eriberri

Good morning,

After all the great help I got here in planning our long-weekend getaway to DC I thought I'd post a trip report...my first one! BTW - we are a late 20's, early 30's couple w/no kids - 3rd trip to DC....

Fri - Arrived @ BWI almost on-time, around 12:30 pm. Took Super Shuttle to Topza Hotel in DuPont Circle. Checked-in, changed and took the metro to Museum of Natural History. GREAT museum, the special orchid and National Geographic photography exhibits alone were worth the trip! Museum was open 'til 7:30 so we got to see almost everything. Had dinner downtown at Andale. Excellent Mexican food, fun atmosphere and good service (although the food came too fast...). Drink at the hotel bar - funky, cool bar but absolutely awful drinks
Saturday - Starbucks coffee and pastry for breakfast. Off to the Air & Space museum. Very crowded, but excellent museum. The 3D Space show is a MUST, entertaining and educational, we had a blast! We had lunch at Chinatown Express in Chinatown, right near metro stop. Best Chinese food I've ever had - fresh dough for dumplings and noodles, cheap prices, highly recommend! Back to hotel to rest. Over to 15 Ria at the Washington Terrace Hotel for a drink - much better drink, great bar. Then off to U Street for dinner at Coppi's Organic. Excellent food, fairly attentive service, romantic/laid-back atmosphere. Best chocolate gelatto - absolutely divine! Back to hotel where we gave the bar abother try - Margaritas..they were okay...
Sunday - slept in, coffee again from Starbucks..Took a cab to Georgetown for massage (hubby) and pedicure (me) at Somafit. Very nice spa, but nail tech decided not to work as it was Easter, but never bothered to tell anyone! Hubby got great discount on massage, but I was upset to miss pedicure...Staff was as nice as they could be, again offered great discount. Took another cab to Chef Geoff's for Easter brunch. Great live jazz, nice decor, yummy food and bad service. Would recommend as long as bad service doesn't ruin your meal...Walk to metro, long nap at hotel. We went to Pizza Paradiso for dinner. The pizza was as good as all the reviews had said...the portion sizes were very, very small. We expect smaller sizes at higher end places, but it was ridiculous..food was awesome, but we were still hungry so off to Krispy Kreme for dessert...
Monday - Slept in, packed, lunch at Luna Grill & Diner - good food, good service and off to home...fabulous weekend away

Next installment to have some notes on transportation, hotel, etc.

eriberri

So here are some notes that someone, someday may find helpful...

Hotel - Topaz in DuPont Circle. We stayed in the Delux Yoga room. Room decor was very cool and tasteful. Room was huge! Bed was super comfy and the bath amenities were plentiful and Aveda. Hotel seemed newer, but small signs of wear and tear, i.e. some stains on carpet. TV color was very dark, but I didn't want to ask for repair as hotel staff seemed overwhelmed all weekend. We came back @ 3:30 on Saturday to rest - room was not cleaned yet!! Asked for it to be cleaned right away...came back an hour later and it was still not done..we were very upset...finally 1/2 hour later room was done..staff not very apologetic - no offer of a complimentary drink at the bar or anything...really put us off. We would consider staying there again due to great room, location and funcky ambiance..

Super Shuttle - We called it the Sketchy Shuttle. Van was old, dirty, smelled bad. Strange family in vanb with us...long, awful ride for $40 plus $5 tip to driver...Decided to splurge for car service back to airport...asked hotel to arrange...they quoted us $60 for a sedan...We ended up with a $70 limo, but it was worth every penny after the ride to the hotel!

DuPont Circle - GREAT area of town! Clean, safe, fun, great shopping, restaurants, hotels, etc. This is our second time staying there and if we go back we'll stay here again!

Restaurants - Make reservations! The better places are small and fill up fast! Overall we found the service to be quite lacking and we're NOT super picky people...not sure if it was us, the palces we went to, etc. We were so relaxed and enjoying ourselves that it was not a big deal, but still...

Museums - As we always do - get there early!! They are worth the waits and the crowds..We liked the History Museums and Art Galleries best.

DC is a great city! Bring good walking shoes, lots of money and a willingness to ride the metro and you'll have a blast!

Anonymous

It's possible that the poor service you experienced at the hotel and in restaurants was due to the holiday and staff not showing up -- same as for the pedicure.

