I fell into a wormhole researching cherry blossoms in Japan for a recent trip that made me realize that many other places in the world have amazing cherry blossom festivals too. Now there is a whole list of places I want to go to during cherry blossom season and I love how these beautiful sakura blossoms bring joy all around the world. Through my cherry blossom research I learned about Washington DC and the cherry blossom festival there. And that’s how I found out that a brand new Conrad Washington DC was opening around when we were visiting and because I was obsessed with cherry blossoms at the time, I became totally curious about the new Sakura Club at that hotel.
What is the Sakura Club at the Conrad Washington DC?
The Sakura Club is a type of room that you can book at the Conrad Washington DC that includes a 24 hour lounge access. In our travels we’ve started to see more hotels offering this type of “all-inclusive” add on to hotel rooms with their lounges. Marriott hotels are adding “M clubs”, some Sheraton hotels like the one we love in Vancouver BC have club rooms and on a recent stay in Okinawa at the ANA Intercontinental Manza Beach Resort we also booked a room with club access that made our stay a really phenomenal one. Lounge access like this makes hotels feel more like home and it’s nice to be able to grab a drink, snack or light meal at any time of the day without having to formally make plans.
At the Conrad Washington DC, you check in for the Sakura Club on the 10th floor. This reminds me of so many hotels in Japan where the lobby isn’t on the main floor. And just like many hotels in Japan, the minute you enter the doors of the Sakura Club you are totally taken care of. We had the loveliest people there help us out and hanging out in the lounge was a huge highlight of our Washington DC trip. And yes, there are actual meals in the Sakura Club at the Conrad Washington DC. Days start with breakfast and flow into brunch. We missed tea both days we stayed at this hotel but I can imagine the tea service would have been fantastic. One night there was a Moroccan meal and my guys ate so many falafels I thought they would explode. Another night we had tortillas and and a gorgeous salad that was almost too beautiful to eat.
Sakura Club Double Room at the Conrad Washington DC
We booked a double room for our family of four with the Sakura Club and it was actually one of the more spacious double rooms we’ve stayed in. There was a seating area and floor to ceiling window that made the room feel a lot bigger than it was. We had a connecting door which would be great for two families staying together-the room next door was a little loud one of the nights we were there and we could hear voices loudly through the door but this was an unusual circumstance and didn’t last very long. It’s nice to know that if we wanted to, we could create a bigger suite, but for this type of trip a double room was a perfect option and we had an extremely comfortable stay.
Estuary Restaurant at the Conrad Washington DC
I read about the Estuary Restaurant before our trip and thought the food there looked beautiful and tasty but we already had a lot of food that centered around our hotel because of the Sakura Club and we didn’t have a ton of time to actually sit down and eat in the restaurant. We have Gold Status at Hilton hotels with our American Express Platinum Card so we were given a $50 credit and I really wanted to see what the “Mozzarella Pretending to be a Tomato” from the Estuary Restaurant looked like in real life so we ordered one to our room. It really looked like a tomato and when you cut it, there was mozzarella cheese inside!
The Summit Rooftop bar at the Conrad Washington DC
The hubby and I also popped up to the Summit Rooftop bar because it had only opened a few days before we arrived. There was a huge lightening storm the night we were there, so midway through our drinks we were told that the roof would have to clear out, which was fine for us because we didn’t have a ton of time. Looking out across Washington DC from the top of a roof is such a cool experience and it was also cool to see a little bit of lightening-we don’t have a lot of this type of weather on the west coast.
Things nearby the Conrad Washington DC that are good to visit with kids?
The Conrad is right near City Center DC and this place has a lot of shops and restaurants. I loved a pop up lantern art installation that the City Center had on display while we were there-I wonder how long it will be around? One night we stopped at the mini Milk bar nearby for dessert because I’ve always wanted to visit them and try their Cereal ice cream. We found our location at the Conrad hotel so convenient for visiting museums with kids too-we’d Uber or walk to the National Portrait Gallery, the Postal Museum or to the National Museum for the American Indian and then we’d come back and snack in the lounge and go rest in our comfortable room. The Conrad DC also has 1/3/5 hour tours listed on their site and I wish I’d read about these before I visited-I forget how much hotels are such a resource for what to do in an area.
Have you been to Washington DC? Do you have a favorite place in the city to stay or a ‘Can’t miss’ place with kids? I’ve been told the new Spy Museum is fantastic and it’s on our must list for our next visit. And have you noticed more hotels offering comfortable amenities for family travelers recently too?
If you are looking for family travel ideas, here are some more places we have been.
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)
Tags: all inclusive hotels in the USA, best hotels to stay at in Washington DC, cherry blossom festivals around the world, elevated hotel experiences for families, hotels with club lounge access, perks with American Express Platinum, what is the Sakura Club, where to go with kids in Washington DC, where to stay with kids in Washington DC