citizenM Washington, DC NOMA — Hotel in Washington

Here is what I experienced today, and you can have your own judgment. I checked in today and went back to my hotel room around 7 pm, then I found the room was a bit chilly. The temperature is controlled by a tablet in the room at this hotel, as well as the light, TV, color of light, etc. Then I realized both the TV and AC didn't work. So I kept calling the front desk, and they kept asking me to wait. After making 4 calls, I finally changed to another room around 8:55 pm. In the second room, the TV worked, but AC still didn't. I put my down jacket on, set the room temperature to 77 degrees which is the highest to see if there is any change, and waited around 20 minutes. Nothing changed. So I called staff to check into my room. The staff said oh it's chilly when she stepped into my room and worked on the tablet. She kept the setting at 77 degrees and asked me to wait for another 30 minutes as she explained that the coil could take some time to heat up. Fine, I understand. So I waited. Around 9:45 pm I went down to the front desk as nothing had changed and the manager, Kevin, seemed irritated by this problem as he said there was no thermometer in the room, and seemed that he didn't know how to fix it. He went with me to the room and then told me that even though the AC system was not working, feeling cold was my OWN problem because the other customers didn't complain - you see the logical problem here? So Kevin said I could either accept the situation with another blanket or leave. I was really appalled by what I heard and became anxious and started to argue with him. He showed a very poor attitude saying I can't stay here. I didn't know what else to do, so I called the police. While waiting for the police, I tried to reach CitizenM's customer service. It turned out that I could either chat with their Global Reservation team online or text a UK number on WhatsApp. I tried the latter first, and it didn't work. The chat was a bit slow to show up, and eventually, someone on chat told me they couldn't help me in this situation. So I tried to get a refund and find another hotel at 10:30 pm. In the beginning, the staff refused to give me the refund for today, and they refused to provide me a number so that the Global Reservation team could call them to verify. The staff said, "who would give the number to another person?" Come on, I didn't ask for your personal number! And isn't their global team supposed to reach a local hotel directly, not through a customer? I double if CitizenM either has a customer service team or had ever trained its staff. Just very confusing.

Eventually, the police came and listened to me about what happened, and Kevin gave me a full refund and I started looking for a new hotel in DC's street at 11 pm.

This is what I experienced at CitizenM, and I would never choose this hotel again. Sure, the technology here is stunning, but it just didn't work. Sure, the hotel has a magnificent design, but without capable customer service. Isn't it a shame? I am still a bit emotional and very tired after experiencing all of this so please do excuse any grammatical errors. I do feel very obligated to write about what happened. It was really horrifying for travelers to experience a malfunctioning hotel with rude and hostile staff. I hope you won't experience it and please do choose another hotel...

The first thing you need to know is that the rooms are very small. The smallest I've ever seen in my entire life. I also hated that as a woman staying at this hotel for the first time, along with another woman who has her own room as well. They could only put us on the same floor if not near at least next door from each other. I asked for this accommodation three or four months prior and was told to ask once I arrive in which I did. The young lady opted to put me on one end of the 6th floor and my friend on the other side of the 6th floor. At first, I was like, ok, at least we were on the same floor, but an hour later, I saw someone arriving and went into the room next door from me, lol. That was very disappointing to see, but I didn't want to make a fuss. I also went on to discover later that evening before goimg to bed there was a flying insect on the bedding which was ok because it could have easily gotten in but when it was time to sleep I pulled the cover back and it had stains on it (Ill try to load a photo) There isn't any microwave nor refrigerator inside of the room. However, they do have a microwave in the lobby area(No one told us this at check in, we had to ask if they had one). There is a snack bar and some hot food options but no room service. The hotel staff seemed pleasant overall and helpful. I think that they could benefit from helping at check for people who aren't tech savvy. By only simply making sure that you can get through the process on your own. Note: Someone will be present at check-in, but you'll be entering your own information and scanning your own ID. They'll only be giving you your key and room number after you're done. The rooms are very quiet and I didn't hear any noise what so ever. Not even peep from a person who may have passed by headed out for the day. There were no irons inside of the room, but there was an area(small room) along the hallway that had an iron/steamer as well as an ironing board. You can iron your clothing in that area. (No one told me this at check in) We had to discover this on our own. A few things to note: Only two hour meter street parking is available. Donot park where there isnt any signs because you'll get a ticket like me.(I was only there for 15 minutes, and yes, I got a ticket because I didn't know) I'm not from D.C. There is a parking lot a few blocks away. "Park at your own risk," yet it is $40 per 24 hours. Indoor parking underneath the Marriott hotel. The citizen M has a bar on the ground floor, which is cool if you drink. I sat down there on day 2 of my trip. I conversed with a few people as well as the staff to only find out that the hotel was a 60 percent capacity which further pissed me off and proved what I already knew as I checked in and ask to be accomadated. This hotel is uniquely designed and picture worthy if you like taking photos. Would I ever stay here again, NO. Did I feel safe staying here? YES. They have security and the front door locks at a certain hour, so you'll need your room key to get in. You need a room key to operate the elevator as well. At night, RATS are running around outside on the sidewalk, so stay alert. Oh yea, they do have wifi, but I had to call to get that info(again, no one told us this at check-in) 440 dlrs for this weekend, lol. It's worth...

After reading the reviews on this DC hotel I was quite excited about staying here while on a two day business trip. However, over the two days my excitement turned into profound disappointment. It started with the shockingly small room. This room is the smallest room I have ever been in. I will admit it was thoughtfully designed but not conducive to anything more than sleeping and watching TV (which I was unable to do). It was a smart room that allowed you to control all room activities from an iPad. Considering the size of the room this was merely a distraction to make you think the room was nicer than it really was because you could literally reach every thing from wherever you stood. So I get into this ultra tiny smart room and go to watchTV and behold it is not working. UGH, after a long day and a 4 hour train ride I wanted to veg on some mindless TV before dinner. Ok, I let the front desk know as I left for dinner at 7:30 and D.T. (Who I would later discover was a manager) was amazingly congenial “No worries, I got you. It will either be working our I’ll get you another room. Go have dinner.” Well I thought this is some good customer service and went off to dinner. When I returned after 10p I asked DT if TV was working and he responded “Yes, I went up myself and it’s good.” I went upstairs and YAY it was on and then I discovered I still only was able to access 2 channels, which I told DT (He later said he missed that part). Well, it was 10p so I went to bed. The next day after my meeting I went back to the front desk to see if I could get the TV working. Again, the most congenial staff member helped me. She came upstairs tried to fix it herself, couldn’t. She told me she put in an order and again when I returned to the room after dinner it would be working. No TV when I returned. Now I’m thinking this is ridiculous. So I call for a manager and was told the manager is busy but will call you shortly. An hour later, no TV and know manager call. I went downstairs to find the manager and was told he was talking to someone around the corner. Behold it was DT chatting with someone at a table. When I approached he first dismissed me, basically acknowledging he owed me a call and would get to me. It was evening and I was checking out in the morning. This post is way to long….so I’ll wrap it up with, my TV never worked, although the staff are pleasant they are not attentive or helpful. They are obviously trained this way. I saw this across the board kind but unresponsive. After paying a stunning close to $500 for a nights stay I decided to share my dismay one more time and asked for a manager after I paid for my stay. This is where I met Liz, the Day time manager. Who like DT was nice and useless. She listened, told me she was sorry I had that experience and tried to explain that the entire hotel had an issue. I showed her my invoice and she thought I hadn’t paid so instead of remedying my issue she started focusing on whether or not I paid (I paid). She took a picture of my receipt.

My thoughts are they train the team here to be congenial and kind to mask that they are not responsive...