Thought I was going to be staying at a charming old historic hotel -- that's what it looks like from the photograph on the website. And while the façade is a beautiful old Victorian, inside its charmless, 1970s hotel furniture, bad pinkish beige walls and slightly odd smelling. The staff was very helpful, breakfast was great, I was staying there for work in the conference center was only two blocks away. Nevertheless, I hate conference hotels and yet would have preferred it over the Sterling.

One of the worst hotels I've ever stayed out. Okay, THE worst. Worse than most Motel 6's. The carpet felt greasy when I was barefoot in my room. The tub didn't drain while i was showering, so although it looked gorgous, I hate showering with water around my ankles. The TV was fuzzy and the remote didn't allow me to access closed captioning, which is a must for me, as I was traveling with a child and use CC when I'm TV watching when she's asleep. The sleeping portion of the room was shabby, worn, dirty looking. The bathroom was very nice, however.

We attended a party there, and their accomdations for receptions and parties is very nice. So book the reception there, but don't book a room to sleep in.

The first impression was that this hotel was not the hotel pictured on the web site. The impression is of a Victorian house with yard in nice residential street. I might have read too much into it but the hotel looked shabbyier than the picture. The room I stayed in was the same. Not quite what was advertised. The room I was given was adjacent to some sort of motor that went off all night waking me up frequently. To be fair they removed $65 off my bill when I complined in the morning. It did not live up to the web site hype. I will not return.

First with the bad: You can tell this was once a beautiful hotel/residence. No longer. The owner obviously knows nothing about Victorian decor nor cares to update it to its original splendor . The lobby is Spartanly decorated with a few worn wing chairs and hideous cheap-looking Asian carpets. Where there should be gleaming hardwoods, you'll find discount tile or stained ancient office-like carpet. Where there should be elaborate window treatments for the beautiful high windows, there are only sad, flimsy lace curtains preceded by ugly plastic window blinds. There are more ugly brass fixtures than I could stomach and everything is pink, pink, PINK!!! Upon check-in we were greeted with an offensive ammonia odor and our room smelled well, stale. All I kept thinking is that I wanted to crack a window. Our room had an old garden tub encased with hideous pink faux marble tile that had such a slow drain. I was up to my knees in water by the time I finished showering. The toilet ran constantly. The bed - forget it! I've been home two days and my back still hurts. The pillows are hard as rocks and felt like they'd been stuffed with old carpet scraps. If you come here during the week, you can plan your days around feeding the meter or traipsing down the street to a pay lot because there's no parking!

The good: The front desk people were very courteous and friendly. They were pleasant about giving directions and calling for cabs. The hotel is centrally located right off of J-street and close to Old Town and other downtown venues. I honestly didn't find it to be noisy. You hear a little bit of traffic noise, but usually only the people blasting their stereos that you'd hear anyway. There's a great brewery just a few doors down and the hotel restaurant Chanterelle has really good food. I definitely would recommend their Sunday Brunch.
In a nutshell: Good food, tragic aesthetic. I've stayed in much nicer places where I've spent a third of what I payed here.I sincerely hope this beautiful old girl finds herself a new owner.