Fantastic Labor Day weekend stay at the Ritz Carlton
My family of 4 spent Labor Day weekend at this quiet, boutique-like Ritz-Carlton. Talk about location, it is just one block away from M Street and Wisconsin Avenue, the heart of G'town, but yet, it is on a side street, so it is very quiet and unassuming. We had a one bedroom suite on the west side, so we had to walk thru the brick hallway that resembles walking thru an old castle. Our room was very large, and the bathroom was incredible, the shower could fit all 4 of us! Plus it was nice to have an extra half bathroom. We arrived late and were planning to enter Georgetown to find dinner, but it started to rain, so we ended up eating dinner in their lobby area. The waiter was very nice, as he provided the restaurant menu (restaurant was closed) instead of the lobby lite fare menu. Service as usual was excellent and the people were very nice (no snobbery at all). The weather was quite hot and humid, and the front desk kept insisting we take their bottled water. Besides being close to Georgetown, the hotel is one block from Washingtown Harbour, so it was ideal for my son and I to take a water taxi to Nationals Park to watch a baseball game. In addition, we brought our bicycles, so down by the Harbour, we were able to get onto DC's bike paths, and we spent an entire day riding our bikes to visit the monuments, museums and Hains Point. The next morning, I went by myself and rode on the C&O towpath and then continued on the Capital Crescent Trail all the way up to Bethesda. The hotel is a great location place to bike without riding on the streets. We did have some minor issues:
- When we returned from biking, we were unable to enter our suite. The electronic key was not working. We had the front desk people, the security, and finally maintenance crew come in to replace our lock. They continuously apologized and comp'd us with a free movie and a free drink in the bar. It took them over 2 hours to fix our lock
- For some reason, one of our bikes was slightly damaged as the rear wheel was not on (the quick release knob was released). The bellman had a room off the main entrance to store our bikes, but I am not sure if they or the car valet know how to handle bicycles because how could the quick release get used? Had to visit a bike shop to re-align the wheel (when I just put the wheel back, it was chafing on the brakes, so I must have misaligned it. It was a quick fix at the bike shop
- We had the bed and breakfast package, but for some reason, our last breakfast was fully charged as it was tallied under as a lunch (instead of breakfast). When we got home, we had to call the hotel to get it resolved.
Still, these issues did not deter us from having a wonderful stay at this hotel. We think this hotel is better than the Ritz Carlton in Washington DC or the one in Pentagon City (and even those hotels are just as nice and friendly and cordial too)