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JW Marriott
Rating Details »
1331 Pennsylvania Ave NW
(between N 13 1/2 St & N 14th St)
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 393-2000
(between N 13 1/2 St & N 14th St)
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 393-2000
- Nearest Transit:
-
Federal Triangle (Blue, Orange)
Metro Center (Red, Blue, Orange)
- Price Range:
-
$$$
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24 reviews for JW Marriott
This review is for the meeting rooms, general impressions, and parking experience - I did not stay art the JW Marriott.
First off, the parking. When I got downtown, I attempted to park at several parking garages in the vicinity that I've used in the past - all three were full up and not allowing anyone else in. So I pulled into the front drive-thru of the JW Marriott and asked the valet guys if there were any other open garages nearby. Of course they tell me no - but that they too are full up. Then the guy tells me to wait a moment, checks with someone, then comes back and informs that they can park my car - but the fee will be $39.00. That's a ridiculous amount of money to park for the day - the other downtown lots charge between $16.00 and $20.00 per day.
But I had no choice at this point, so I agreed to let them park the car.
The inside of the hotel is very nice - well appointed, bright, clean, charming, and comfortable.
The meeting rooms are also very nice, lots of seating everywhere, comfortable padded leather chairs, coffee tables, desks on one level for the business traveler.
There is a Starbucks inside the hotel, several restaurants/bars, a convenience store, and more. The hotel offers free WIFI in the lobby area.
If I were rating the hotel based on just the meeting facilities, I would have given them four stars or so. If I were rating the hotel solely on my parking experience, it would have been one star.
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I have been staying at this particular Marriott since I was a wee youngin....... as a child the enormous crystal chandeliers would mesmerize me, now they seem a little out of date. This is definitely an older hotel, but it is still very nice. The rooms are OK, I have definitely been to better Marriott's. I do enjoy the location being so close to the mall, and the White House, etc...
This is more of a touristy hotel, not so impressive if you are a local, and have seen it all before........
The hotel bar is nice, but expensive, so get ready to come out yo pockets!
It's difficult to express my annoyance at my experience with this hotel.
Mistake 1: drove here. Address is 1331 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. When one arrives at that address, in letters 2 ft high to identify the building, there is NO J W Marriott hotel. The hotel entrance is around the corner on 14th St. But, they don't want to identify their hotel as being at xxx 14th St, so instead they mislead the customer. What phonies!
They have a great scam going with the bellman, also. A nice fellow takes your bags out of your car, places them on the cart and wheels the whole mess to the registration desk. (I'm traveling with my wife, so there are a lot of bags) He leaves it there, collects his tip, and goes his way. Then, after you are registered, a second bellman takes the bags to the room and collects his tip. Double tipping to get the bags from car to room. In fairness to the Marriott, I have to note this is an increasingly common big city hotel trick.
Mistake 2: I decided to stay here. Convention rate for the hotel is $279. On top of that, they charge $39/night for parking, $13/ 24 hrs for internet connection, and the snacks in the room are $7 for a $1.50 container of nuts.
OK, OK, I knew about the prices in advance, so I have no grounds to complain about the prices. But the degree of overcharging is extreme.
Departure was a nightmare. They instruct guests to ask for their cars 30 minutes in advance. When I called, I was told the car would be ready in 35 minutes. It actually required 90 minutes to get our car and somewhat more before it was loaded with luggage and we were on our way.
If you decide to take a commercial tour of Washington, the Old Town Trolley is a good choice. Buy your tickets at the stop in front of the Willard Hotel, a block from the Marriott. You have to walk down there anyway to get on and if you buy your tickets in the hotel they add $8 PER TICKET to the price.
Fabulous location. But. hardly anyone stays here twice so the service is not usually personalized at all unless you are extremely demanding. Rooms are small by JW standards. Amenities are standard JW fare. Its certainly a group house though and if you arent responsible for booking a giant conference you will be lost in the shuffle. Three Stars.
