Convenient location-terrible hotel
I called prior to booking my reservation. I spoke with an employee that stated the package I was booking included valet parking ($42/night otherwise). I asked if there was any way that we could get parking for cheaper (i.e. go park ourselves, street parking, etc.). The woman on the phone said not to worry because all rooms included the valet parking. With this information I booked the package. When we checked in, the desk employee said that no package includes parking and we would be charged for parking on our credit card. The package was nonrefundable since we booked in advance, otherwise we would have gone to a different hotel. The contradiction would have cost us and extra $146 had I been unable to finally convince the desk to knock the parking off. I am handicapped, so to us the convenient parking was significant. We got to our room and it was smelly, stains everywhere, and PILLS on the floor. I am glad we decided against brining our dog because he likely would have eaten them! All of the staff held out their hands for a tip-going to get the car and sending the car off was expected, but holding a door open or an elevator are just silly. I don't tip people a the mall for holding a door for me! The ice machine on our floor was broken and the room keys allow access to your floor/floors with amenities. Since we were on the same floor as the pool we were unable to "floor hop" to another ice machine. We called the front desk a couple of times to ask for ice for the water bottles that we brought. After waiting 30 minutes we finally just left so that we didn't waste more time from our vacation. The hotel lobby is nice and modern-everything else seems to be from the 20's. As I mentioned, there were stains all over our room and pills on the floor so room stewards were, for us, questionable at best. The thermostat on the wall is an illusion. It will not change the temperature of your room. We would have requested another room, but we were near an elevator (again, I am handicapped) so we tried to spend as little time in the room as possible.
We did not book the scenic view room, but by turning a little bit we had a nice view of the Washington Monument. The Smithsonian museums, Botanical gardens, and the monument mall was easily within walking distance. There were also taxis present at all times. The location can't be beat. Nothing is included, so we brought our own muffins for breakfast and sodas/snacks. The hotel is far overpriced for what you get.