). TV with premium cable channels, pay movies, and video games. Coffee/tea maker and minibar. Hair dryer. Iron/ironing board. In-room safe. Complimentary newspaper." Yawn, yawn, and since this is the weekend, so you probably don't even get that 75 cent newspaper.
This impersonal behemoth has 772 rooms and judging by the reviews on TripAdvisor, looks and feels about the same as any other one in the chain. Recycle some of your cash by staying elsewhere.
[Ed. Note: Hotel Maven Dzot applauds the ballsy interior decor choices at the Hotel Monaco in Washington, D.C., obsesses over the brilliance of leopard-print and zebra-striped robes and practically goes bonkers over the delightful Kimpton service, believing this hotel can solve the all the world's problems. And that might be true.]
In business, it takes a certain amount of testicular fortitude to be frivolous.
If you have spent enough time in any corporate culture you will likely have encountered a situation where you have come up with a brilliant and fun idea, thinking you will be applauded for your creativity and enthusiasm, but instead the wet-blanket higher-ups just dismiss the idea as a dumb joke. Worse, you end up getting labeled as unserious or immature. Best update your resume, pal.
In the Hotel Monaco in Washington DC -- just a few blocks from the Capitol, the Hoover FBI Building, and the IRS -- the rooms have leopard print bathrobes. You read that correctly: Leopard Print Bathrobes. Amazing. Just think of the risk the nameless corporate grunt took by proffering that suggestion.
In a city teeming with indignant Democrats and intransigent Republicans, all completely obsessed with their own gravitas, someone suggested they stock the rooms with leopard print bathrobes.
Just a stunning and completely unheralded act of personal bravery.
Thinking about going to Washington D.C., with the kids for the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival? The Williard Intercontinental is offering the Very Cherry Willard package. For $299 you get a one-night stay, plus your choice of breakfast, a room upgrade, parking or a 50 percent discount on a second room for the kids, The latter is probably the most bang for your buck.
The famous cherry blossoms were a gift from Japan in 1912, that signals the coming of Spring with an "explosion of life and color" in pink and white around the Jefferson Memorial.
The deal is in place from March 24 to April 16. The actual festival starts on March 25.
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by juliana
Thinking about going to Washington D.C., with the kids for the annual 
