On a recent trip to DC near my birthday, I needed a hotel for one night, and I had an 85k point Marriott certificate begging to be used, so I decided to book a night at the St Regis Washington DC. This hotel has been of interest for quite a while for me because it has a central location and is the only St Regis in one of my favorite cities. I’ve walked past it a few times and always felt that it had a much better vibe than the Ritz-Carltons in DC… but also usually higher prices. So when I saw that I could grab a room with my certificate for once, I jumped on the opportunity.
Upon arrival at the St Regis, the doors are opened for you, everyone greets you politely without being in the way, and you’re ushered to a (oddly small) room off the main lobby to be checked in.
The room
At check-in, I got an upgrade from a standard room to a “larger guest room” that had recently been renovated.
The main entry way has some nice tile, and the room is well lit.
The bathroom and shower are absolutely gorgeous, and the toiletries are excellent. There’s also a Japanese-style toilet.
In the main room area, there’s a small couch by the window, and a nicely appointed but still functional coffee table. The desk is intended to look like a writing desk, and is very nicely appointed as well, and is still functional. A lot of hotels I’ve been to recently have had nicely styled couches and desks that were shockingly unfunctional, haha.
The bar under the TV gave the vibe of almost having a fire place and hearth, and the bed was excellent. The curtains also did a great job of blocking out the sunlight.
The amenities
Being a city hotel, the main amenities were more in the direction of event spaces, so there was only a small fitness room available. I tried to get better pictures of it, but really, there’s only so much you can do when the facility consists of six pieces of cardio equipment and a similar number of weight machines. That being said, unlike some other similarly stocked hotel gyms I’ve been to recently, the space was well utilized. Though I will admit that it was a little cramped when more than 2 people were in the space.
The Food and Restaurant Service
The restaurant at the St Regis DC is called Alhambra, and they really lean into the décor. The pictures online do it justice, with reds and gold everywhere.
A major perk of selecting St Regis hotels over Ritz Carltons is that St Regis hotels offer breakfast to Platinum and above status holders. In this hotel’s case (like the W in San Francisco), they had a couple of breakfast choices that were specifically included under the elite status breakfast. We opted to get one order of the avocado toast and one “American breakfast”, which included eggs, bacon, and a roasted tomato half. Even the plates reflected the Alhambra theming!
We also had excellent service from our waiter. However, it was very odd that the table next to us had remnants on it when we arrived, and it didn’t get cleared until our dishes were cleared. I guess the table bussers weren’t alerted to it.
Elite benefits and recognition
On paper, St Regis hotels offer the following elite benefits with my Marriott Titanium status: (1) 75% bonus points; (2) space-available complimentary room upgrades; and (3) a welcome gift of points or breakfast. I can confirm that I received all of the above!
The bonus points and welcome points posted correctly. The space-available upgrade was to a “Larger Guest Room”, which was a very nice room, but I’d agree not quite a junior suite in vibe. Having a handful of specific breakfast choices for Bonvoy guests is acceptable in my opinion when the options are of sufficient quality, which these were!
Score and summary
This hotel is very nicely appointed and really lives up to the St Regis name in terms of overall vibe. Given the upgrade, the room was very good, and I would’ve been happy to stay in the room for much longer than just the single night (5/5). The service at the hotel was good, but for a hotel of the level a St Regis is supposed to be, I was not particularly amazed by it (4/5). The food was great (5/5), but the gym was very small and cramped, especially for the size of the hotel (2/5). I also give them a 5/5 for elite recognition (but it’s maybe a low 5 because of the limited elite breakfast options). Overall, I give the hotel a 21/25.
This hotel room cost 87 000 Marriott Bonvoy points and about $50 for the destination fee. The fact that Marriott doesn’t wave the destination fee on award bookings continues to be a point of negative differentiation for the program. I used my 85 000 point certificate from my Ritz Carlton Card, and so it only cost 2 000 points and $50 out of pocket. Would I have paid that many points for this hotel room if I didn’t get the certificate for ~$150? No. I don’t think these types of hotels are quite worth the price for me. That being said, for the ~$210, factoring in the price of the certificate, I would say it was a good deal (especially with the breakfast!)
