Major issue with air-conditioning, but staff here is excellent
We stay at this location once a year on my wife's birthday and always make a fine dining reservation at a high-end D.C. restaurant. I have always given this property, and staff, a high rating. However, this year there were several factors that contributed to my lowering the rating.
On the positive side, this location is one of the best in D.C. and Tera at the front desk is always super helpful. The same for Jose and others we have encountered in the past. The room was clean, but not spotless as evidenced by the filthy laminated TV lineup card.
On the negative side, I always attempt to never criticize unless it's due...and have never done so at this location before. When we arrived, the elevator was very hot as was the entire hallway on the second floor. It was to the point of being suffocatingly warm. 
The worst part of the stay was the fact that we entered the room and it was like a sauna. I promptly turned the air-conditioning unit to 65. However, the unit seemed taxed and never really cooled off the living area or bedroom area. I noticed that the thermostat control said something about motion sensor technology. I saw sensors shaped like smoke alarms on the ceiling and had never seen them during previous visits. 
Bottom line is that the unit would continually shut down if one of us wasn't moving around the room(s) nearly continuously. I called the front desk and was told that there was no maintenance person on duty. The lady said she would call me back, but I had to call three times and she finally told me that there is a "magic override" on the unit where it will not cut off. 
After missing nearly an entire night's sleep, the unit seemed to cool off some during the night. However, it never shut off since it never reached the desired temperature. We like to sleep in a very cool/cold room and this was very disappointing.
Another annoying issue took place the morning we checked out. The coffee maker would not work and housekeeping brought another which would not work. Maintenance staff came to the room and said that the two different electrical outlets in the kitchen were not working properly then he tried the one by the dining table and we finally got to drink coffee after a 45-minute ordeal of wasted time. It also took all night for the refrigerator ice-maker to make enough to fill two tall glasses.
I agree with some other folks that the place needs remodeling because it is starting to look a little dated. Hopefully, that will take place soon. We can tolerate many things, but the air-conditioning situation needs to be remedied. Finally, the a/c return air filter duct was falling off the wall and needed to be repaired.
I read where another recent reviewer wrote that they received a nice gift basket (from management) to celebrate their husband's birthday. We have never been that fortunate and we always stay at this property on my wife's birthday. Plus, I am a Marriott Rewards club member which evidently counts for nothing to boot.
I would have to say that we were disappointed (to say the least) with this stay. Someone will have to prove to me that things have changed here before I will give it another chance. Otherwise, we may have to find a new birthday home away from home.