This article outlines the hotels in Washington DC, that offer guest club or executive lounges.
When deciding which hotel to choose for your stay in a city like Washington, DC, it is sensible to consider the added extras a hotel club lounge provides. Offerings usually include complimentary drinks and snacks throughout the day, breakfast in the morning, and evening cocktails with canapés. Often, the evening food and drink offering is more than enough to replace the need to go out for the evening.
Club or executive hotel lounges provide an interesting environment to work and relax. Some lounges also provide dedicated meeting rooms, although I find holding meetings in the main lounge more friendly. The clubrooms themselves are often a little bigger and offer more luxurious facilities than standard rooms, with more space, plus they are often on higher floors with better views.
Finally, executive and club benefits are great for early check-in / late check-out, as you can often stay in the club lounge room with all the benefits in the afternoon if you have a late flight. Conversely, you can use the club lounge and executive facilities from early in the morning if you arrive early and your room isn’t ready.
I have compiled a list below containing the club lounges available across luxury hotels in Washington, DC. I list the ones I consider to be the best at the top. I will be reviewing each of these Washington hotel club lounges in detail in turn so that you know what you will get if you book a room with club lounge access.
1. The Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge Washington DC
The best Club Lounges in Washington are either the Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge Washington DC or the Mandarin Oriental Washington club lounge outlined below.
The Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge is a peaceful, exclusive retreat for leisure guests and business travelers. It features dedicated Concierge services in addition to the following complimentary offerings:
- Food and beverage presentations throughout the day and evening, including wine and cheese tastings featuring international and local Virginia winery selections and locally sourced cheeses from Virginia. All presentations change seasonally, ensuring a fresh experience with every visit
- Wireless Wi-Fi access in the Lounge
- Access to an exclusive collection of DVDs, CDs, and children’s books
- Additional Club Lounge features include transportation and tourism assistance and butler services
Breakfast is an excellent spread of fresh fruit, pastries, and other baked goods, smoked salmon with all the trimmings, and several hot offerings. There is a light lunch and afternoon tea. In the evening, expect cocktails & substantial hors d’oeuvres, chocolates, dessert & cordials/drinks. The offerings are varied and substantial, more than enough to fill you up.
2. Mandarin Oriental Washington
Mandarin Oriental Washington is a beautiful property located within walking distance of the National Mall, Smithsonian, Jefferson Memorial, and Washington Monument. The Mandarin Oriental Washington club lounge is located on the hotel’s eighth floor.
They say: Gather at a café table or at the Bar to prepare for an upcoming meeting on Capitol Hill or for a day of sightseeing on the National Mall. The Club’s Living Room offers a casual setting in which to enjoy the exclusive Bowers and Wilkins Sound Bar or catch up on reading with the Loaner Lenses Programme with Morgenthal Frederics. Plus, there is a superb balcony, which is the perfect place to view the nation’s capital.
Club guests enjoy special amenities such as a nightly Asian-inspired menu paired with various house wines, sake, craft beers, and spirits. Yes, unlike many club lounges in America, this one serves alcohol. This Club also has a private meeting room for impromptu get-togethers, late check-out, and chauffeured car service. Complimentary garment pressing and access to deluxe high-speed internet are also included in the Club experience.
Specific free benefits at this club lounge include:
- Daily European breakfast
- Evening reception with hors-d’oeuvres from an Asian-inspired menu with a variety of house wines, craft beers, spirits, and sake
- All-day sweet and savory delights. The pastry chef here is particularly noteworthy
- All-day beverage service of bottled water, soft drinks, juices, espresso drinks, coffee, and tea
- Exclusive arrival and departure experiences through a dedicated Concierge from within The Club Lounge
- Pressing service for up to two garments per stay
- Late check-out until 4:00 pm, based on availability
- The exclusive Bowers & Wilkins Sound Bar allows guests to enjoy premium high-fidelity audio through the acclaimed 800 Series Diamond loudspeakers or a pair of Bowers & Wilkins’ P7 headphones
- Explore the world of eyeglass fashion with the exclusive Loaner Lenses Programme, offering a selection of reading glasses for use in the Club Lounge
- Secretarial services and complimentary printing available
- Selection of family board games, plus you can bring children into this lounge (although there aren’t many in there due to the location of this city hotel, meaning it’s largely used for business travel
- Complimentary access to high-speed wireless Internet throughout the hotel for up to 6 devices per room
- Chauffeur service for one-way transfers between 5:00 – 8:00 pm within a 2-mile radius of the hotel on a first-come, first-served basis
- Club Lounge Library, a private boardroom with built-in audio-visual, which seats up to 12 guests. Complimentary use for the first two hours, based on availability. Guests are required to reserve the Library within 24 hours
The Club Lounge is non-smoking
Tips: Don’t expect to fill up in the evenings in this club lounge. At cocktail hour, hor d’oeuves are just that, a meager snack, often just pita chips and dip. In conclusion, you will still need to eat out in the evening as their food offering is not filling enough. Wine and beer are also chargeable, making the drinks offered in this lounge of limited value.
