Great Service at the Fairmont
My husband, 11 and 12 year old daughters, and I just spent a week at the Fairmont. We were supposed to stay in a garden view/balcony room, but all were occupied when we arrived at the hotel and we were placed in a room on the 8th floor facing the Park Hyatt next door. I was concerned about the view and the noise factor. The view of the Park Hyatt and it's street side plantings and fountain was actually fine. The Fairmont makes a U shape around it's courtyard garden. The interior balcony rooms that are directly above the lobby and just to either side of the U have nice views down into the garden. The rooms that are at the ends of the U end up looking more over the covered reception pavilion and the neighboring building at the end of the U. We were offered a 5th floor room at the end of the U and after looking at the room, I thought our 8th floor room looking at the Park Hyatt was actually a better view. There was some ambulance noise from the fire department two blocks away, but it was very infrequent and I always sleep with ear plugs so it did not bother me or my family. The room turned out to be $80 dollars less a night than what I'd originally booked and we were happy to take the lower rate and stick with the outside room. Our room was quite large for the 4 of us, although the double beds are obviously not huge. I found out that due to DC fire codes they can not add a roll away (even though there was plenty of space) to a room that already has two beds. The room decor and bathroom were basic higher end hotel quality, but nothing luxurious. The bed was comfortable, but the pillows were lacking. The staff was amazing. Everyone was helpful, cheerful and courteous. The two concierge, Kevin & Kit, who helped us really went out of their way to make our stay perfect and were very responsive. The lobby and garden are lovely and it was very enjoyable to have a cocktail there most evenings and listen to the piano music. The hotel was a short 10 minute walk to the Foggy Bottom subway station and it was very easy to take the subway to our daily destinations. The subway system itself was very useful, but there was still a ton of walking involved in sight seeing around DC. We ended up using a combination of the subway and taxi cabs when our feet got to tired. There are a lot of good restaurants within 15 to 20 minute walks of the hotel. I would not recommend the Blue Duck Tavern across the street. Their food was mediocre, especially for the price, although the service was excellent. Our dinners at Firefly and La Perla were much better for both the adults and kids in our party. Bread and Chocolate was great for breakfast, but so was the Starbucks across the street from the hotel. I wish we'd noticed the Whole Foods across from the Foggy Bottom metro station a little earlier in our stay. It was a great source for wine and snacks.