Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club — Hotel in Durham

WE WERE ROBBED! I would absolutely never stay at this hotel again. A week ago today my husband and I stayed at the Washington Duke Inn for one night to kick off our honeymoon on our way to Ashville for the continuation. My aunt gifted us our stay at the hotel and we chose it because we wanted to indulge in a memorable stay at a beautiful place... It was absolutely memorable, for all the wrong reasons... Our car was vandalized and over $700 worth of radio equipment, shoes and wedding gifts were taken from our locked car (parked near the front of the hotel next to several hundred thousand dollar vehicles I might add). Upon speaking with the head of security we were informed that they DO NOT have cameras in the parking lot and could not assist us outside of giving us the durham non emergency help line to file a police report. The hotel staff were the most unhelpful staff I have ever encountered and I work with the public in my day job, so I expect the same level of care that I give to my clients, unwaveringly! They did not offer us complimentary breakfast, lunch, to comp our stay or anything to assist our grievance for our lost items; nor did they have an explanation as to what their security staff were doing during the time it took someone to crawl through the back of our car to the front and unscrew equipment from the front dashboard. The only thing we were offered by Michael at the front desk and the female head of reception was the number of Daniel Lotz, the area manager. I have never in my life been more appalled at such poor attention to customer grievances in my life. I have called Daniel 3 times now, left multiple voicemails and have yet to hear back. He did however, reach out to my aunt when she emailed him after berating the hotel with dead end phone calls to offer his "condolences" and to inform her that the insurance company for the hotel would be in touch... I have yet to hear from them. I have informed my fellow colleagues, physicians that my aunt works above and family members of the maltreatment and lack of assistance we have received from this hotel and we will not be staying here ever again. I have woken up in the middle of my honeymoon crying over the items we lost and the sadness this has made me feel. If you care about your belongings, or God forbid your children, do not stay at this hotel. Unless you're extremely wealthy (beyond face value) they have made it very clear that they will not be making amends in a timely...

Mostly negative experience. We stayed two nights. The first night we woke up around 2am to a horrible rattling noise from the heat/AC. I tried the trick of giving a good tap and that helped for only a short amount of time, which was unfortunate because without the white noise, we could hear everyone in the hallway all morning, loud and clear. Not a fun experience.

When we let the hotel desk staff know about the issue, he seemed more concerned with sending an engineer than accommodating his guests. We received a brief apology and were told that an engineer would be sent to look at it and if that didn't work then we could possibly change rooms, but they were busy so it wasn't a guarantee. I guess they sent an engineer because the noise stopped, but we never received an update from the hotel. I would expect a hotel of this caliber to go above and beyond to accommodate guests who have had a negative experience.

Another factor for the two-star review is the fact that the accommodations themselves are outdated and not the quality that I would expect for four star hotel. The TV was old and the cable even older. It's rare that you'll find cable TV without a TV guide that tells you what's on. The elevators might be original to the hotel because they seem like they're not sure which floor you want to get off on. Several guests had to be reminded to wear masks in the lobby, or just got away with not wearing them. One of the valets was wearing a gaiter, which was proven ineffective against covid over a year ago.

Overall, this is the hotel to use if you want to attend an event at Duke University, but it did not live up to the five-star reviews that I've seen posted. I'd love to chalk it up to the trying times that we're in right now, but I just was not impressed with the overall caliber of the accommodations. Perhaps if we had only stayed one night we wouldn't have noticed many of the issues. For likely stay here again on our next visit because of the convenience, but hopefully the staff will have figure themselves out by then and the incredibly overpriced rates will have been used to update the overall...

I have very mixed opinions about my recent stay at the Washington Duke Inn in Durham. I stayed in a King Golf Course view room that had a view of the patio area. Some pros and cons. Pros: The room was extremely quiet, I did not hear any slamming of guest doors in the hallway, or any TV or shower noise from adjoining rooms (which were rented to my family members). The mattress was very comfortable, and bed linens and pillows were clean and very high quality. Bath linens were also soft and high end. Aside from the toilet, the room was very clean. The heat/AC worked perfectly and the room had a thermostat on the wall and vent near the ceiling. |Cons: The toilet seat and rim were not fully cleaned. That is unacceptable. Fortunately, I pack disinfectant wipes..... (the rest of the bathroom was very nice). Some of the pieces of furniture in the room were VERY old and showed damage. This is not a complaint about the style of decor, as it was very traditional and I both like and expected that decor. The desk had scratches on the finish. The chest of drawers had the same beat up edges and numerous water spots on the top. A lamp shade had what appeared to be a stain or a burned area. And then there was a chest near the entry way that had gold gilded accents and a lamp with a shade that had glass beads hanging from the bottom. That lamp reminded me a bit of the shade on the infamous "leg lamp" in the Christmas movie. I am attaching photos of all of this. This furniture needed replacement. These pieces looked like something that might be left out on the side of the road for pickup on a recycling day. I was surprised to find such worn furniture in this hotel. Last, the breakfast buffet was not particularly good. The eggs had a lot of cream added, the grits were dry, and sausage patties were thin and hard. Fruit choices were only honeydew and cantelope. I did not try a made from scratch omelet.|There are better choices for lodging and...