Is it worth paying for this club lounge? If you need the meeting room facilities, yes, if not, there is quite a premium on the price and bearing in mind the complementary benefits offered by our luxury travel concierge even on the standard room, it is probably more cost-effective to book a standard room and make use of our benefits than to book a club room because the additional benefits are limited.
3. Marriott Marquis Washington
The Marriott Marquis Washington is located near the Verizon Center, Harman Theatre (Shakespeare), and the National Gallery of Art/Portrait Gallery, with some very nice restaurants in the vicinity.
The M Club Lounge at Marriott Marquis Washington is decent and large. In the morning, breakfast includes a large selection of fruit (including blueberries and blackberries), pastries, cereal, eggs, bacon, breakfast potatoes, sliced meat, cheeses, oatmeal, and yogurt. The hot items included scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and potatoes. A decent spread, but the food doesn’t seem to get refilled that often, so by the end of breakfast, bits of the offering become empty. We advise arriving early to get the full spread.
The mid-day snacks include granola bars, Rice Krispy treats, nuts, and fresh-cut veggies with ranch dip. There is a self-serve fridge with sodas, but there is no cappuccino/coffee machine, just carafes that must be manually refilled.
There is an Honor Bar in the evening for drinks (prices range from $6 USD for a domestic beer to $11.50 USD for a martini) and plenty of food, including a jar of Reese’s Pieces. Snacks include two different kinds of hot rolls, chips and guacamole dip, cheese, spring rolls, some kind of samosas, along with charcuterie meat. The savories are followed by a selection of desserts and chocolates (including truffles) later in the evening.
There’s no bottled water. Instead, a water dispenser is placed in the lounge for you to use. The outdoor deck connected to this lounge is amazing, and the views of Washington, DC, are incredible.
This is one of the best lounges in Washington, DC, but is not a patch on the lounge at the Mandarin Oriental or the Ritz-Carlton Club lounges.
4. Renaissance Washington
The lounge is quite large, and we haven’t visited it, so we can’t comment on how good or bad it is.
5. Washington Hilton
There is a rather basic Club Lounge at the Hilton Washington, located uphill from the Dupont Circle station. It is more like a cafeteria than a lounge, with simple seating and buffet food.
The executive level has breakfast, happy hour snacks and drinks, and cookies until late. You need to book a room on the Executive floor to get access, which is around 35% -40% more than the standard room rate. The executive rooms are nothing special.
The breakfast is a typical lounge continental breakfast with cereal, bagels, hard-boiled eggs, fruit, and dried fruit. Nothing special. Appetizers at night are decent, beef pastry puffs, brie pastry puffs, veg, cheese, and crackers, and the bartender is generous with his drinks delivery.
A pool and gym at the Washington Hilton are open to the public, so it’s a bit nicer than a typical hotel gym. The pool is large and has two lanes for laps, though it is only 4′ deep. It’s heated to a pleasant temperature, and the pool area has a lot of seating as well as a drinks service.
6. Four Seasons Washington
The Four Seasons Washington is one of the top hotels in Washington. They say: “An icon at the entrance to the Georgetown neighborhood, our hotel welcomes you to experience America’s capital city like never before – with resort-like outdoor spaces, the best steakhouse in the city, a passionate and tenured staff, and one of the city’s top private fitness clubs and spas. Come experience Washington, DC’s first five-star, five-diamond luxury hotel, which has been host to the shapers of international and domestic politics and industry for over three decades.”
Four Seasons Washington has a wonderful indoor pool and spa and gym, a guarantee of luxury rooms and service, a truly glorious example of a historic hotel in Washington. However, it does not have a club lounge, where everything is free once you have paid for the access and are through the door. Although we cannot offer club lounge access at this Four Seasons hotel, we can book you in with some incredible benefits.
Which Is The Best Lounge Overall?
Our vote goes to the Ritz-Carlton, followed by the Mandarin Oriental. These lounges are superior to all the other lounges in Washington, DC.
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