The Westin DC Downtown – Hotel Review

Washington, D.C. is a city that truly surprises; it leads with politics, but spend anytime here and something else emerges: a city of world-class museums and sports entertainment, neighbourhoods packed with character, and a fine dining scene that has been quietly building serious quodos. As a city break destination, it flies under the radar, too often overlooked in favour of destinations like New York and Chicago, but as one of America’s most walkable cities, it rewards those who take time to explore, and The Westin DC Downtown places you right in the heart of it. The Luxury Editor recently checked in, so read on to discover more.

Leave feeling better than when you arrived

Westin Hotels are built around a single concept that you should leave better than when you arrive, and following an $80 million investment within the property, this is visibly clear. The 807-room hotel offers a contemporary hotel experience structured around the six pillars of sleep, eat, move, feel, work and play.

Sleep Well, with the Westin’s iconic Heavenly® Bed and rub your temples with their complimentary lavender and chamomile balm, complimentary in every room, Eat Well with Root & Vine’s locally sourced menu and biodynamic wine programme and complimentary Westin WELL station in the lobby whcih include still, sparkling, and alkaline water on tap Move Well at the hotel’s fitness studio, the largest in DC and curated RunWESTIN routes across the city. Feel Well through their powerful rainshowers and White Tea Aloe bathroom amenities, Work Well in their customisable work spaces. And Play Well by simply being in one of the best locations in the city, the Penn Quarter.

The newly designed interiors take inspiration from biophilic design. Potomac stone, native to the region, covers the floors and walls in the communal area, a light-filled central atrium sits at the heart of the property, with its large glass ceiling held up by a lattice work of raw metal, while abundant greenery and water-inspired artwork, along with residential format furniture, create a calm and relaxing space for a hotel of this size.

The atrium is split into two uses, one half given over to a lounge space with clusters of seating arranged around low tables. The other side flows into Root & Vine. During the day, with natural daylight pouring in through the roof, the space buzzes with the energy of breakfast and the comings and goings of a busy city hotel. By evening, it takes on a chameleon-like transformation, the lighting dims, and the space becomes intimate, making it the ideal place to linger over a glass of wine, which I did – the Albariño is a delight.

Location

The hotel’s location couldn’t be any more convenient, right in the heart of the Penn Quarter, the Capital One Arena and Chinatown are minutes away on foot. The National Mall and Smithsonian museums are around a 20-minute walk, and two metro stations are within easy reach, taking you across the city and connecting you with Ronald Reagan Airport and Dulles International Airport.

Directly across from the hotel, the relatively new CityCenterDC shopping mall is packed with designer shops and dining outlets.

The hotel is also very easy to spot at night, its exterior lit in vivid purple, making it a landmark in the area.

Rooms & Suites

The 807 guest quarters are divided across a choice of categories. King and Queen City View offer Heavenly beds and signature interiors with views across the DC skyline. Premier and King Corner View offer enhanced views with their wraparound windows, and for those wanting more space, the Superior and Premier One Bedroom Suites offer a separate living area or go all out with the Presidential Suites, ideal for longer stays.

For wellness enthusiasts, Peloton Rooms are worth knowing about. In-room bikes allow you to workout entirely on your own schedule.

The Potomac stone-inspired palette runs throughout all room categories, with room interiors or soft neutral tones, natural textures and clean geometric lines. The Heavenly bed is now legendary, and for anyone who sleeps badly on the first night in a hotel or suffers from jetlag. The hotel offers a Sleep Oasis Package, developed by Dr. Whitney Roban, to help combat “The First Night Effect”. The package includes:

• Hushh® Compact Sound Machine
• Happy Ears earplugs
• The Herbal Zen aromatherapy shower steamers
• Nodpod sleep mask
• Westin Sleep Well Tea Blends and in-room tea service

King Park View

During my stay, I was hosted in a King Park View room. Rooms are very generously sized, a stone-inspired headboard runs the length of the bed, creating a focal point, a chaise lounge sits by the window, and there is a small desk area to work at, too. The bathroom features more floor-to-ceiling stone tiling, and a large walk-in shower features a powerful rain shower.

A refillable PATH water bottle is complimentary in rooms (and yours to take home with you), with water-filling stations on each floor and also down at the lobby Westin WELL station. A coffee machine is replenished daily, and at turn down lavender balm is left on your bedside table. It is worth noting that the daily destination fee includes credit for the restaurant along with Uber credit and other guest benefits.

The view lived up to the room category name, looking out over treetops with the Carnegie Library sitting directly below.

Breakfast

The next morning, after a thoroughly refreshing sleep, I headed down to Root & Vine for breakfast. The menu takes its provenance seriously with local suppliers highlighted throughout. Ivy City Smokehouse supplies the smoked salmon along with Martin’s cage-free eggs, Lyon Bakery breads, Noble Star Ranch bacon, and Stachowski’s sausages.

The first morning of my stay, I opted for the avocado toast loaded with Martin’s jammy eggs, puffed quinoa crunch and Aleppo oil, and the second morning, I tried the smoked salmon bagel, which was generously stacked with Ivy City gravlax on Izzy’s plain bagel with cream cheese, capers, watercress and pickled onion.

Grab & Go

The hotel also has a grab-and-go shop, where you can buy coffee and a large range of snacks (try the cookies, which are baked fresh in the hotel), along with a range of Root & Vine menu options to eat on the go.

Wellness & Fitness

My excuses for not visiting the hotel gym while travelling are well-versed, ranging from late nights to early mornings. However, here the reason is more straightforward: the city simply offers too much! So instead, I laced up my trainers each day and headed out to explore the surrounding neighbourhoods. However, if you are gym inclined, the hotel has the largest hotel gym in the city at 10,000 sq ft, it packs in an Olympic weight room, yoga room, Peloton bikes and flexible studio space.

Final Thoughts

The Westin DC Downtown delivers on its wellness promise without it ever feeling like hard work, and in a city that makes for a great city break destination, the property puts you front and centre of everything the capital has to offer.