Grand Hyatt Washington, Washington, DC

...full DC effect. Well, the Grand Hyatt Hotel certainly lived up to its name and provided a very grand and memorable place to spend my second visit to DC and last night in America.


~~LOCATION AND DETAILS~~

The Grand Hyatt is a large sized hotel, with 888 non-smoking rooms. Location-wise, it's excellent - town centre, just a couple of blocks from the White House and the Mall, which has the major museums and monuments(a ...
...in the hotel are the Grand Café, which serves breakfast and lunch, the Zephyr Deli, Butlers Martini Lounge, the Grand Slam bar or Starbucks. We didn't fancy any of these and so ended up eating in a Tex-Mex restaurant down the road, which luckily turned out to be very nice.

As we managed to wangle a special discount price, breakfast was included. This consisted of a buffet in the Grand Café, with everything from toasted bagels, smoothies ... more

It's a fact that Washington DC is an impressive place. Great marble buildings festooned with columns seem to be everywhere, as are more monuments and memorials than you could shake a stick at. It was my last night in America after a whirlwind 3 week trip, and amidst all the splendour, we wanted to stay somewhere which would give the full DC effect. Well, the Grand Hyatt Hotel certainly lived up to its name and provided a very grand and memorable place to spend my second visit to DC and last night in America.

~~LOCATION AND DETAILS~~

The Grand Hyatt is a large sized hotel, with 888 non-smoking rooms. Location-wise, it's excellent - town centre, just a couple of blocks from the White House and the Mall, which has the major museums and monuments(a couple of blocks equates to roughly a 15 minute walk, which isn't bad, especially as there are plenty of interesting shops and cafés to distract you as you walk.) It's also a good area for getting a bite to eat, as nearby there's a selection of variously priced restaurants, cafés and buffet-style eateries selling all different kinds of food. If you like Chinese food, Chinatown is a 5 minute walk away and you can find just about any Chinese dish you like.

Getting to the Hyatt from any of the transport centres is easy. From Union Station we took a 5 minute cab ride, which came to roughly £4, although if you didn't have many suitcases and were feeling energetic, I reckon you could walk it. We flew from Washington Dulles, which is 45 minutes away in Virginia, but it was easy to get a cab to take us there.

~~GENERAL DECOR~~

You know I said this hotel lived up to its name? Here's why. Outside, it's a pretty ordinary looking hotel, white stone at the bottom and large glass windows on top of that; but inside it's a huge light and airy space with the rooms arranged at the sides, leaving the centre open to form an atrium. On the ground floor, a water pool takes up most of the floor, with a tiled part featuring café seating and a piano on a separate circular island. Around the sides of the water pool are marble waterfalls and several fountains!

Gold escalators take you up to a carpeted mezzanine with a Starbucks, gift shops and the entrance to the health club, and then you can go into a sort of gazebo structure, where you can get marble-lined lifts to take you up to all the floors. Everywhere is immaculately clean and extremely light because of a glass roof; there are even trees planted on the lower level! Each guestroom floor is white wallpapered, carpeted, and features a balcony with chairs where you can sit to enjoy the view of the beautiful atrium.

~~THE ROOM & BATHROOM~~

There were 4 of us staying, so we opted for a room with two double beds. The room was decorated in whites and creams, with dark wood furniture and chocolate brown touches such as cushions. As rooms go, I'd say it was of about average size; definitely room to swing a cat (we had 4 open suitcases and nobody tripped over them) but not exactly a huge space. However, the decoration and nice details such as very thick carpet, extra cushions and a spacious work desk with spinning chair helped to give it a feeling of being a cut above the average hotel room. I was pleased to note that the beds were very comfortable - and they provide plenty of pillows, which is always a good sign.

In terms of entertainment in the room, there was a large television with a LOT of channels, which also featured pay-per-view films in case the delights of Washington became all too much for you and you felt the need to retreat to your room! WiFi was available at about £6 per day, but as I don't own a laptop, I didn't get to use this. You could also try the room service, which had a variety of meals, snacks and evil sweet things on it - but at extortionate prices (£5 for a piece of chocolate cake? Plus £1.50 to have it brought up, and the £1 tip? No way!)

The bathroom was surprisingly spacious - much larger than any other hotel bathroom I'd encountered in the USA - and was all marble, with plenty of white towels and a nice selection of good-quality toiletries. I also think I have to make a special mention of the shower. This wonderful piece of equipment was so powerful it pretty much pinned you against the wall! Plus the water was immediately and consistently hot...a good experience. Similarly to the atrium, the room was beautifully clean when we arrived and was kept that way.

~~STAFF~~

On the whole, they were pleasant and helpful. The bell boy on the door was genial, welcoming and eager to help, which put us at ease straight away. Checking in was efficient and took about 5 minutes, and the receptionist was helpful when I asked her for a map of the city. The cleaners were friendly and understanding when we asked them to return later, and my brother reports that the man staffing the swimming pool and health club was friendly and welcoming.

~~DINING OPTIONS & BREAKFAST~~

On the whole, hotels in America provide only the room, and you're left to your own devices to find yourself dinner. The eating options in the hotel are the Grand Café, which serves breakfast and lunch, the Zephyr Deli, Butlers Martini Lounge, the Grand Slam bar or Starbucks. We didn't fancy any of these and so ended up eating in a Tex-Mex restaurant down the road, which luckily turned out to be very nice.

As we managed to wangle a special discount price, breakfast was included. This consisted of a buffet in the Grand Café, with everything from toasted bagels, smoothies and fresh fruit to breakfast potatoes and scrambled eggs, and it was delicious. Sitting on the tiled cafe area looking out over the water feature and waterfalls was also a good experience and added something to the whole atmosphere of breakfast. However, the usual price was about $18 (£9) for breakfast, so if we hadn't had the discount, I don't think I'd have been tempted to eat there!

~~OTHER FACILITIES AND SERVICES~~

As we only stayed there for one night, we didn't really get a chance to use anything other than the swimming pool, although there is a Fit Club facility with plenty of gym machines. Use of the pool was free to people staying in the hotel, as well as use of the bigger pool at the Marriott across the road. I didn't go in the pool myself, but my brother reports that it's small but warm, with one lane for serious swimmers, and the rest of the pool for splashers (like him!) There were two gift shops selling sweets and other essentials as well as your usual tacky merchandise (glittery 'Stars and Stripes' glasses, anyone?) As you would expect from an American hotel, ice and juice machines were on each floor, and a free USA Today newspaper was left outside the door in the morning.

~~PRICES~~

As I've mentioned before, we got a special deal because we only booked the day before - our bill came to $139, which is £73.28 for one night. I checked on the Internet, however, and saw that to book a room next June would cost $250 (£131) for one person to stay one night. I think we got lucky with the price, especially as a very delicious breakfast was included.

~~VERDICT~~

I can't really fault the experience - everything was great and exactly what you'd expect from a 5* hotel. If I'm ever in Washington again, I'd love to stay there...but only if I could get the room at a discount again!

~~USEFUL INFORMATION~~

Address:
1000 H Street NW
Washington, DC
USA 20001

Telephone:
+1 202 582 1234

Fax:
+1 202 637 4781

http://grandwashington.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/

Please note that this review is also posted on Dooyoo under the_oracle123.  

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