The Westin Washington, D.C. City Center – Starwood Category 5
1400 M Street NW, Washington, District of Columbia 20005
Award Redemption: 12,000 pts or 6,000 pts +$110
Normal rate: Varies widely b/t $119-$359, average around $224
Starpoints return: .1 cents points – 4.3 cents/point = terrible – mediocre return

This hotel is in a good, not excellent location. When you enter the lobby, you’ll immediately be struck by the design–a 1982 building that gives you the feeling that you’re in a fishbowl or an indoor shopping mall, which is pretty cool. At check-in, I wasn’t offered an upgrade but was told that I had already booked a preferred room–c’mon make a Platinum feel special here! I chose the breakfast for all 4 nights instead of the 500 Starpoints.

The lobby, restaurant and bar–all multi-tiered

My room was on the 10th floor of the 14 floor building. While they didn’t give me an upgrade, this [highlight color=”grey/color”]Traditional Accessible, non-smoking: King Bed[/highlight] was a slightly preferred corner room–but while the room was bigger, the interior view was much smaller.

Traditional Accessible, non-smoking: King Bed

Large, accessible bathroom

The room had its fair share of wear and tear with a normal-for-the-age amount of scuff marks on the walls. The “window” opens up to the lobby, providing a decent feeling of being trapped in a fish bowl. And, it’s just a strange feeling looking out of your hotel window and not seeing the outdoors.

View from 10th floor room

The property, as I’ve mentioned, is unique to say the least. The bar, restaurants and lobby are all designed to leave you feeling like you’re suspended on a separate lily pad. I found the the bar to be too small for the size of the hotel– it looked very cramped when I walked through.

Hotel restaurant

This is a rather run down, far from impressive property. I didn’t hate it, but I will be going out of my way in the future to try either the Westin Georgetown, W D.C. or the St. Regis.

BOTTOM LINE: Decent property, at best. I’ll be going out of my way to stay at other D.C. area Starwoods or Hyatts in the future.