Pendry Washington DC - The Wharf

Tiny rooms, one can barely get around. Two chairs crammed in a corner that you can’t get to surrounded by a round even smaller table that is only large enough for their two magazines. If you want to watch tv and pull the chairs in front, youll block the entrance to the room. Broken coffee machine (machine that you need a YouTube tutorial to use). No paper cups, no sugar, no creamer. Slippery showers. No open shared spaces in the hotel. Literally you step into the hotel, you see the front desk (more like a woman behind a work desk) and to the left are the elevators to the rooms! he staff at the front desk are a little low energy. Shocked that this is part of Montage hotel family. For the price over thousand dollars, the service and rooms are subpar. The Moonraker Bar upstairs is what people go there for to party. However, It’s definitely not five star accommodations. Very disappointed. ☹️

This is a fairly new hotel. Less than three years old. Therefore, it is a nice property. I stayed in the water front suite for the Presidential Inauguration. The suite was extremely small for luxury hotel standards and very dis-functional. There is no desk, only one bathroom with no soaking tub and only one vanity. The views from the suite were great and the area is very nice. However, i prefer a larger suite with more room and functionality that you find at a Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton. The lobby is boutique style and therefore very small so there is not much activity. The bar area is also very small. There is a rooftop restaurant that has amazing views of the Washington Monument, US Capitol and the entire surrounding area. This was hard to beat. We had the distinct pleasure of watching the worst President in US History, Joe Biden, take off in Marine One to depart Washington DC from the rooftop. The biggest issue with the hotel was there seemed to be constant smell of marijuana coming from somewhere. We could not figure it out but it was definitely that horrible smell. My daughter stayed in a regular room that was also small and a little dis-functional but not as bad as the suite. The bathroom was actually larger than the one in our suite. Overall, the property is nice and clean and the service was very good. The area cannot be beat for staying in DC. Everything is new and the area is very safe. It is a bit of a walk from most of the area attractions that people come to DC to see. If you are like me and picky about the size of and functionality of your rooms this place may not be for you. If i wanted to stay in the Wharf area if would probably take a close look at the Intercontinental a few doors down.

We had noticed the Pendry on a previous visit to the Wharf and decided to stay here next time. What a let down. I’ll just randomly mention some of the many issues. Fyi we had a juniorsuit $$$. It starts when you get to the room that you booked for 3 people but is not prepared as such. The sofabed was not made up for our son so we had to request and only received a thin sheet, no blanket. Later we noticed that we were missing a 3rd towel so again had to request from housekeeping and wait. There are 2 handles on the shower door but none inside. There is no fan in the bathroom so mirrors fog up after each shower. No desk in room and no areas in hotel for working or just lounging. When we asked we were referred to penthouse bar/restaurant (not suitable) or outdoor space (was close to freezing). No mirror in bedroom so you’ll have to wait your turn for the bathroom one. Plenty of cupboard space located near entrance door and separate area in suit but due to layout lots of lost space with no hangers at all in one of the closets. Flimsy sofabed that takes whole living space once converted into the bed so no other way to sit down or access living area. No spoons next to coffee. No tea or water kettle. The partial riverview is very partial. Terrible wifi connection so ending up using our own hotspot. Def not suitable for remote work. Breakfast is pricy. Easily +$100-150 per day for the 3 of us. Nice enough but would not eat there again and only used since we had a credit thru the CC. We had to request S&P only to receive an empty saltshaker so no attention to detail. Same with missing utensils for 3rd person even after our food arrived that we ended up getting ourselves. The place was understaffed both mornings we did go up but don’t blame staff who were obviously struggling. The sole lady on both days did great considering. Most sitting arrangements are uncomfortable lounge chairs at a small round table. Obviously the few comfortable once (square table with normal chairs) are taken quickly. The space is small and doubles as main restaurant /bar so more aimed at lounging that sitting down comfortably. Regarding the turndown service, if you are going to give 1 cookie when there are 3 people don’t bother (there were 2 cookies upon arrival). $$valet but this we knew beforehand so we choose to return the rental before arriving here as we didn’t want to deal with this or parking in DC. Uber much easier. Surprise ‘destination fee’ ($30pn) charged and when asked for what I was told it was for the welcome juice, use of slippers (did not see) and other ‘amenities’ so basically a hidden fee on top of overpriced room. As we had used zero amenities I guess we paid for the welcome juice. We had some other issue with the bill that we had to go to reception and get corrected instead of remote checkout. Finally we were asked for a review by the hotel for Tripadvisor (they provided the link) that I completed but somehow it never appeared… so here it is. First experience with a Pendry hotel and probably never again. We thought we were getting a luxurious boutique hotel experience but stayed away as much as possible to avoid further annoyances.

Best guest experience I’ve had! They think of everything. Great property in a great location with a wonderful staff. Room was extremely comfortable and quiet. Went to moonraker twice and in room dining was fantastic as well. We will be back!

The Prendry DC is a beautiful property, but what truly made our experience was the staff. They’re friendly, address you by name, and go above and beyond to make you feel welcome - shout out to Josh and Jihrea! Thank you for a lovely stay. We will definitely be back.