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If I can get a reservation I try to stay at this Marriott when I visit Washington DC. It's right near the Whitehouse and there are plenty of restaurants in the vicinity. It's a clean hotel, nice staff that are professional, and comfortable bed. It's also a great location if you runner because you can do the Whitehouse/Lincoln Memorial/Capitol loop.
Huge hotel and convention center in a good location. Once I got the hang of the elevator system (you type in the floor you want to go to on a keypad located OUTSIDE the elevators and then the digital display tells you which elevator car to board) I admit a small amount of schadenfreude watching other people board the elevators and look baffled.
The conference center was nice, as far as conference centers go. Pretty standard. They had a variety of room sizes to accommodate large and smaller groups of people. The rooms were stocked with pens, paper, and hard candy, as is typical, but I was somewhat (dorkily, I admit) excited about the pens as they were rather nice.
There is a Starbucks on site, but it is owned by the hotel and thus can't take giftcards. Not a huge deal... unless people incentivize you with Starbucks giftcards. Alas.
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Great hotel, even better location. Walking distance to great restaurants, Ford's Theater, museums, the White House, etc. The lobby is beautiful and check in staff was very helpful, especially when our reservation said we had asked for 2 double beds, lol. We were immediately changed to a single king, no questions asked. We had a great view of the Washington Monument from our room. We didn't have a problem with the elevator system other reviews have mentions and for our entire stay, never rode with anyone else or waited more than a minute or two. The bed was really comfortable and it was nice to have a huge flat screen TV. Plenty of outlets to charge our cell phones and laptop too, which is always a bonus.
My only complaint about this hotel is the Avenue Grill Restaurant. We got in fairly late on a Wednesday night and just wanted a nice dinner with a bottle of wine without walking somewhere so we gave it a shot. Our server was excellent, however, the prices were outrageously expensive for the quality of the food. I had a goat cheese and tomato salad and crab cakes and my husband had a Cesar salad and a steak, along with a bottle of Cabernet and our bill was $160 after the tip. Other than the outstanding goat cheese salad, everything was just average and nowhere near what you would expect for those prices.
We decided to give it another shot in the morning because we had an early tour bus to catch and once again, aside from the outstanding service, we were charged outrageous prices for mediocre food. My husband tried the breakfast buffet for $22 and ended up with basic scrambled eggs, bacon and toast and I ordered the $17 egg white spinach frittata that I was really enjoying until I found a black hair inside of it. I was too nauseated to take another bite and my entire meal was removed from the bill but we took Avenue Grill off our list of restaurant choices for the rest of the trip.
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I booked this hotel as I was attending a conference nearby. The staff were friendly enough, but I was thankful that a previous poster had mentioned that the entrance was actually on 14th. That saved me a bit of a headache.
The valet was happy to take my car and the front desk check in was smooth. The lobby was impressive and after reading about the absurd elevators, I was prepared. I was NOT prepared for what I found in my room. I opened the door and left my luggage right behind it - as I always do in a new hotel room. I walked over to the bed and lifted the blankets and bedding to check the mattress. There was a small brown bug in the mattress seam! I immediately called the front desk and asked for a manager.
The manager who arrived was actually the restaurant manager, but filling in for the GM at the time. He was pleasant and surprised at the insect. He grabbed some toilet paper and captured the bug inside so he could give it to his engineer to "inspect." He repeated that they would "take care" of me and he asked if I wanted another room. Um, no. He was kind and helpful. He immediately canceled my reservation for me and comped my parking (which is how it should be considering I was only there for 10 minutes).
The manager and front desk staff were very friendly, but after the manager explained that I would need my car and it would be billed to the house the valets asked me three times whether I was at the wrong hotel. This is after the manager told them I was not but the situation was "complicated." I found that a bit irritating. Needless to say, I stayed the night in a different hotel.
Location is great, close to a metro and you can walk to everything in DC. Rooms are clean and the cleaning staff was pleasant.
And now the bad. The rest of the service is horrible. For the top of the Marriott chain they leave a lot to be desired. Internet was 13$ for 24 hours, not a bad price but the wireless is a joke. I connected with a low signal every time and dropped signal so much I finally decided to connect to the media unit plug in. No go, didn't work. Told the front desk. They said I needed a cable, told them I had a cable, that was not the problem. Solution, they left me a bloody cable! I pulled the media unit off the wall and found the unit unplugged like I thought and fixed it myself.