An alternative to the shuttles and limos to get into DC from BWI are the MARC train (take a shuttle from the airport to the train station) or the B30 express bus, which goes right from the BWI terminal to the Greenbelt Metro station; it runs every 40 minutes, 7 days per week, costs just $3 and takes about 30 minutes. Sounds like it might be better-smelling and less sketchy than the Super Shuttle!

MikeT

And your expectations about having the room cleaned at 3:30 may be unreasonable. Housekeeping's first responsibilty is to clean rooms for arriving guests so they need to be done by 3. If people were sleeping in and they couldn't get to rooms, then it is likely they were backed up.

Also, as others said, it was a holiday weekend.

eriberri

Yes, it was a holiday weekend, but it was Easter not Christmas, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, etc. And, the hotel never said anything about being short-staffed. I certainly don't think that 3:30 pm is unreasonable. People pay to stay at a hotel so that they can leave for the day, then come back and rest before dinner and an evening out. My room, as a continuing guest, is no less important than a newly arriving guest. I have worked in service the service industry myself, so I understand that things happen, but the staff whould have been more understanding and made sure the room was done after we requested service and were clearly taken aback. A free cocktail or app from the bar offer would have been nice - even if we didn't care to use it. It is the managments' repsonsibility to be sure the hotel is properly staffed for peak times, as I said having worked in service industries before I know this.

In response to the other transport ideas...we consider those, but this was a much needed weekend away with rain forecast, so we decided to splurge rather than lugging our luggage and ourselves around on the metro. Other than airport transport we used (and loved!) the metro...we always utilize public transport wherever we go, with the exception of airport transfers...just our "thing".

MikeT

Well, if your staff is 95% Latino (as it probably was), Easter is a big deal and they were probably short-staffed. We can agree to disagree, but I think your expectations about a clean room in the middle of the afternoon is probably unreasonable.

eriberri

The staff was a mix..Perhaps they were short-staffed, I don't know. Although this was Saturday, not the actual holiday. Yes, we can agree to disagree...AND, I would have agreed with you if we returned at 2 pm. Honestly, we would have been much less upset if the staff had been nicer and the room had been cleaned once we requested service. While we were waiting in th lobby we overheard several other guests with issues as well and the complimentary tea hour wasn't set-up, which several guests had been looking forward to (not us) as it is advertised as a highlight of the stay...As I said, we would likely stay there again, just seems as if they have some service issues to work through. Finally, I would like to say that we were at no point loud, abusive or beligerent towards the staff and as a paying guest I expect a certain level of service.

I hope that others can benefit from our experience in DC, from the great restaurants, excellent museums, etc!

Intrepid1

Sorry, I live in the DC area and whether or not the staff is "latino" and whether or not it is "Easter" is irrelevant. A room not made up by the afternoon is poor service IMO no matter the time of year or the lack of staff...nobody CARES about the "reason"..what they care about is the service, or lack thereof, period.

MLT

eriberri -- Thanks for the trip report. I live in the DC area and have not been to the Natural History Museum in quite some time. Will definitely go soon, now that I know there are some interesting new exhibits (I love orchids and National Geographic photos). Did you happen to catch the Lautrec exhibit at the National Gallery East Bldg? I haven't made it down yet, but am looking forward to seeing it -- just waiting for the crowds to die down a bit.

On the issue of the hotel room not being cleaned by 3:30 pm, I agree with you that it is unacceptable. I can't remember that ever happening to me, and I've stayed at hotels ranging from budget to world class five-star.

Management should have anticipated a busy weekend and staffed accordingly -- this time of year is well known as high season in DC because of the cherry blossoms. You seem like a reasonable person, having worked in the service industry. If I were you, I would write a very polite but to-the-point letter to the hotel's management expressing your disappointment in the service you received. I would let them know that you would consider staying at their hotel again despite this incident, but wanted to give them some feedback on an area in which they could improve. Who knows, they may be grateful for the feedback and even give you a discount for a future stay. BTW, I'm also the type to write thank you notes to places that have given excellent service etc., so don't think that I'm one of those people who pick up the pen just to complain. In either case, it usually pays off in some way or other even if just to improve a place for future guests.

RuthMc

I also think the room should have been cleaned by three-thirty-- or at least shortly after you asked for it. Glad you got to 15 Ria at least for a drink. I've eaten there twice and think the food is quite good.