Washington DC - Meetings Collaborative - By and for Meeting Professionals

Fairmont Hotel Washington: recent visit

Scott White — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:44:03 +0100

Remains one of the best in DC. Great West End location and best gym in the city.

Sofitel Lafayette Square Hotel Washington: Superb .. even by standards of industry audience!

JoanEisenstodt — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:01:15 +0100

This was a breakfast of industry colleagues on election day. Arranged by a colleague w/ a DMO (aka a CVB)and was attended by mostly DMO-ers, planners, and hotel sales folks along w/ a few spouses and partners.
It's a tradition among this group to get together on election day after we've voted. Held in the restaurant in a curtained off section, the Hotel was superb in working with us as our numbers fluctuated.
It was a buffet breakfast and done so beautifully - lox (smoked salmon), egg sandwiches, other breakfast meats, fresh fruit. Coffee, tea and juice were served and if someone wanted a soda or an espresso drink, there was complete accommodation. They had wonderful breakfast breads and other treasts on the tables.
The GM stopped by to say hello. Each and every server was so wonderful to us. And having heard from clients who use this hotel for meetings, I feel confident that all they do there is top-notch.

Fairmont Hotel Washington: Nice Location

Welchee21 — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:54:49 +0100

The Fairmont DC is in a great location and overall is a nice hotel, but it's very expensive to do a meeting. Food & Beverage is very expensive and the room rate was the highest i've spent on any meeting in DC.
Staff were ok- not superb. For the price point and the Fairmont name-I guess I expected more...

Hay-Adams Hotel (The) [Hay Adams]: Warm Cozy Feeling About the Hay Adams

Welchee21 — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 21:56:22 +0100

I've done a few meetings here, and maybe it's b/c they're always around the holidays but I really love the feel of the property. Historic and my guests love it, whom are all used to very high-end properties. Also a great location in DC.
Food and Beverage is very good as well.

St. Regis Hotel Washington: recent site inspection with a client

Scott White — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:31:27 +0100

Just completed a site visit and wonderful what they did with the hotel. It was closed for a year last year !
Only beef is very contempory look to their restaurant which does not fit in with a wold famous "historic" older hotel. hmm.. space is great for meetings especially if you are on the first floor. Rooms are best in the city. high tech bathrooms.

A Kimpton Monaco Hotel Washington: Board Reception and Dinner

mbiersner — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:38:55 +0100

We used the Hotel Monaco for a Board event in conjunction with a citywide. Our Board members stayed at a different hotel and were brought to the Hotel Monaco special for this event. It's a former post office, so the layout of the facility is tricky and what you would come to expect at historic hotels. Getting around is not the simplest of tasks.

We had a reception in the Athens Ballroom and a dinner with program in the Paris Ballroom. We had approximately 180 in attendance. The Athens Ballroom was great; perfect space for everyone. The Paris Ballroom - there are four pillars right in the middle of the room, so if you are going to do much more than a simple dinner (no program) I would be leary. Doable, but sightlines are atrotious. I inherited the space - wouldn't have chosen it for the program we wanted to put on. We had a performance stage for our entertainment. People moved around to get a better view of the stage. It all worked out in the end.

There is a lot of walking between the two rooms. Think of the floor layout as a big circle - the rooms are 180 degrees from each other. Guest rooms are on the same floor - I don't know what I would have thought with so much activity in the hallway.

Elevators - there are many and it can take some time to get used to finding your way around. Handicapp access is available, though a bit out of the way. Some of the doorways on the floors have a bit of a lip to them as well.

The staff was super professional. They are great to work with and very responsive.

Love the property, just make sure your program is appropriate for the space. I would return if the program is right.

Renaissance Hotel Washington: Staff Headquarters Hotel

mbiersner — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 18:24:57 +0100

We recently had our annual national event and expo in DC. Staff stayed in the Renaissance. We also had a few ancillary meetings here as well. I am listing my "reviewer type" as "Attendee" as I didn't plan any meetings in the space or work with any of the staff; I stayed in the room.

My room was a 7th floor double with westward views over the former convention center site (now a parking lot) and downtown. I thought my room was slightly claustrophobic. While I had requested the room anticipating a friend staying with me, I had the room to myself.

Room service was quick and professional. The menu was pretty standard, nothing special: salads, club sandwich, hamburger, sirloin, pasta, ice cream. I ordered one night, would have gotten a bit bored after 3.

I did attend one reception in the Grand Ballroom. Food and decor were great; our team received many compliments.

The only thing I would be weary of is a slight odor in the room. Not alarming to me - smelled like someone picked the wrong air freshener - but others may have a problem with it. Again not alarming, but those more sensitive to odors may complain.

Otherwise, a great property.

Hay-Adams Hotel (The) [Hay Adams]: Hay-Adams

demitriusgray — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:58:31 +0100

5/25/2007 Excellent customer service & great location

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Washington: Mandarin Oriental Washington DC

wanerjr — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:27:42 +0100

9/26/2007 The service at the hotel was very poor. They seem to be understaffed and suffer from a major lack of communication within the hotel. This hotel property is not well organized and though individual staff are freindly in a one on one situation, they are not competent as a group. We had problems with sales, reservations, banquets and event staff. This meeting ended up being a struggle all the way through. After twenty days we still can't get the hotel's cooperation to ship our boxes back via fed ex. They claim they have no one in the loading dock after 6:00 pm and that is the only time Fed Ex comes. We have no idea when they will event get around to it and have decided we may have to go to the hotel ourselves to get this done.

Hay-Adams Hotel (The) [Hay Adams]: Hay-Adams

wanerjr — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:14:22 +0100

10/10/2007 The service was excellent. The expectations on the part of our top executives for the quality of our meetings is very high, yet we have a small staff. Consequently, we are highly motivated to book a hotel based on the quality of service. THe Hay-Adams staff is second to none. We have held meetings at the Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Boca Raton Resort and Club, Keswick Hall, and more. We felt the service at the Hay-Adams was just right, elegant and efficient. The food was also excellent, surpassing our expectations. Additionally, the Hay-Adams catering service to neighboring Chamber of Commerce was also excellent. Thanks to Hay-Adams for helping us to create a great event.