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Chi-Chi Chic
All things considered, or considering the mega-tabs at other spots around town, the chi-chi Hotel Monaco has a fabulous offering priced at $5,050 for a four-night revel.
Ensconced within the marble halls of Washington’s original post office, the Monaco lobby is a paean to fabulousness—an extraordinary juxtaposition of neoclassical design and modern style with furnishings styled after Giacometti, Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier.
Each of the guest suites – one of which could be yours – is every bit as stunning with its vaulted ceilings with some soaring to 20 feet and ornate moldings wittily combined with three-legged desks, seven-foot upholstered screens and crayon-colored cashmere throws. The king-sized bedrooms and baths feature terry robes, spa tubs, separate showers, and Aveda bath products.
This package includes a personal escort to the hotel, a personal concierge to see to your every need, commemorative binoculars for parade watching, champagne and appetizers before the ball, transportation to and from the ball, a late night snack to usher in the sandman and an all-American breakfast the morning after.
Hello Dolley
Recently reopened after a multi-million dollar renovation, that favorite of crowned heads, the marvelous Madison Hotel has been returned to the impeccable Federal style of Washington’s first lady of hospitality, Dolley Madison.
The Presidential Suite is the setting for the hotel’s three-night, $25,000 inauguration celebration. These digs include a luscious salmon and butterscotch living room with overstuffed silk and mohair furnishings and a 30-foot balcony; a dining room with seating for 12; a kitchen stocked with wines and cheeses and special snacks; and a luxurious bedroom with personalized Frette linens and robes.
The Perfectly Presidential package includes a chauffeur-driven Bentley or Rolls for your stay, and a butler to arrange your breakfast, make massage reservations at the University Club, and draw your two person whirlpool, set out the candles and toss in the rose petals. (Back scrubbing is not included).
Then there’s an en suite cocktail reception for 10 followed by dinner in a private dining room in the renowned Federalist restaurant. Another night, another indulgence – this one for two in the nouvelle American restaurant, Palette. And every night your VIP table’s reserved in the hotel’s clubby Postscript bar.
Let us not forget your own personal paparazzo. A photographer will follow you throughout your stay to snap every magic moment, then bind these memories into a gorgeous album.
The Glitz of the Ritz
The grande dame of inaugural packages is The Ritz-Carlton, with a history of over-the-top deals that dates back to the reign of Bush I. Then a stay was a mere $15,000; today the tab has increased a few fold to $150,000, which includes two weekend stays per year until Inauguration 2009.
This four-day stay begins with the dispatch of a personal butler toting a $20,000 set of Louis Vuitton luggage (fill in the gaps in your collection with a doggie carrier, perhaps, or a splendid steamer trunk).
You and your partner will then be flown first class to Washington from anywhere in the continental United States and installed in one of the hotel’s ritziest suites with an opulent living room with fireplace and a downright sumptuous master bedroom with a four-poster bed and a bath with a sunken marble tub. Naturally, the linens and complementary robes will be monogrammed with your initials. Plus there’ll be additional treats compliments of Saks Fifth Avenue, and should you require them, a pair of tickets to an official inaugural ball.
Throughout your visit a butler will be on 24-hour call (such a help at your private beluga and champagne reception for 25), as will a chauffer-driven Mercedes. Blessedly, considering the whirlwind of activities, a personal massage therapist will also be on hand any time, day or night, to pound out your kinks.
Mink and Manolos
From its divine perch above the Tidal Basin, the Mandarin Oriental splashes into the inauguration sweeps with a spectacular four-night sojourn in its 14- room Presidential Suite, for a cool $200,500.
A private jet swoops you to Washington where you’ll be met by a chauffeur-driven Maybach that’s on call for your stay. (Haven’t heard of a Maybach? Handcrafted, $300,000-plus, reclining rear seats, the living end of luxury.)
Pack nothing. Neiman’s, that gold standard of fabulousness, will drip her head to toe in Oscar de la Renta, Manolos, a Sorbara mink, a gem from Henry Dunay and an itty bitty Judith Leiber minaudiere to stash the Tiparillos. He’ll be decked out in a Kiton tux, David Yurman cuff links, an 18k gold Cartier tank watch and a Burberry coat.
After the ball, hand the fancy duds over to the butler for a fl uffi ng. Next get ready for your private five-course dinner for eight in the Mandarin’s superb restaurant, CityZen.
Of course, a robe is provided for breakfast in bed, or padding across the suite to the private gym. But frankly, isn’t a mink more fun to swoop about in? Particularly if you want to step out onto one of the two balconies and breathe in that panoramic view. It’s also a nice complement to the Krug and Beluga served nightly at dusk in the leather-paneled library with its 52-inch plasma TV.
The Million Dollar Baby
Near the White House and as palatial as they come is The Jefferson. Wouldn’t you know its crew would devise a four-night package that leaves not a sou from a mil?
Once again, a private jet flits you from there to here and back again. (If the “there” is only Middleburg, that can be arranged.) Then your personal on-call chauffer-driven limo whooshes you to the hotel and one of The Jefferson’s magnificent, antique laden, fireplace warmed, “specialty suites,” as they call these mansionettes in the sky. Need we mention the monogrammed robes, silken linens, and chocolate laden turndown service?
Then the private butler takes over, arranging your breakfast and daily high tea, calling the limo to take you the two blocks to the über-fabulous Andre Chreky Day Spa with its biscotti, fireplaces, facials and deep tissue massages. Chreky’s services come to you the day of the ball; full hair and make-up services are included.
Plus, each of you gets to head to the bastion of chic of your choice to select some swish evening togs. Tiffany will stop by to bedazzle milady with a matching necklace, earrings and bracelet. And Rolex will make sure everything runs as smoothly as a Swiss timepiece: a Presidential watch with a diamond dial for him and one with a diamond bracelet for her.
More? A divine dinner will be specially prepared and served in your suite by the hotel’s masterful executive chef, Andrew Saba. Every night at beddy-bye a new gift will appear on your pillows, inauguration keepsakes like a framed photograph of the White House by Washington’s premier chronicler, Jake McGuire.
Not so fast! Before winging you home, your private jet will make a last stop in Chicago for a private tour of Jacqueline Kennedy – The White House Years at the Field Museum and an overnight in a primo suite at the city’s hottest hotel, the House of Blues. Après la musée, there’ll be a feast for two inspired by the 1961 inaugural banquet and a $2,500 shopping spree at Marshall Field’s. After all, wasn’t Jackie all about style?
