The Capitol Hotel — Hotel in Hartford

Before I start, just wanted to say I booked this hotel once before and had no problems and would be 5 star worthy. However, the 2nd time around, is where the fiasco begins.

I booked the hotel through Travelocity so had the itinerary and everything and when I first arrived to the hotel, they told me my card got declined. Mind you, I just bought a coffee not even an hour ago so now I’m a little skeptical. Thankfully I have a TD Bank card and went to the one downtown and they checked It out and guess what?! THE CARD WORKS. Went back to the hotel and told them It works and when they typed It in... IT WENT THROUGH. I get my room and when I got there... SOMEONE WAS ALREADY IN THERE. Went back down to the lobby for a new room and they gave me a room with a pretty nice view of the Capitol building. And since It was Valentine’s Day and I’m with my girlfriend, we thought they made It up.... BUUUUT NO. Later on the night, SOMEONE TRIED COMING INTO OUR ROOM AND THEY FORGOT TO MARK MY ROOM AS OCCUPIED. Thankfully my girlfriend put the top latch on.

Now, this is where the real fun begins.

So, my girlfriend went off to do schoolwork and I went up to Worcester for a meeting and when we both came back around 3:30pm, she tells me that her card key wasn’t working. Now, this was ~4th time I had to get the card key to work so when I came to the desk, they immediately saw my room number and told me I’m going to get a complementary night for the mishap and only will pay for 1 night. We’re both ecstatic about It and thought “That just made my Valentines weekend!!”

But also thought “let me check my bank account...”

THEY DOUBLE BOOKED ME PLUS THE NEW PAYMENT AND NOW I WAS BEING CHARGED FOR 5 NIGHTS WHEN I BOOKED IT FOR 2 NIGHTS ORIGINALLY!

I went to the desk and showed them my bank statement and told me the double booking will be deleted and would pay the 1 night.

Since the upcoming Monday was a bank holiday, I had to wait until Wednesday if they took off the charge (I paid with a debit card).

When Wednesday morning came, THEY ONLY REIMBURSED ME HALF AND PAID FOR 3 NIGHTS WORTH WHEN THEY TOLD ME I WAS GOING TO PAY FOR 1. I immediately called the hotel and told me they are going to reimburse the other half in 2-3 business days.

Well, at this point, I think you know what happens. 2-3 business days passed and still no movement. SO, I had to go down to the bank and have them dispute the two payments. And less than 24 hours later I got the money back.

After all of this, two things came out of this. 1) Use a credit card at hotels (I plan on using It the next time I book a hotel). And 2) Even though the complementary breakfast was great and the room was clean... I WILL NEVER, EVER BOOK AT THIS HOTEL EVER AGAIN.

The next time I book a hotel in Hartford, I plan on staying at a Marriott, Hilton, or a hotel that I know that will not go in and mess around...

The worst Hotel Experience ever!!!!! We booked the day of our stay on Priceline. Arriving around 1pm, we told as the hotel was sold out, there were no clean rooms available prior to 3pm check in. For 2 hours, we listened as the receptionist lamented that housekeeping not communicating whether rooms were actually clean and ready. At 3pm, we were finally given keys to King size room 719. When we got there, the door was propped open, the bed not made, dirty linen at the foot of the bed! We went back downstairs to get another room. The male receptionist called housekeeping and asked us to sit and wait. After 45 minutes, we had to remind him we were stilling waiting, the female receptionist reminding him he had already called housekeeping about our room. We said we would take a double double instead if available. We were given Room 615. The rain was coming through the window and water pooling on the window sill. the refridgerator appeared to be off as the freezer had already defrosted. There were fruit flies in the room to be swatted. Final straw? The plumbing to toilet was leaking, water again pooling on the floor. Back downstairs, we went We were given a king size room this time #417, no flies, nothing funky or so we thought. Just before bedtime, i took off my shoes to get in bed and realized the carpet between the bed and A/C was soaked Water had come through the AC unit. At 1:30am, we were awoken by a stranger who was given a card key to our room!!!! My wife screamed and I jumped outa bed at the sight of someone who opened the door. I went to the room phone to discover it was missing buttons and not working!!! Calling the front desk on my cell, night Clerk politely explained that the previous shift had not bothered to mark our room occupied!?! The final Kicker, the advertised hot Breakfast buffet was canceled, no signs, no coffee, nada. The Coffee in the lobby area was sour?! The advertised pictured kiosks with snacks, beverages, beer and wine, empty. Ice machine on the fourth floor broken -Housekeeping doesnt clean -Maintenance doesnt fix things -Front desk has no clue whats going on or what to do Why? because management is nonexistent. I included the room numbers because Mgt would never bother to walk the floors to inspect for trash left in the hallways, bad odors, broken machines, let alone inspect a room.

P.S. I received a refund for our miserable experience. Its seems now obvious. As per Ryan, its easier to apologize as management, than to insure exceptional service as per his job description!! Note, there is no hotel security...

This hotel was a little disappointing to me. The biggest issue that came up was the humidity of the overall property. The air was so humid that the hallways smelled of mildew. The garage itself was also so humid it concerned me that there could be other issues that usually present with that level of moisture.

This hotel is a very decent hotel otherwise, and it has great potential if the owner would invest in a proper dehumidification system for the property.

When I got into my room the room was so humid that the carpet smelled, the bed sheets were soaked, and it was overall uncomfortable to be in. I saw some mold under the caulking around the bath tub, and there was no fan to air out the bathroom after a shower. The AC unit has a "dry" function but this should really be kept on prior to your stay, during the rainy months especially when you're on the 8th floor.

I went to call the front desk to request dry sheets and I couldn't get an answer because the staff was so busy tending to other guests checking in. I believe there may be some under-staffing issues in this regard other hotels I've stayed at have prompt answers when calling the front desk. After going down to the lobby I was able to get dry sheets from the concierge in a timely manner.

Overall the room was nice, and the view was fantastic. But sleeping the first night, it was so uncomfortable waiting for the "dry" setting to do its work on my room. I think it took nearly a day to get the humidity down to a comfortable level. If this matters to you I recommend a different hotel. Otherwise it's a great value and the breakfast room was great. And I don't see many hotels with washer and dryers on hand so that was really cool to see.

To the property manager/owner I do hope you invest in a dehumidifier solution because this will do well with guest comfortability, mold/mildew prevention, and...