citizenM Washington Capitol — Hotel in Washington

I sincerely hope that someone responsible reads this review. ||And I expect that guests also may read this review.||As it is absurdly shocking how such a great structure and intelligent concept can be reduced to pieces by being serviced by people who come to work angry. Or in our case, by a person who should definitely work far far far away of people. Especially people that are paying guests.||I decided that in all my trips to Washington DC, me, or no one of my company will stay there again.||And even knowing that we do not represent much, the case must be known, clarified and made public.||We were unlucky, after a long trip, to be badly welcomed by Dulce, at the check in station-front desk.Already with bitter face, the impressive negative approach, stupidity and roughness in her approach let me and my companion in awe.||It tool us a few minutes to re-compose from the way it happened. In a level that we sincerely considered leaving the establishment.||As we are not worried about the eventual " our word against the employee word", we decided to stay.||For our surprise, every single person we have met in the hotel, in those few days we stayed, were quite amazing and decently positive. We even made one or two new friends, as the person that was with me is a doctor, and one of the employees ask her for some specific advice.||All was going well. ||Until our departure day.||That evening this terrible, impolite and very offensive same Dulce, did all she could to make our existence a horrible sequence of moments.||Even with one of the manager on duty being kind, we , for example wanted to visit te roof top, before going away, to be able to know the hotel completely.||Even if the time was displayed that the roof top was still open, and even if the manager told us to go up and the attendant at the bar helped us out to try and catch the elevator,....unbelievable but truth....defying every logic and politeness....this Dulce person simply said " No"....we could and should not go up, because we have checked out, a few hours before.||We went up, in spite of her, stayed there 2 minutes, and came down, long before closing time.||What came after that was the lock that closed that door for us, as CitizenM is out of our list forever....||This Dulce person, took it personally that we went up to see the rooftop, and went to talk to the manager asking him why he let us go up....She was fighting deliberately against us, speaking bad of us....making a scene.||This long review serves not only to acknowledge eventual guests, but to advise CItizenM tat people like this Dulce ruin all your efforts in being a cool place to be.||As a journalist that travels the world for three decades now, I must say that I rarely write a review that is bad.||But this absurd Dulce managed to embarrass us, make us feel bad, and leave the premises earlier than we should....because she wanted to be " right". She had an issue and wanted to show off....on the back of a paying client.||This manager, who was there and was kind to us, did not have the correctness to come and tell us to relax and not to worry: he sat there and watched this Dulce person spit her venom....wearing a CitizenM uniform and having a war against clients that did nothing to her,...but "defy" her little power.||Prior to our "terrible" visit to the roof top( which I repeat not only was open -contrary to what she said, to avoid us going up....but also we were welcomed by the staff up there!) we had three small bags in a corner, not disturbing anyone, behind the lobby, in a games table area. We were walking to the nearby bar, and she approached us without any respect just saying : " you will not leave those bags here as it is forbidden!", and turned her back, walking away.||Those are our experiences.||This is our bad, unpleasant and disappointing experience at CitizenM Washington DC Capitol.||It made a difference. We were astonished on how no one tells this person something, that in two different days, managed to be so unpleasant, rude and above all represent so badly the company she works for.||I advise , seriously, anyone to consider staying somewhere else. As it can happen to you, because the management there, accepts and allows this type of person and her corrosive behavior.||No one of the staff or management told us anything, apologized or even came to ask our side of the story.||Sorry to have stayed there. Hoping to regain the trust of this...

Extremely disappointing stay – far from a real four-star hotel

I stayed at citizenM Washington DC Capitol with my wife, and unfortunately, our experience was one of the most disappointing we’ve had at a hotel — especially one that advertises itself as a four-star property with high nightly rates. While the design may be trendy, the service, communication, and cleanliness were seriously lacking.

Poor breakfast experience Over the course of three mornings, they never had decaf coffee available. On Day 1, they scraped together one last cup from what seemed to be old beans. On Days 2 and 3, still no refill. On the second day, my wife ordered hot milk (since decaf wasn’t available), but the staff forgot her order entirely. She had to follow up after finishing her meal to get it.

On Day 3, she tried to order a regular latte and just drink less of it. They told us there was no milk, only oat milk — so we agreed. Moments later, we saw them place regular milk on the counter. Why not just let us know it would be available? The communication was careless, and more concerning: that milk was left out at room temperature all morning, not in a fridge. That’s a food safety issue.

Check-in: DIY and long waits Check-in is done via a self-service kiosk, with only one staff member verifying IDs. We had to wait in line for quite a while. This felt more like an Airbnb than a hotel — why pay four-star hotel prices for self-check-in?