In the middle of a huge down pour went to the concierge for an umbrella. Looked at me like I was crazy and said he didn't have one. Asked him where I might get one and he suggested the front desk. They were not much better, girl said they were all out. I am sorry, but this is supposed to be the top of the Marriott line you would think they could find a guest an umbrella.
No umbrella, going to take a taxi. Walk out to the drive way, the bell hop/taxi service guy is not near the door and ignoring me. I jump into a taxi that pulls up. The door guy starts yelling at me to get out? I think he wants me to jump into the taxi in front of cab I just jumped into. So I get out and hop into the first taxi. The guy yells at me to get out again. Well, I have had enough and give him the international hand signal for dissatisfaction and tell the cab driver to leave. The cabbie agrees with me, he had no idea what was going on with the Marriott staff.
Service is horrible, if you want to go cheap at a good location and don't mind being treated like a cow, then by all means. I, however, will never stay in a Marriott again.
Sad to say, will be the first and the last time I stay there. The room was average at best, but the service was the worst I've ever had at a JW Marriott. It took me almost 20 minutes to check-in, and 10 minutes to check-out. As a Marriott Platinum member with over a 1,000,000 points, I'm not sure what I expected, but know that I expected more from such a pricey room. The location was solid, and the views were very nice, but the check-in process was so poor that it overshadowed the experience. Watch out when you valet your car....takes 20 minutes minimum to get it back when departing.
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This was the first place I stayed at in D.C., evah. So, for that reason it will always be a little special. The proximity to the White House, Metro Center and downtown (drinks at Red Sage? yes please) all are pluses especially for those who are visiting DC for the first time.
That said,, staying here will give you a good number of tourons who, if they figure out you know the area, will ask where the Aeorspace museum is.
For those scrambling for what to do today, I went to Thanksgiving dinner (a buffet) here a few years ago and it was decent. They serve quite a spread and nothing was missing. That said, it was certainly Marriott food.
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Disclaimer: My room was free, long story, awesome gift certificate.
Now on to the review.
When I arrived on Saturday night, I expected to just pull in, tip a valet and take my bags inside. Problem Number 1: Apparently the "hotel garage" was full and they couldn't valet me. And the guy, told me I needed to go park at a garage around the corner. Hmm, OK.
Pull around corner, parking garage attendant says to me "This garage is full." And I told him how I was staying at the hotel, and the valet told me I was supposed to park here, so now where am supposed to go?
Him: "Oh, you're staying at the JW?
Me: "Yes."
Him: "$25"
Me: "I thought you said you were full?"
Him: "Not really, there's parking on levels 2,3 and 4."
Me: Confused, but happy to have parking.
Walk out of the garage and realize we are connected to the hotel and watch as the valet guy drives past me parking a car. Um? So that's minus one star right there.
After checking in, had to wait for elevator for over 10 minutes and by the time one got there, there were so many people in the elevator I felt like a baby cow being prepared to become veil. Minus the other star.
What won me stars, was Marriott's "plugged in" features where I was able to connect my computer to the television and if I was cool enough to have an iPod, I could have done that too.
The room was a bit small for my taste, I'm used to really nice hotel rooms though with my old job, so that might just be me, but there were hardwood floors in the entrance and the beds are fantastic, so definitely no complaints there.
Plus we had an incredible view of the Washington Monument, which for out-of-towners would be nice.
However, with a $100 million renovation in the process, this place is only expected to become better with time.
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A great hotel close to everything. The lobby is wide open and spacious, the rooms, while not huge, are newly renovated and clean, and the staff is friendly and accommodating, and it's only a short walk to the Metro.
The rooms have a large flat screen TV, robes and a coffee maker. And the bed was incredibly comfortable. Oh, and the view! Amazing. We could see the Washington Monument.
Unlike others who wrote reviews, our experience with the concierge was fantastic. We went to him with several restaurants we wanted to try for dinner and he gave us the pros and cons of each. He also made several recommendations for breakfast.
