Description: The room layout of an Embassy Suites hotel room works out well for business travelers, giving two people a chance to share a room and still enjoy a bit of privacy. Of course, one of them has to sleep on a sofa bed, and that’s my role when traveling on business.
I spent three nights at this hotel in central Washington and departed with my backbone still intact, which may be the ultimate indication of hotel quality. Not only was the sofa bed comfortable, the two-room suite was rotated by 90 degrees with respect to many of the other Embassy Suites that I’ve stayed at. You entered into the common room, and then the bathroom and bedroom were off to the right, instead of directly ahead through the door. This reinforced the ‘separate rooms’ aspect of the layout, and provided a bit more privacy.
Most people stay with this chain for three reasons: more spacious rooms, the suite layout, and the complimentary ‘cooked to order’ breakfast. Throw in a gracious staff, complimentary nightly reception, and proximity to DC transportation, and the Embassy Suites–Convention Center is a great place to stay for a short or extended stay in the nation’s capitol.
The breakfast was terrific, and although I went down on mornings two and three committed to bypassing a made-to-order omelet in favor of granola and yogurt, I just couldn’t do it. The gregarious chef was fun to banter with, and the rest of the dining room personnel were attentive, gracious, and friendly, far beyond what I expected after having served and seated myself with a full breakfast. Unfortunately, the evening Manager’s Reception takes place in a different space at the opposite end of the hotel, which is smaller and cramped, with the majority of the seating on a lower level beneath the bar. Nonetheless, I managed to enjoy a Yuengling Lager on tap each night, along with an assortment of pretzels and other snacks.
The fitness center is located on level four, and was much larger than I expected (although the hotel does have nearly 400 rooms among its 15 stories, so maybe I should expected more than a pair of treadmills). There were at least a half dozen treadmills, plus steppers, bicycles, and assorted other types of equipment that I never use, as well as free weights, a water cooler, and an ample supply of towels. I used the center each day during my stay, and never had more than one companion during my 30-minute run. The pool is adjacent to the fitness center, and both have panels of windows that look out over 10th Street and New York Avenue, providing a nice alternative to the silent little small screen TV housed in the treadmill and the obligatory blare of Fox News on the larger screen.
The hotel is at the northeast corner of the confluence of New York Avenue and 10th and I Streets, just north of the site of the old Washington Convention Center. It opened in 2005, just under a year after dynamite turned the old convention center to a pile of rubble. The resulting large open space now serves (disappointingly) as a large parking lot in the city center, its only redeeming feature a partially covered, partially decorated pedestrian walkway that serves as the continuation of 10th Street, and also provides an outdoor terminal for MegaBus and other east coast bargain lines. Metro Center is just to the north, and can be accessed through the north side of the Grand Hyatt’s lobby, which sits directly across the parking lot.
There are multiple options nearby for good dining. I never checked out
Finn and Porter, the hotel’s own restaurant, but had three good meals within blocks of the front door. The gate to Chinatown is just a block north and west, and just through the gate sits
Matchbox, a contender for DC’s finest pizza. (This is based on sampling of all of one DC pizza establishment, but if I’m wrong, then Washington is truly pizza heaven). To the north is Belgian beer mecca
Brasserie Beck, and just to the northeast is the
Capitol City Brewing Company, where I’ve enjoyed both good beer and decent food on previous visits.
On the other side of the ledger, in-room internet is neither wireless nor free, a ‘feature’ I’ve also noticed at other Embassy Suites. At some Hilton properties, wireless internet is available gratis in the lobby, but here it was $6.95 an hour or $9.95 a day. And DC may be the center of the nation, but it’s hardly party central. I arrived late on a Wednesday night (a $17 cab ride from National Airport), finally making it to the hotel a little after 11. By 11:30, we’d struck out four times in our attempt to find a place that would serve us a nightcap.
As for price: the conference hotel for the meeting that brought me to DC was the Grand Hyatt, just a 100 yards away. We booked a room at the Embassy Suites for a comparable if not cheaper rate than the contracted discount rate, and that included free beer and free breakfast. Like many Embassy Suites, it had a widely varied clientele, including other conference participants, business travelers, families, and caravans in town for a political rally. I’d be happy to stay here again as part of any of those groups.
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