I am a professional DJ and have over 20 years of experience. Recently I was contracted by Seaton Memorial AME Church to provide music and sound for their 100th anniversary celebration in the ballroom at the Metro Points hotel. The gala started at 7 so I arrived at 6:15, parked just outside the back door of the ballroom, propped open the door with a broken piece of a cinder block that looked as if it was left there solely for this purpose and proceeded to bring in my equipment. After getting everything inside I headed back to the truck to park and just as I stepped outside the door slams behind me. This is a one-way door and does not open from the outside so I bang on the door for re-entry. Manager #1, the taller one with glasses opens the door and yells "THIS IS AN EXIT DJ. YOU HAVE TO LOAD THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR". There are members of the church, his guests on this evening, present at the time. This is not how I expect to be spoken to and certainly not how a representative of the hosting venue should conduct himself in front of his guests, but my equipment was already in so I ignored his unprofessional behavior, set up and began to see about the celebration.

I was contracted until 11, a time that was confirmed by my client upon my arrival. However at 10:10pm Manager #2, the shorter one presumably of latin descent told me that the song I was playing would have to be the last song because otherwise "...they will never want to leave". I informed my client of these latest instructions and after the look of surprise left her face she went to speak with Manager #2 who would get his way. The event ended at 10:20. I broke down my equipment and proceeded to exit through what had previously been so sternly identified as the exit. I propped open the door with the same broken piece of cinder block and grabbed a handful of my things when Manager #2 closes said door and in a more respectful tone says "That is not an exit. You will have to use the front door. You can put all of your things on a cart and be out really quick". "Really" I say. "You mean the door beneath the big exit sign is not an exit? Earlier the other guy told everyone in the room that this was indeed an exit but I will use the front door.

I have played most of the ballrooms in the Washington metropolitan area and they all tend to frown upon vendors like DJ's bringing their equipment in through the lobby. Loading docks and other alternative means of rear access are typically employed by venues that wish to reserve front doors and lobbies for their guests. Evidently Metro Points has little issue with their guests being inconvenienced by trucks being double parked under their canopy and luggage carts being unavailable while being used to push speakers through the main lobby.

The difference here is professionalism, or more specifically a lack thereof. Professional venues work with the different vendors that come through their doors and engender a spirit of cooperation. After all, we share a common goal, the happiness of the client. Metro Points offered me no such spirit of cooperation. I must refer to the men that represented the hotel as Manager #1 and Manager #2 because there was no introduction. No one gave me their name or asked how they could help me or told me to call them if I needed anything. No one left me their business card. These are all things that let me know that I am working with professionals, things that on this night did not happen.

Professionals are not most interested in getting home early either. All of us like to call it an early night but the night belongs to the paying client and the rest of your guests. Rushing an event so you can get home early is in extremely bad taste and a highly unprofessional practice. You can go home once the client is satisfied and the contracted time has expired.

And let's just say for example that you are a hotel manager and a client has booked your facility for a Saturday night in December but your facility has inadequate heating. Maybe you turn on the heat that morning but at 6pm your facility is still on the chilly side. Your guests start to arrive to set up the room and complain about the temperature in the room. Then a DJ shows up and props open a door, letting what little heat there may have been out. A professional would pull the DJ to the side and say to him that keeping this door closed would help to ensure to comfort of the client and their guests, because as I said, we share a common goal. We both want to see that the client is happy.

Not that the Metro Points hotel has inadequate heating in their ballroom. I'm sure their physical facilities are first rate in every way. It was kinda chilly in there though, but perhaps it was just me. Still, if you need to book a ballroom I would advise you to keep looking.

I was very worried when I booked this hotel for a two night stay to go to the Redskins/Cowboys game. The staff was friendly and courteous when we checked in. We went up to our room on the 9th floor. The room was not bad. The room definitely needs some updating, the only thing we noticed right away was the stained carpet. The breakfast was fine, nothing fancy but enough to fill you up. We didn't use the shuttle service, we just drove into DC ourselves and found parking. The pictures on the site are a little deceiving although the lobby does look the same. All in all for the amount of money that we paid I would say that the hotel was fine. It is not fancy by any means , but if we were looking for that I would have stayed at a five star resort.

The location was key. Easy access to the metro via the hotel shuttle.The buffet was decent and there was also the option to go next door to IHOP with a 15% hotel discount. Our room was clean and quiet. The front desk staff was friendly and helpful. I would definitely stay here again. Also,lots of stores and eateries nearby.

Did not know what to expect when booking, but was pleasantly surprised, staff very friendly and helpful, nice decor, would definitely recommend it to anyone, especially if on a budget.