Who says Gulliver was the only one who traveled?

So this weekend I decided to take a closer look at DC. People in my area often take for granted that we are so close and don't take the time to be tourists ourselves! There are many things in DC that you can do and you cannot do them all in the same trip. I wanted to highlight on places to stay in this blog. I will soon be posting about things to do and places at eat after this one. Enjoy! :)

Hotel Areas

When picking a hotel in DC first you definitely want to be familiar with the areas beforehand. Primarily, you want to make sure it is in a safe place, being that it is a large city, and that it is near places you want to visit. I'll talk about them in relation to the Metro locations, which are also important to be near when picking a hotel. Gallery Place/ Chinatown is middle of DC. It is located near Chinatown, obviously, and the Verizon Center, as well as other things. It is a bustling area and a very safe place. McPherson Square/ Metro Place area is also a very nice area a few blocks behind the White House. Traffic can be pretty bad in this area, but HELLO it's DC - Welcome to Traffic. This is where we stayed and I loved the area. Lastly, L'Enfant Plaza is near the Capitol and also a great area to stay. Now, there are other Metro stops near these areas but those are the areas I suggest.




Featured Hotels

#1 Grand Hyatt at Metro Center

This hotel is located near both Metro Center, Gallery Place/Chinatown, and McPherson Square metro stops. It's the best located hotel in DC, just west of the White House and northwest of the Capitol, Mall and Washington Monument.  This was not one of the hotels we stayed at. It got booked before we could get to it. My boyfriend and I still wanted to take a look at it because we were impressed with the information online. Walking into this hotel is breath-taking. You're welcomed with many faces, a lagoon, and 12 story atrium. It's almost overwhelming how amazing this hotel is! There are 888 rooms that come with top of the line appliances, including an iHome for their guests. This luxurious hotel comes with a myriad of amenities including the following: full conceirge desk, two gift shops, dry cleaning, florist shop, spa. valet and self parking, pool and sauna, business center and meeting rooms,  two restaurants, and a bar/bistro. Yes, this hotel is so outstanding! Another impressive aspect of this hotel was that it had direct access from the hotel to the metro stop. About the conceirge, as I said we didn't get to stay at this hotel, but while we were checking out the hotel the conceirge called us over and asked if we needed any help. At the time, we were actually about to go eat so we asked for restaurant options. He asked what type of food we wanted and we replied American (although I wanted Chinese being so close to Chinatown! My boyfriend doesn't like Chinese... ) so he pulled out a map and highlighted all the restaurants we would like based on our conversation. He directed us to the Match Box Restaurant which turned out to be AMAZING! Now that's customer service! I highly suggest this hotel and am hoping we have a chance to go back and stay there.
Grand Hyatt DC
P.S. The Hyatt didn't have great pictures so www.oyster.com pictures were found from google and used to help describe the amazing-ness. :)


#2 Westin Washington, DC at City Center


We actually stayed at this hotel! This hotel was also very luxurious. As soon as we walked into the hotel we were greeted and directed to the check-in desk. There were a wide variety of clientele ranging from large families to business partners. The check- in staff treated everyone the same ,as 5 star guests. After we were assigned a room and key they walked around from the desk and handed it to us and we were directed to our area. Top of the line customer service at this hotel, as well. When we got to our room it was great and very modern and high class! The king size bed was the most comfortable bed I had ever been on in my life.                                 We also enjoyed the flatscreen in our room. The bathrooms were very large and we had a double headed shower. I have never experienced one of those before but now I know when I buy a house I HAVE to have those! Now usually hotels feature lotions, shampoos, and soaps....The Westin had the best smelling, high quality toiletries I have ever experienced. I am not even kidding, I know I probably sound ridiculous! I actually kept the lotion because I was so impressed with it and I've been getting compliments at work on the smell! How crazy! I've been meaning to track down a large bottle with that scent :) Anyways, back to the hotel - This luxurious hotel features: fitness facility, restaurant, in-room massage options, news stand, concierge, dry cleaning, babysitting, luggage storage, and a fabulous restaurant. We had been meaning to try the restaurant but got back too late and it was closed. The great employees at the front desk gave us local take-out flyers we could choose from. This hotel is located a few blocks behind the White House/Capitol area and near the McPherson Square metro. Their staff was just so great! I was so impressed I signed up for the Starwood Preferred Guest card at the end. I highly recommend this hotel and would definitely love to come back again!
Westin DC

Those were the best hotels that we came across but I have a few more that would make the cut:




The Williard Intercontiental DC Hotel - Now this hotel knows how to mix modern luxury and historic charm. It is located one block from the White House. This hotel runs for a much higher price, but if you have the money definitely go for it!   It is more than you could ever ask for in a hotel!









Hotel Disappointment :(





Since I left home and started this whole travel adventure I have never really been disappointed from a hotel. Well when we stayed at The Historic Henley Park Hotel and I was greatly disappointed. As I have mentioned in my previous blogs, I absolutely love historic hotels! I was so excited to stay in this hotel only to be let down. We called ahead to see if we could check in early and they voiced they didn't have a room ready but we could drop off our bags and they'd put them in the room for us when it was ready. We came back around 4 o' clock (check in is at 3pm) and our bags were still sitting in the foyer and they hadn't even moved them! We asked if the rooms were ready and they said they were. Yes, that was my question too - Then why are they still out here? While checking us in they told us that they charge their damage fees ahead of time...odd...but we went with it. We knew we weren't going to damage anything. So they give us our keys and we head up to the room. As soon as the elevator opens we see our room. No ma'am, I don't think so. We still looked at the room and it was basically a cardboard box. It was the smallest room I have ever been in. Also, while DC was experiencing record heat, THE AC DIDN'T WORK! No ma'am, strike three. So I went down and requested a room change and they did so promptly. Our new room was very spacious with working AC. Before we left we requested that another robe be sent up for there was only one. Five hours later we come back...still no robe. I phoned down and nicely requested another one..again. They brought it up. They then called back asked if we had a second car in their garage and I responded no. The next day we went to check out and received our bill and we were charged for two valet parking and a mysterious charge of which they couldn't account for. I told them, again, that we only had one car and questioned the other random charge. They said they weren't exactly sure what it was from but it should go away in a few days. WHAT KIND OF HOTEL IS THIS? The hotel was musty smelling due to the age, the front desk employees weren't welcoming, and we just had an all around bad experience. I highly discourage anyone from staying at this hotel and hopefully they can get it together. The hotel is beautiful, but the service ruins it.


On a happier note - All and all our weekend was great!  We visited some of the monuments, The Capitol/Mall/White House area, and then ventured to Georgetown. In another post I will tell about the exciting, romantic, and MUST SEE places to definitely visit during your stay.