One of my most common travel destinations is Washington, DC. Most every time I visit, I stay in a different hotel because there are so many nice hotels that all sometimes have good rates with either cash or points. This next hotel is the first in the DC series for the blog: The Westin DC City Center. I previously stayed at this hotel back in 2024, and my previous impression was that the hotel felt a bit dated but was otherwise perfectly serviceable and had a good location. Let’s see how it holds up in 2026!
The Westin DC Downtown is only about 5 blocks away from Lafayette Square and the White House, so I recommend the location if you want to stay near the National Mall and all the goings on in downtown. I will note however that the immediate area around the hotel is noticeably less interesting. It’s also worth noting that this hotel is distinct from the Westin DC Downtown, and I’ve seen several people show up at check in and be sent to the other one, haha.
The outside of the hotel is pretty dated at this point (it has a very 70s vibe). The various pictures online are representative of what it looks like, so my review is focused primarily on the rooms and breakfast offering.
The amenities
The amenity that I’m interested in when I visit hotels is the gym, and this hotel’s gym is good. It has plenty of cardio machines:
And a handful of weights machines. These machines are adequate for a pull day or a leg day, but trying to do a push day might be difficult. There are also some dumbbells in a yoga corner. While workable for a few days, it’s not a full-fledged gym.
The room
I was able to get pictures of both the standard room types (1 king and 2 queen). These rooms are both considered to be “upgraded view” rooms, but for this hotel, that just means they face the roads instead of the inner atrium. It’s also possible to get adjoining rooms here.
Let’s go through the 1 king bedroom first. This room is pretty standard: a 1 king bed with a large flat screen TV and a small desk and sitting area (by the adjoining room door). Everything was pretty standard, but the small corner window made the room feel quite dark, which also does make it easier to sleep in at least. The carpet in the room is basically a continuation of the same carpet that’s also in the hallways. In the hallways, it makes rolling suitcases much harder, but probably does cut down on noise pretty well. This specific room also had a bit of a stale smoke smell, unfortunately.
The bathroom was a pretty standard size. The best part of the room was the shower, with a fully walk-in shower and several showerheads.
Transitioning to the 2 queen bedroom, we find a very familiar carpet and layout. Like the 1 king bedroom, there was a desk and flatscreen TV. To accommodate the extra bed, there is a night stand between the two beds. In addition, the sitting area at the far end of the room is rearranged to make it fit more naturally. This room also had a full-width window at the end of the room. Since I assume the reason for the larger window was that room was not on the corner of the building.
Shifting to the bathroom, it looks the same for the most part, except the shower is a shower/tub combination with only a half-glass shower covering. I don’t know why the two showers are different, but here we are.
The food
The Westin DC City Center has one primary bar/restaurant that make up about half the lobby space called, “Infamy”, which is an interesting choice for a restaurant name, but I guess it’s at least accurate for DC. Over the course of a few days, we were able to try out several of the breakfast options, including:
The French toast
Eggs Benedict
Pancakes
And the “American Breakfast”
Of these, I recommend the Eggs Benedict and the French toast. The only one that I found a bit disappointing was the pancakes, but the rest were good! (But not like exceptional or anything). I will note though that the breakfast staff here are sometimes pretty pushy to get online reviews about them, so do be aware that you’ll be asked to give them a good review multiple times.
Here’s the full breakfast menu:
Elite benefits and recognition
As a Westin-branded hotel, this hotel participates in the Marriott Bonvoy scheme. As a Bonvoy Titanium member, the elite benefits I’m supposed to receive at the hotel are (1) 75% bonus points; (2) space-available complimentary room upgrades; (3) a welcome gift of points or a food/beverage amenity; and (4) Club Lounge access (or breakfast if there isn’t a club lounge). I can confirm that I received all of the above! The bonus points and welcome gift of points were easy to come by. The space-available upgrade was only to a room with “a better view”, but from the looks of it, the hotel was pretty sold out at the time. This hotel doesn’t have a club lounge, so I did receive breakfast instead! And the way they did the breakfast benefit was great—it was basically just “order whatever entree you’d like”, which is as good as it gets!
Score and summary
This hotel is totally fine for a business trip to DC. It’s perfectly comfortable but far from exciting in my experience. The location of the hotel is great, and the sound insulation is very good, which is important for an outward facing room. The hotel does look very 70s and feels a bit dated despite having somewhat recently been refurbished apparently. The staff were consistently welcoming, if a bit pushy at times (3/5). The rooms themselves were pretty standard overall. The stale smoke smell in one of the rooms was a bit unfortunate, but sometimes that happens in hotels, especially when there’s fabric everywhere (3/5). The amenities are a bit sparse, with the gym being the main one of note. Although the gym is good, nothing wow’d me (3/5). The food is good but not exceptional, but when all breakfast options are free, that’s fine by me! (4/5). It fully honors all the expected Bonvoy benefits, which is great to see! (5/5). Overall, the hotel earns an 18/25. It’s not one to avoid in my experience, but I also wouldn’t recommend actively seeking it out.
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