With a total of 3 35K Marriott Free Night Certificates set to expire at the end of the year, I set out to find a decent getaway. Based on flight availability, I chose to use them on a long weekend in Washington, DC. There’s many hotel options across chains in DC, including several that came in at or below the 35K mark. I ended up choosing the Marriott Washington Georgetown, but it was a coin flip between that and a nearby Renaissance.
Booking
As I mentioned above, I booked this long weekend entirely using 35K Free Night Certificates provided by my myriad of Bonvoy credit cards including the Amex legacy Starwood Preferred Guest card (no longer available to new applicants) and the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless (referral link). The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless is currently offering a sign-up bonus of three 35K free night certificates, which is enough to stay at many hotels around the world, including this one.
Location
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: The Marriott Washington Georgetown is not actually in Georgetown at all. In fact, it’s about a 20 minute walk from Georgetown. A more accurate description is that it’s adjacent to George Washington University. In the opposite direction of about a 20 minute walk is the National Mall and associated attractions. All in all, despite the misnomer of a name, the location is decent, in a quiet neighborhood a relatively short walk away from some of DC’s biggest attractions.
One thing worth noting: This is a car-dependent part of town. It’s about a half mile from the nearest metro station. The other buildings in the immediate area are luxury hotels such as the Ritz-Carlton and Fairmont, which are massive buildings not built to human-scale for comfortable walking.
Check-in and Lobby
As I entered the lobby, a bus with a basketball team was also arriving and athletes were pouring into the hotel. Even so, the lobby was large and open and had plenty of space to accommodate the large group. They additionally helped me at a dedicated elite check-in counter. The front desk agent was very warm and friendly and immediately recognized my status. She did not upgrade me (upon checking, I noticed that the hotel was legitimately sold out of suites and I overheard the basketball team mention a party in the suite later, so my assumption is that they had paid for several of them.)
The front desk agent explained that the M Club Lounge was still closed but she offered me vouchers for daily breakfast in the hotel restaurant instead. I am typically of the mindset that restaurant breakfast is preferable to lounge breakfast anyway, so this suited me well. The only downside to the lounge’s closure was the lack of beverage refreshment; there were no water bottles in my room, nor was I offered any at check-in. Having the lounge to grab some water from–some sparkling water in particular–would have been an excellent pro. My understanding from reading other reviews is that this is a very nice lounge when it’s open, but that clearly wasn’t the case here, and I ended up using a cup to drink sink water out of my room bathroom.
Room
My first thought upon entering my room was that it was exceptionally small. I knew that I hadn’t been upgraded, but this room felt cramped and reminded me of hotels in New York City. The shower in particular was narrow and the bathroom overall was quite cramped. But I did appreciate the adequate counter space on both sides of the sink, which is not a given at many hotels.
The next thing I noticed was that the room was exceptionally clean. This was a new and modern hotel, but even so I need to give credit to the housekeeping staff here who have clearly kept this hotel in perfect shape since opening day. I don’t often comment on cleanliness unless I find something unsavory, but in this case the room felt as clean as if I were the first person to ever stay in it.
The king-sized bed was comfortable, the drapes closed smoothly to block out the street light, and the TV worked as expected. There were plenty of plugs in obvious and intuitive locations around the room, including on the nightstands. The pillows were classic hotel fare; that is to say that two pillows under my head felt flat, but three gave me a neckache. Someday, someone will invent that Goldilocks pillow thickness.
The room featured one of the worst coffeemakers I could ever hope to use, combined with some of the worst coffee. It was one of those machines were you inserted your coffee bag by using a disposable tray; both came in the same sealed pouch. The coffee tasted like hot water and after the first day I decided to have my morning caffeine ritual in the restaurant instead.
Amenities
Although this hotel is billed as a full-service Marriott, most amenities you commonly think of in this genre either didn’t exist or were still closed from covid. I already mentioned that the M Club is still closed, for example. The hotel doesn’t have a pool or spa. It does have a fitness center on site, but I didn’t use it. Room service is operating, but as pickup only; unfortunately they are charging the same fees as if they were delivering to my room, which defeats the point.
Food and Beverage
The Visiteur restaurant on site was a highlight of this property for me, in particular because my breakfasts as a Titanium Elite were complimentary. The menu was small and focused but they offered several savory egg dishes as well as sweet dishes such as waffles. The quality was very good and service was also great.
Overall Impression
Ultimately, this hotel isn’t going to win any awards for its luxury. It is a large and fairly stereotypically cookie-cutter hotel located between Georgetown and the National Mall in DC. It’s a good enough option for a 35K certificate and the hotel does a good job of treating elites well with full breakfast, lounge (when it’s open), and presumably upgrades (when suites aren’t legitimately booked for a basketball tournament.) I think there’s a relatively small window between 15K and 25K properties, and another small bump between 25K and 35K properties. It’s important to keep context in mind when considering the value of this certificate; it intentionally does not give access to the Ritz-Carlton across the street, for example. Still, when keeping expectations in check, the Marriott Georgetown is a great value option for using free night certificates in a major American city.
