Mandarin Oriental Hotel in SW

[morela]

Does anyone have feedback from staying/dining at their others of those around the globe?

5 stars is many.

It's supposed to open in a little more than a month on Southwest Waterfront (1330 Maryland Ave. SW). Lounge and Restaurant too (Though, I have no clue who is involved).

As date approaches, wld be interesting to hear what people know/see...

[Joe H]

The expectation is that this will be on par with the Four Seasons in Georgetown. Generally the Mandarin group and the Four Seasons are prime competitors. This should be a real plus for D. C.

[Mark Sommelier]

Does anyone have feedback from staying/dining at their others of those around the globe?

5 stars is many. 

It's supposed to open in a little more than a month on Southwest Waterfront (1330 Maryland Ave. SW).  Lounge and Restaurant too (Though, I have no clue who is involved).

As date approaches, wld be interesting to hear what people know/see...

These hotels in the far east are always named as the best in the world. They pick you up from the airport there in their Rolls. The BIG SECRET about their prime restaurant is that a BIG DEAL CHEF FROM NEW YORK was rumored to be the consulting chef. For a lux hotel, that sure is a strange location. Everyone who works there is mum at the moment.

Edited January 29, 2004 by Mark Sommelier (log)

[JPW]

For a lux hotel, that sure is a strange location. Everyone who works there is mum at the moment.

I was going to go more with "bizarre", "extremely odd", or just plain old "Huh?" for the location.

Granted the waterfront is somewhat nicer than it has been in recent times, but I'm still left scratching my head.

Anybody have insights as to why there?

[hannnah]

Cheap downtown property? Great honking big tax break for taking a "less desirable" location? I suspect a combination of both.

[laniloa]

I had the pleasure of spending a celebratory weekend at the Kahala Mandarin in Hawaii. It was truly divine. The room was perfectly done without seeming overly opulent or out of synch with the Hawaiin setting. Lots of teak wood and the best coconut bath salts. I still request those when asked what I want for birthday presents. We had and amazing meal at Hoku's with a kiawe grilled tenderloin that melted in your mouth. The Hawaiian orchid vanilla ice cream on top of the berry cobbler banished any further use of the term "plain vanilla" from my vocabulary.

[JPW]

Cheap downtown property? Great honking big tax break for taking a "less desirable" location? I suspect a combination of both.

It would be interesting to see how much they got out of the city. Especially given the crap that Tony W. has been getting for tax breaks for the new convention center and plans for the old one among other deals.

Even with the lower prices, my take is that they have to be thinking that the waterfront will come around enough to attract the type of visitor willing to pay their prices. Wouldn't you much rather stay at 4Seasons in G'town and be able to walk around then the Waterfront, where I still watch my back VERY carefully after dark? Not to mention that there is a relative dearth of decent dining options down there.

[8Track]

It must have a lovely view of the Jefferson and Washington Monument, and the waterfront has a ten year strategic plan that will turn it around. I suppose it's a good location for joggers and others who can run around Hains Point. It's really convenient to the airport as well. I have no doubt that they got major tax breaks to do it.

So, that may have been the thinking.

[butterfly]

Veering dangerously off-topic, but here's the deal with the hotel development:

The Mandarin Oriental received $46 million in tax-increment financing (TIF) bonds. The project cost $144 million total. The way TIFs work is that they get paid back from a portion of the sales and property taxes generated from the project. These bonds got a good rating (A-), so it seems that at least Standard and Poor's thought it was a worthwhile project with relatively little risk.

The city has big, big stuff planned for that neighborhood over the next 10 years.

The city is using TIFs pretty aggressively to get the right mix of businesses and services within a given neighborhood. The big Gallery Place movie theater is another big TIF project.