We really enjoyed the ambiance of the Fairmont. Our room, on the 8th floor, was generous in size and well appointed. The two double beds had plenty of space between them. There was a big desk with two arm chairs, an easy chair with footstool, the usual cabinet/ chest of drawers with TV, fridge coffee maker, etc. The bathroom was also spacious. The colour scheme was cream linen-look wallpaper, with dark timber furniture, and brown and cream carpet. Attractive for a traditional-style decor.

The lounge and bar areas were elegant. We had drinks in one such space, overlooking the small courtyard garden that was a riot of spring-time colour.

Breakfast was served in the restaurant area the first day. There was an emphasis on fresh, healthy food, so were were able to drink carrot and ginger juice, which I thought was delicious. The next morning we were mixed up with another large tour group, in the Colonnade. No unusual juices, nor freshly cooked eggs, so we did not enjoy our meal as much.

We were easily able to walk into Georgetown for a restaurant on our 'free' evening, so we found the Fairmont a good choice of hotel.

Let me preface this by saying that I love the Fairmont brand and we try to stay there whenever possible because of (usually) reliable service and attention to detail. Unfortunately, our first stay in Washington DC Fairmont will be our last. 
First to the positives: the lobby is beautifully done, the courtyard is very pretty, albeit smaller than the pictures suggest, location is a short walk to Georgetown, the Ambassador suite layout was great for a family and it has lovely recently refurbished bathroom with both shower and a standalone soaking tub (including bath salts is a nice touch). Room service menu is varied and caters to various diets, as is the custom with Fairmont in general. Housekeeping and valet parking employees were doing a great job.  Electric plugs in the room are a bit of an issue, there are two on one side of the bed, but none on the other. The plug for the desk is all the way underneath and requires a bit of crawling to find, and only one was available so I could charge either my laptop or my phone while working but not both. On the bright side the room included both coffee maker and an electric tea pot, which was very useful. 
Now to the not so good. I was aware that the hotel was undergoing outside wall re-facing and expected minor noise issues, but having stayed at Chateau Frontenac during a major renovation without any problems we did not expect it to bother us much. Friday morning we woke up to massive drilling noise that appeared to emanate from within the hotel itself. After trying to ignore it for a while I eventually called the front desk to inquire if there was any other work going on in the hotel. The first person I spoke to advised me that there was nothing else and the only thing he could offer was move us a few floors up into the same configuration suite which would face the same direction and probably have the same noise issue. I didn't see the point‎. However after the noise appeared to become more prominent and started to interfere with my work related calls I called the front desk again, thinking the move might after all be a good idea. This time I reached another employee, who advised me that there was indeed work being down in the rooms both on the floor directly beneath us and on the floor beneath the one where we could be moved, so either way the drilling noise would be an issue. I advised her that this was interfering with my work, but the best she could offer was that the work would stop at 5 pm and there would be nothing going on during the weekend. The fact that I got two conflicting stories from two different employees and ultimately no resolution was a bit puzzling. 
Saturday evening after a long trolley tour we decided to order room service dinner again since previous evening's experience was quite good‎. This time part of the order was botched, silverware did not include spoons even though dessert contained ice cream that melted all over the cake, table was rolled in but not set up (for a twenty percent mandatory gratuity I really expected better service) but the worst part was that halfway through consuming it we realised that "maple glazed Brussels sprouts" contained pieces of bacon, which was not mentioned on the menu at all. There is nothing worse for a vegetarian than to unknowingly consume meat product, both esthetically and healthwise. There was no sense of urgency when the front desk finally returned my call. A lukewarm apology, an offer to replace the dish (twenty minutes after we've finished eating?), complete lack of knowledge how the bacon ended up there in the first place, followed up by a tentative "I'll talk to the kitchen about dinner charges." There was no follow up, the next morning the charge for the offending dish was still on the bill and it took another  conversation with yet another employee to get it removed. Obviously it was not the money that was the issue, but to suggest handling it via that route and then not follow through is ‎strange customer service at best.  Not to mention something as controversial as bacon, which many people avoid for religious or health reasons, should not simply appear in a vegetable dish by accident. 
On a last note when I asked for a possibility of a late checkout, so the child could use the pool before we left, I was very condescendingly offered an arbitrary thirty minutes, loyalty programme nonwithstanding, something that I've found sadly in line with overall experience. 
‎To summarise, I understand that some things are beyond anyone's control, but there appears to be a general attitude ‎of polite indifference amongst the front desk staff. Gold floor might be an entirely different matter (I did inquire on their suite availability since it's usually our first choice, but there were none), but a guest should expect similar level of caring no matter on what floor one stays. More to the point there are other hotels in DC where the staff would treat their guests far better while providing the same amenities as Fairmont DC. 
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