A Sneak Preview of Washington, D.C.'s New Convention Hotel

When the brand-new 1,175-room Washington Marriott Marquis opens next May 2014, it will become a major landmark for the city of Washington, D.C. and its meetings and convention landscape. The $520-million hotel will have more than 100,000 square-feet of meeting space and will be located directly across the street from the Washington Convention Center, and will be only one of five Marriott Marquis properties in the U.S. 

Recently, SuccessfulMeetings.com spoke to the hotel’s general manager, Dan Nadeau, a 30-year Marriott veteran to find out more about the property and the evolution of Washington, D.C.’s meetings industry. “It’s a purpose-built convention center hotel,” he said. “We are attached to the Walter Washington Convention Center, and there’s an underground bridge that connects the two buildings, so the sense of arrival will be terrific.” Here’s what else Nadeau had to say about the property:

“The hotel is going to afford D.C. the opportunity to get business that we previously didn’t have,” explains Nadeau. “We didn’t have a headquarters hotel near the convention center. That’s all changing now with the introduction of our hotel in the market. It puts D.C. in a more competitive position with other key destination cities and lets the city offer a package that’s much better for customers. That’s one dynamic that will happen with bringing new business to the city.”

“I think what the hotel offers is two very different areas of the hotel to meet in,” Nadeau explains. There’s the traditional ballroom space, of which the biggest is 31,000 square feet. Those will be down below and very flexible and have great quality air walls and A/V technology. The connection from our hotel into the convention center goes thru the ballroom level space; the functionality of that space will be great. The most interesting space that we have is a space that’s one level above the lobby. There we will have 10 large breakout rooms that open up into this public space that surrounds the lobby. Here we have 15,000 square feet of pre-function space, and artwork that provides a nice backdrop. The space is ideal for generating a lot of networking opportunities.” 

The property already has business lined up for its opening on May 1. “We’ve been booking groups now for over two years,” says Nadeau. “The first convention that we signed was with the Association of the U.S. Army, which will bring us 12,000 room nights. … We’ve booked a lot of business already and we’ve got a pretty aggressive milestone that we need to hit, and we’re optimistic that we will meet our goals.”

Nadeau believes that the hotel’s opening is just one part of the evolution that is taking place in the city’s Shaw neighborhood, and beyond. “Our community right around us has had incredible growth in development in the last few years,” Nadeau explained. “Projects are being completed and there’s an 11-acre site that will feature 1.2 million square feet of retail space and a mixed use set up with 500,000 square feet of office space and also residential units. There’s an incredible plaza just one block away form the hotel. It’ll really shift life to this part of the city … People will be wowed when they see the neighborhood around the hotel.”

He adds, “Our city, particularly our bureau, has worked hard to modify the image of D.C. both domestically and internationally. Our visitor growth from China has grown by 50 percent in the last year. Washington D.C. just rolled out its new ‘DC Cool’ campaign for the coming year to show that it’s a lot more than the stereotypical view that people have of it as a cultural center with just museums. D.C. has more than 2,000 restaurants. Neighborhoods are developing in ways we haven’t seen before. There is substantial and sustained growth here. The things that planners really want to hear about is what is happening in the city and what changes are taking place. The dynamics of all of that—it’s so much different than what we’ve seen before. It’s so much more vibrant.

The hotel itself is an “architectural feat,” Nadeau says. “It’ll afford a lot of natural light and inside of our atrium lobby, you’ll see a really unique piece of sculpture art called ‘Birth of the American Flag.’ It’s a 52-foot tall piece by Rodney Carroll.”