Posted by: wifiguy14k on 09/05/2004 16:45:06

A few weeks after the national terrorist warning level was bumped up into overdrive, I pulled into Washington, DC. All around the nation’s capital were concrete barriers, guard booths, armed guards and other necessary precautions.

But, back in my hotel I was tucked away in a secure fortress of comfort — The Fairmont, Washington, DC.

Previously in the blog, I have joked that The Fairmont has treated me like a rock star – both in Kansas City and Boston — but now in the power center of the free world, I got the ambassador treatment. (I guess I am a bit of a Wi-Fi ambassador in my own mind …)

The Fairmont – just a stone’s throw, or coin toss a way from Georgetown – offers classic elegance, comfort and Wi-Fi. Actually, the rooms offer high speed wired access. But the lobby is totally Wi-Fi enabled. The price is $13.69 for 24 hours – as if anyone could stay in the building for 24 hours with such a great city waiting outside. I paid and I played.

The Fairmont splash page — here in Washington as in other cities — is decorative … a synergy with the elegant surroundings. This is cool. There is a “virtual concierge” feature that will list other attraction within a selected radius of the hotel. It even features restaurants other than the hotel’s fine dining. Great customer service!

In the lobby is a great example of some of the best PR I have seen in a while. The hotel has adopted and is training a seeing-eye dog. There is a dog “kennel” — albeit a very nice dog “kennel” — in the lobby. Guests and staff help to raise the dog’s comfort level around people, before it is eventually trained in full and forwarded to a sight-impaired person. Dogs for the cause … very cool.

I got on line with no problems and immediately began to upload photographs, blog updates and sent e-mails to my pen pals. The Fairmont, Washington, DC gets 6 diplomatically immune body piercings on a scale of 7 body piercings.

And a slight side bar … my favorite part. Two nights in a row I sat in the lobby blogging and chatting and listening to someone else going after the keyboard. It wasn’t another blogger, it was an Australian gentleman who plays piano in the lobby. On my last day at the hotel, the pianist struck up a conversation as he continued to play. Hey I can type and talk at the same time … but it is usually me talking to myself as I write. The pianist was mixing crooner classics, Beatles songs and other beautiful music for the appreciative guests. And he never stopped playing as he asked me about my Wi-Fi Guy t-shirt. It seems the pianist was a bit of a Wi-Fi Guy too. Very cool. Great musician. What a special touch of class, added to the overall ambiance at The Fairmont.

Stay tuned!