We decided to spend our 9th wedding anniversary people watching and shopping in Georgetown. We wanted a nice hotel, within walking distance and a jacuzzi tub. The Hotel Palomar was perfect! We only stayed one night, but everyone was very helpful and friendly. I found the room to be clean and tidy. I wasn't scared to put my bare feet on the floor. The location was superb. The staff was helpful, pointing out a great place for Sunday brunch and pointing out some great places we could walk to for dinner. We parked on O street and walked to the hotel (about 1 block over). The neighborhood is very nice and our vehicle safety wasn't a concern. Also, we stayed over a Saturday night so finding a spot was fairly easy. I'd imagine during the week (with the 2 hour parking restrictions) it could be quite difficult. The one main issue we had was the control pad for the tub didn't work. The jets came on, but according to the instructions we were supposed to be able to adjust the jet flow or something, but that did not work. We could have missed something in the directions, since we were drinking while trying to figure it out, so I can't complain too much :) We will definitely return!!

The Palomar is on P Street, just 2 short blocks from the Dupont Circle Metro station and 1 block from the P Street Bridge over to Georgetown. We were immediately welcomed by the doorman and bellman and then by the front desk staff. And we were welcomed back by all of them every time that we returned to the Palomar during our 4-night stay. We got to the Palomar about 5:50pm and the man at front desk encouraged us to join a group of guests in the lobby for wine, which is offered daily from 5pm to 6pm.

Our room (#601) was a large room with 2 queen beds. All of the lights are on dimmers which allow adequate light for various task and relaxation modes. There was free wi-fi immediately available and easy to access at a desk/table that was on wheels for added flexibility for in-room dining. There was plenty of closet and drawer space. The bathroom seemed a little tight by comparison, but had lots of counter space, lots of towels and good lighting. The overall design was warm and restful.

The Urbana restaurant in the hotel is wonderful. The food is northern Italian and excellent. The service is friendly and attentive. Prices are relatively high, but we felt they were justified by the food, service and ambiance.

There was one problem during our stay -- the key-cards for the room malfunctioned repeatedly and one or both had to be replaced several times during our stay. In the process of gaining access to our room we also discovered that the cleaning staff did not completely latch the door after cleaning the room on several occasions. Nothing was missing from the room - which was very visible at the end of a long hallway - but it was disconcerting to feel that they were so careless about the safety of our belongings. We mentioned this problem in an on-line survey from Kimpton Hotels about our stay and got an immediate response from the manager of the Palomar saying that this problem had immediately been brought to the attention of the housekeeping staff.

We'll definitely be going back to the Palomar on our next trip to Washington DC.

The hotel was recommended by our travel agent. The pluses: excellent, convenient location, just a short walk to Metro, lots of shops and restaurants nearby. The restaurant next door was fine.

Minuses: I had specifically requested in my reservation, which I had made 4 months prior (!) a quiet room on a higher floor (I'm an extremely light sleeper, even with earplugs, which I brought with me, and need as much quiet as is possible) We checked in at 10 PM on a Tuesday evening; were told that all that was left was a room on the 2nd floor, street side. We were told that we could switch rooms the next day. However, since I made the reservations so far in advance I should not have had to do that. We decided to stick it out for a few days, but by Friday the delivery truck that left its engine running for half hour at 12:15 AM right in front of our window wore me down (this happened every night) so I switched rooms my last night. That room was quieter, but instead of a regular door to the bathroom, it had a sliding door that took a lot of manpower to open. My parent's room smelled absolutely horrible; management said they would clean it the next day but it still smelled the same the 4 nights they were there. Again; management did extend the offer for them to move the second day but my parents (80 years old) did not feel like unpacking and packing again so they stuck it out..
To top it off, when I checked back in again on the following Monday (we went out of town for 1 night and came back) my reservation was wrong, AGAIN. They said all they had was a room with a king bed . I was traveling with my 15 year old son and said this was not acceptable. They gave us a room with a foldout sofabed. My son is not one to complain but he said he had a sore neck the next morning, the mattress was very uncomfortable. Once again, they offered to switch our rooms (for the last night we were there) and they did, and gave us a complimentary breakfast and sparkling water and cheese in our room that evening. Still, that did not make up for the fact that our reservations were made far in advance, and were incorrect not once, but TWICE . I should have been offered a comp on that room for the night we had a sofabed or at least been refunded half its cost since it's not the type of room we requested (the rooms were not cheap; $359 plus tax, which came out to over $400 a night, which is a lot of money on my budget)
It's unfortunate, because it is a nice hotel, but the problems we had with our rooms would make me not want to stay there again. When I was at the front desk one time there was someone else checking in and they were told the same thing; the hotel was fully commited (i.e. sold out) and the room type they had requested was not available and they had to get another type of room. So we were not the only ones it happened to. Again, full disclosure, the staff always did offer to move us the next day, and apologized; but the rooms should have been blocked correctly ahead of time and we should not have had to move.

We spent 4 nights here, we had a double queen room which was pretty large although had a rather small bathroom but it was quite adequate. We loved the morning coffee and evening wine, the lobby always had an exciting buzz about it and the staff were always pleasant.
The location is perfect, a walk or metro to most places of interest, we also discovered that on occasions there is a courtesy car service which dropped us off in Georgetown one evening, we were about to hail a cab but were ushered to a lovely car instead and only allowed to pay a tip!
I had only one slight gripe which would not stop me coming back, that was the cleanliness of our room, I found numerous long black hairs (which did not belong to myself or my other half) in the bath and on the bathroom floor. I found myself cleaning the floor with damp tissues, there was also a dodgy cotton wool ball under the sink unit. I was a little unkeen to see the bare duvet when the sheet folded back which was a bit stained. Our room cleaning and turn down was also a bit hit and miss. However this may have just been bad luck, everywhere else looked pretty smart.
I would certainly recommend the Palomar, it is reasonably priced
and has a lively atmosphere.