Tonight marks the grand reopening of the Renaissance M Street Hotel, which has been undergoing a $25.2 million renovation over the past 18 months.
Formerly the M Street Hotel, the property is located in the District’s West End at the corner of M Street and New Hampshire Avenue, NW. The building also got a complete technological makeover with fiber-optic cables, wireless and Hi-Definition TV installed in all 355 guest rooms.
The hotel will also debut the M Brasserie, the M Bar and the Caffe, which will serve Illy brand coffee, the leading coffee brand in Europe.
A somewhat larger boutique hotel, the M Street is “sophisticated, yet edgy” and designed to appeal to both business and leisure travelers, according to Thom Puccio, director of sales and marketing for the hotel.
The market for boutique hotels, which are designed to be distinctive and provide a more unique stay, has seen tremendous growth over the last decade in a city that already had a wide variety of hotels, said Emily Durso, president of the Hotel Association of Washington, D.C.
Boutique hotels set themselves apart from other hotels because they “try to reflect the sensitivity of pop culture” and reflect our own lifestyles and comforts, said Denise Randazzo, a consultant for Luxury Resorts and Hotels, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based chain with properties in the Western Hemisphere.
The opening tonight, which the hotel is titling a “Reawakening Celebration,” will feature unique menu selections from its restaurant and music by local jazz artist Marcus Johnson.
