Comments on hotels Palomar and Westin Embassy Row in DC
 

My family will be visiting DC in middle of July for 4 nights. Three of us with a 13 year old son. I think we have narrowed our choices to the Palomar and Westin Embassy Row. I have stayed at boutique hotels before and not been as impressed as others, can't stand the Muse in N.Y., for instance...I am a Gold member with Starwood. Would like comments on location, feel, service, local vibrancy, etc... of these 2 hotels.

They are literally on opposite ends of the same block. The Westin is an old, traditional hotel that some describe as a little tired and outdated. It faces Massachusetts Ave. which is more a thoroughfare than a street with stores/restaurants.

The Palomar is the old Radisson Barcelo, which was well known for its large rooms. It is a typical Kimpton Hotel, which means it is boutiquey and modern. It faces P Street, which is a commercial street surrounded by bars and restaurants and stores.

Both are very close to the DuPont Circle Metro station.

I'm thinking the rooms in the Palomar are bigger, but if you didn't like the Muse, you may not like the Palomar. The Westin is a lovely hotel, but I hear lots of complaints about the service.

Thanks Mike for your comments. Iread the reviews on the Westin from tripadvisor and there seems to be nothing good. Most of them talked about how rundown the Westin is. I recall reading here that the Palomar has recently been renovated?... Also it has a Starbucks virtually next door. Not a bad selling point in my book :-)

There's a Starbucks next door. But given that the Westin is just around the corner, arguably it is also next door to the Westin. <g>

The Palomar has been open for less than a year. They completely renovated the old Radisson, which was a favorite among Fodorites because of the size of the rooms.

There's a Starbucks on almost every street corner in that part of DC, it's not much of a selling point. I've stayed at the Muse and loved it, so am having real problems figuring out your taste. You don't say why you didn't like it, but suspect if you are that picky, you won't like the Westin.

Christina, thanks for your reply. I had my tongue firmly entrenched in my cheek when I said that Starbucks was the selling point. Although I have been known to walk 3 blocks in the frigid winter cold of Minneapolis for coffee. This from a transplanted Nor Cal guy...

Regarding the Muse hotel in New York, here's my comment from an earlier post on these forums...

"My wife and I stayed there right before Chirstmas 2005. We had a choice of this hotel along with the W midtown, the Helmsley, and were going to slurp for the St. Regis (starwood gold upgrade) but chosed the Muse from my wife's local N.Y. office recommendation and its proximity to the office. We hated the hotel.

The room was really small, bathroom has "stylized" flourescent lighting, we were on the 3rd or 4th floor and were woken every morning at 4AM from the garbage trucks. And the staff were too busy trying to look cool to help us. We stayed 3 nights 4 days, and not ONCE were we greeted with a hello. The check in/out process was horrendous with 1 clerk, the other one was looking something up on her monitor and couldn't be distracted to help with a line of 5 deep. No help with opening the door, so expecting help with luggage from/to the taxi would have been too much to ask. We would never go back there.

Location is great."

My wife's company East Coast concierge recommended the Sofitel hotel in DC. Thoughts or comments?

The Sofitel is a lovely hotel, but the location is not great for travelers (it is much better for business). It's near the White House and in the "business core" of DC. Thus, after 5 and on weekends, there won't be much going on. The dining choices will also be more limited.

DuPont Circle is ulimately a residential neighborhood as well as being commercial, which means a lot more is going on after 5pm and on weekends. You will have a lot more eating options and the area will feel less lonely.

Thanks Mike, very much. I am very grateful. Hopefully I can payback in kind at a later date...

MikeT

(butting in here)

I take from your last post that Dupont Circle would be a better area for nightlife/activity after 5pm. I had been targeting my hotel search around the White House/Downtown district, but after reading your post I am now reconsidering.

Is the difference in location negligible in regards to sightseeing? I was picking the WH/DT area due to its proximity to the Mall, etc. But I also don't want to feel isolated from the fabulous nightlife DC has to offer.

Any thoughts??

I should clarify that I am researching using Priceline, so I have been looking at hotels that are in their "zones".

I stayed at Palomar in October. The rooms are nice, and the updates are very modern. They also have a wine with snacks in the lobby everyday (at 5:00 p.m. I believe).

I think there is some construction on the street out front going on right now (I work a few blocks from the building).

"Is the difference in location negligible in regards to sightseeing? I was picking the WH/DT area due to its proximity to the Mall, etc. But I also don't want to feel isolated from the fabulous nightlife DC has to offer."

Well, the area around the White House is arguably closer if you are going to walk everywhere while being a tourist. But if you plan on using Metro, the difference becomes less exaggerated. We are really only talking about a seven or eight block difference, in the end, but DuPont Circle at night and Lafayette Square/Franklin Square at night are dramatically different.

The compromise would be to look around the Convention Center. Hotels near Chinatown are going to be within walking distance of parts of the Mall, but also have plenty of nightlife.

That makes perfect sense. We plan on using the Metro when there, so I think we'll head for the Dupont area or Convention Center area.

I hadn't looked into the Convention Center area at all because the term "convention" just holds such a bad connotation to me. I hope that makes sense. I just pictured huge, cookie cutter, bland hotels in that area & that does not appeal to me at all. Is that not the case?

Either way, if we go the Priceline route, what we get is what we get!

vjp, I have seen on biddingfortravel that the Palomar has been coming up a lot lately.....good to hear your positive review!

I was just in DC (3/31-4/2) and stayed at the Westin Embassy Row, after having won it on a Priceline bid. My friend and I both enjoyed our stay-the staff was very friendly (always saying welcome back and asking about our day, etc.) and the neighborhood is great (fun area, easy walk to Georgetown, close to Metro.) However, our room was quite small, and oddly shaped. Other than that, we had a great stay, but we are not picky - except for cleanliness - and the Westin was certainly clean, with nice linens and their signature heavenly bed. For the price we paid, it was a great stay, but for a discerning traveler, the room was small.

I would definitely pick Dupont Circle over Convention Center. It's a completely different feel and atmosphere.

I agree with you regarding the Muse. I recently stayed there and the rooms were not the best however the service was great. I spoke to a manager and he informed me that they are currenlty undergoing a major renovation. He was nice enough to show me one of the renovated rooms which was AMAZING. I think that the Palomar is also a Kimpton hotel, like the Muse, but is already renovated as it is brand new. Not sure about the neighborhood but knowing Kimpton if it is renovated it should be a wonderful hotel.