There is also a Starbucks in the hotel.
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$131 via Priceline, baby. That made me a lot happier during my stay (even though I was expensing this as part of a company trip; hey, I try to be froogle, ya know? :-)
Room was reasonably comfortable, bed was quite comfy in particular. View -- er, a brick wall, but oh well. Elevators worked fine, staff was generally friendly, basic internet access started at $4 a night and that's not too bad. Plus they let ya print up to 20 pages free on their laser printer, and that's pretty thoughtful.
Buffet breakfast: a bit pricey at $18, but it included a made to order omelet + lots of yummy fresh fruit and such, so I can't complain too much. For affordable and yummy lunch fare, though, you're better off walking 30 seconds to the corner bakery place and paying $7 or so for a large fresh yummy sandwich.
Oh, and the hotel is very conveniently located... just a couple minutes walk from the Metro, and the area feels pretty safe, too.
Sadly, my business trip was of the whirlwind type, so I didn't have a chance to really check out the amenities of the hotel (e.g., gym, pool, etc.), but I was happy to see that the aforementioned health club stuff was available at no charge :).
P.S. -- Don't take a cab to this hotel from the Dulles airport; you'll pay $60, and in contrast, you can pay less than $5 total to take a convenient Metro + bus combo and not take all that much longer to get there!
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Although the lobby was beautiful and amenities were nice, the rooms were not worth it for $359 a night. Room was small, towels felt like sandpaper, and my room had funky curtains... there was only a sheer one and half a solid one, so I wasn't able to block the light from coming in my room.
If you're going to stay at a Marriott, go to Metro Center... the staff is great there, the rooms are a tad bigger for a more affordable price, and you're right by the Metro stop and nice stores.
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Location, location, location! Five stars.
Nasty attitude of every single person who works there. One star.
Rooms weren't exactly clean or updated but were quiet and reasonably furnished for business travelers. Three stars.
Stupid elevator with buttons on the outside. Two stars.
The JW is one of the nicest hotels I've seen in DC - better IMO than the Mayflower. It is close to almost all of the top landmarks in DC, so it is a great central base if you are touring the city. Even if you are there for work, you can easily access the monuments at night (when they look especially beautiful). I went for a great run around the Mall and Tidal Basin, and it was awesome.
Inside the room, you'll enjoy the new wide flat-screen TV with HD. Definitely made Monday Night Football more fun to watch, even if the game sucked! Also nice is the Starbucks downstairs, makes getting up on Eastern Standard Time easier.
I was close to giving this hotel 5 stars, but my experience with the concierge desk was very similar to Scott C.'s - they responded to my questions with a mixture of annoyance and misinformation. An additional pain is the lack of affordable food in the surrounding area. I ended up taking the red line out to Wardman Park for dinner.
However, if you generally know what you're doing and are willing to have dinner at another area, this is definitely a good place to call home for the night.
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The lobby is very nice. Marble floors and well laid out path from check in to elevators. It was clearly designed to host conferences. From the main lobby, you can look down at three sub floors of conference rooms. The place is cavernous.
They upgraded me to a corner room on an upper floor with a view of the what I think was the ellipse. The only reason I think that is because a couple of times I saw a limo being escorted by police and secret service suburbans with sirens blaring on Pennsylvania Ave. The room was of decent size with all the amenities a business traveler would need. The bathrooms were a bit on the small side.
The front desk staff and the concierge were very nice and always offered alternatives whenever I asked about a restaurant or bar.
I guess the only thing that struck me as odd during my stay was there were not an adequate number of bell persons offering to take my bags when I arrived and when I was departing.
As of 10/25/07, they were putting the finishing touches on a remodel so not all rooms have a safe. If you need one, ask for a room with a safe at check in. They have safety deposit boxes at the front desk.
Overall, it was a pretty good experience coming from someone who travels 30-40 times a year to Asia, Europe and South America. I would recommend it.
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For this many bones, try the Willard.
I stayed here for work and was really not impressed - ditto on the "valet wtf"? parking situation. Can I add that the lobby, rather than impressing me, made me feel like I was checking into a bank, or possibly the set from "Space:1999"?
