The Georgetown Inn is Back
As The Georgetown Inn celebrates half a century, and welcomes its new chief executive officer, Nayan Patel of Your DC Hotels, it’s also a good time to recall the tenure of Collins Bird, its beloved general manager for 30 years. His widow, Mary Bird reminisced in The Georgetowner recently about a time when The Georgetown Inn “welcomed many notables, including the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Charles and Ann Morrow Lindberg, Marlon Brando, Robert Mitchum, many Kennedys and the cast of the film, "The Exorcist.
Wednesday evening was a chance to see old friends and look forward to “restoring the inn’s old-world elegance but with fresh and new public areas,” said Patel. “Making it a legendary hotel starts with customer service, but even before that we have infrastructure issues to address.”
It was love at first sight for this enthusiastic hotelier. After a call from his broker, Patel walked over from his West End residence to check it out. After seeing a room, the former Best Western International Inc. chairman walked out of the hotel and said, “I’m going to buy this place.” Purchased late last year, planned renovations are expected to be completed in the next few years.
Over champagne and lavishly served hors d’oeuvres and buffet that included scallops, crab cakes and margarita flatbread, courtesy of restaurant-in-residence The Daily Grill, guests celebrated a new chapter for the historic inn. “It’s wonderful to see someone take interest in the hotel and give it the loving care it needs,” said Bird.