( paying homage to its Virginia roots) and dialed back the Far East motif, reminiscent of Mandarin Oriental.
There was a temporal condition placed on the hotel’ s renovation, which includes a brand-new spa and celebritychef driven F & B: Its completion needed to happen prior to the presidential inauguration on January 20, one of the largest demand generators that Washington, D. C, ever gets, not to mention the chance to show off the hotel to the glitterati.
One of the hotel’ s show pieces is the reimagined Presidential Suite, whose sitting room, if you didn’ t know you weren’ t in the White House, looks peculiarly like
A renovated suite bedroom at Salamander DC. Photo credit: Matt Dandy
Prem Devadas, president of Salamander Collection. Photo credit: Eric Stein the Oval Office, though that wasn’ t the express intent of interior designer Thomas Pheasant. The aim was to give it a bold though warm look, with high ceilings and windows that capture sweeping views of the district, including the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial.
HOTELS caught up with Devadas prior to the inauguration to discuss the renovation and why it’ s so meaningful not only to Salamander, but the nation’ s capital.
HOTELS: Though the Salamander name is not new to the DMV, when it was announced that Salamander and partner Henderson Park had purchased the Mandarin Oriental in DC in 2022, it was a bit of an aberration since it was Salamander’ s real first entry into a global, gateway, non-resort market. How has the city and travelers embraced the hotel in the time since the hotel has become part of Salamander Collection? Devadas: Since its opening in 2019, Salamander has managed Hotel Bennett in Charleston, S. C.; however, we had been looking for the right opportunity in Washington, D. C. for some time. Not only had our founder Sheila Johnson been a leading business figure in the district for 50 years, but our Salamander Middleburg resort, located just an hour outside of D. C., had established a loyal following in the region among luxury leisure guests and corporate groups.
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