The room? Small, ordinary, unremarkable. Toiletries were superb. View was of the office block immediately next door. There was a minibar, oddly stocked (no red wine? white wine without a corkscrew? cognac on the menu but not in the bar?), which actually saved me some bank, so THANK YOU JW MARRIOTT whoever you are.
The fitness center? It was comparable to your average Holiday Inn, NOT up to the standard you'd expect from this "flagship" brand. Dumpy little indoor pool, half a dozen treadmills, virtually ZERO free weights (sorry, but it's 2008 - get more than one rack of dumbbells people), and the room itself looked like it had been carved out of about one and a half guest rooms.
The bar was decent, food was frankly forgettable (well, okay, expensive and forgettable, so maybe slightly memorable).
A final note, and I wanna make sure none of my LDS peeps don't get ticked off at me, but the decor was oddly reminiscent of Mormon temples I've toured... winged hippogriffs in a vaguely Biblical style... marble floors & walls... I was raised Catholic, and it felt a little, uh, ecclesiastical?
All in all? I recommend you stay at the Willard, which is much higher-end, has loads more personality, and a bar that's worth staying up past bedtime for. Oh, and the bathrobes are far nicer as well.
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Got to stay here for free while my boyfriend was doing a project for Marriott. The rooms are super nice and everything looks new. I love that they have every kind of hook up you could want (internet, audio and i was even able to plug my laptop into the TV and watch DVD's). The bed was very comfortable and soft. The only gripes I would have is the retarded elevator system...you press a button and then a little screen tells you which elevator to wait in front of so that you can catch every other person in the hotel going your way. Also I called to get room service and there was a 2 hour wait! Crazy! I think it might have been because I was there during March Madness and the WVU team was staying at the hotel and it was pretty hoppin.
I ended up going down to bar and just ordering food to take up to my room. I had the salmon sliders which were really good but a little pricey. The service at the bar was very friendly but also very slow.
* Also instead of those crappy wall mounted hair dryers they have these super powerful Andis 1850 dryers that are AMAZING, dried my hair in minutes. I ordered one from Amazon as soon as I got home :
http://www.amazon.com/...
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The best thing about the JW Marriott is location. You're literally in the heart of all the best things to do in DC. Holocaust Museum. Check. Smithsonian. Check. White House where our evil Texan President lives (when not in Texas). You got it. There are less expensive hotels in DC. There are much fancier hotels in DC. The JW is a nice balance of the two with quick Metro access to boot.
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The lobby of this hotel is huge and beautiful -- there are so many places to sit and relax. The marble floors and columns bring to mind a palace of sorts. This hotel is also in a great neighborhood, one that's perfect for tourists. However, I think the rooms in this hotel are super small. It reminded me of a New York City hotel, which is shouldn't have, because this isn't New York! (obviously) The rooms are also quite outdated -- they have a very 1980s feel to them. For the price of this hotel, you are definitely paying for the location.
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Since I was a wee tot, I have often stayed at Marriott's. I have never been disappointed! This Marriott was no different. The lobby is very grand, more so than most other Marriott's. Warm marble flooring with even more marble inlay, marble columns (huge!), gigantic crystal chandeliers. There's also a 4-story atrium. My room was huge, and it had a really big plasma in it. The room service was excellent, the movies were excellent, the staff was excellent. Everything was just excellent!
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This is an ok hotel. I was disappointed considering it was a JW.
The people at the concierge desk were rather "you're bothering me with your questions." I asked for dinner recommendations and was provided with a restaurant list. If I wanted a list, I would've asked for one. It was like pulling teeth to get any sort of a recommendation.
It looks like they're finishing up a renovation of the hotel. The room was a bit small, though very nice. It had the new fancy Marriott e-center where you can plug your ipod / computer into it and listen / watch it on the tv. Only it didn't work out of the box. I had to have someone from engineering come up to get it to work. When I called down to ask about it, the woman who answered was very combative.
It is true that you are very close to common DC tourist places - white house, the mall/smithsonians...
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