Room cleaning: confusing system and dishonesty No one informed us that room cleaning had to be manually requested. The in-room iPad had daily cleaning turned off by default. We didn’t know this until after check-in. After we turned it on and notified the front desk, we did get cleaning on Day 2.

However, on Day 3, we returned from a day out and bumped into a cleaner in the hallway. I politely asked if she had cleaned our room. She said yes. But when we opened the door — clearly, nothing had been done. When we confronted her, she admitted she “forgot,” but didn’t offer to clean the room. She just said, “I can give you towels.” This was frustrating — we needed full cleaning, especially since our shower was leaking water into the bathroom floor every day. Lying to guests and walking away from responsibility is simply unacceptable.

Cleanliness standards The wooden floors in the room felt sticky and looked like they hadn’t been mopped in a while. For anyone who values hygiene — or has kids who play on the floor — this is a big red flag.

Bad shower design The barrier inside the shower is too low and doesn’t keep the water in. Water kept leaking into the toilet area and even into the room. I noticed other reviewers had the same issue, and it’s clearly been going on for a while. Yet it hasn’t been fixed.

Disrespectful experience at rooftop restaurant We also had a deeply unpleasant experience at the rooftop restaurant. My wife and I were seated, but no one offered us water, explained the menu, or took our order. We waited for 30 minutes. I walked over to the counter multiple times to remind staff that we were waiting, but nothing happened.

Other servers were looking at us and whispering to each other — but no one came to help. The restaurant was not even busy. When we left, no one asked why or tried to follow up. It felt like we were being deliberately ignored.

Afterward, we told the hotel front desk about the experience. They promised to take notes and follow up with the restaurant and get back to us. That never happened. No one called or emailed us. The lack of communication between the hotel and their own restaurant is deeply unprofessional. Can a hotel really call itself four-star if it can’t even handle guest issues with its own attached dining venue?

Cramped, airless room Lastly, the room was extremely small, and the window couldn’t be opened. If you care about having comfortable space or fresh air, this hotel might...

As most are, this was a work trip to Washington DC where I selected the CitizenM Capitol Hotel. Without a doubt, the service model, facility, an super low-key vibe was perfect for an eight meeting day on the hill.

To orient you, the CitizenM Capitol is less than a 30 min walk southwest of Amtrak Union Station. Its a 10 minute walk to Rayburn and Longworth and about 15 minutes to the North East gate of the Capitol (House side). At the same time, because its DC, School Street feels nearly city residential and is across the street from Richard Right School for Journalism and Media Arts.

It is a 3 minute walk to the the Metro Red Line at L'Enfant.

The reservation platform from CitizenM is a little bit fussy but the booking method was quick and clear. Cost was really average especially for Washington DC where weekdays are frequently more expensive than weekends when the circus is in session. Painless check in was minutes at a kiosk with a desk clerk right there. A swipe of my key card before tapping my floor and I was securely on my way.

To be clear, this is NOT a pod style hotel. The rooms are a smidge wider than the length of the king sized bed. My room was spotlessly clean, well maintained and completely function based with chair, desk, adequate sink, and a fantastic toilet/shower combo. It could have used an iron, but I suspect I could have asked for one if rumpled wasn't my trademark.

There is no microwave which I knew but was unprepared for the fridge really to be an empty, tiny, drawer 'fridge preset to barely-not-really-cold-at-all. The crew downstairs agreed this was a problem but offered up a covered high hat with 24 hour ice service from the bar.

While there are light switches, all room, climate, windows shades, lighting color/moods, and media controls pass through an iPad. Not a bad idea but has the potential to be problematic for some guests. Of course leaving the iPad on the counter, then getting in bed, then wanting to turn off the TV creates a totally first world problem. Really - it was all good.

Here is THE best, most basic feature that I want to call out. The HVAC was silent. No air handler noise, no clicks, no whirs, no errors. I mean like totally, absolutely, unbelievably quiet. Between the double glazed windows and silent HVAC it was awesome. Bonus points for Team CitizenM designers.

I'd arrived late which was a long story of Amtrak from Boston, the timing of House letting out after passing a dumb CR, and several beers about which nothing more shall be said. The 24/7 bar/cafe served up a late night, fresh made basket of shrimp and a good bourbon for a night cap.

While there is a family pizzeria and a McDonalds around the corner towards the Mall I have to tell you that the CitizenM breakfast buffet is, while expensive, crazy bountiful with endless barista service. Points here for china and stainless for less trash in the waste stream.

Ok - so where could my visit be improved? The in-room safe, built into a drawer under the bed was missing the battery cover risking it not opening if locked by a guest. I gave verbal permission for it to be fixed while I was out the next day which it was not. Deal breaker? No. While it made moving through security the next day challenging, it absolutely not a deal breaker.

So there you go. Give the CitizenM a go if you are staying up on the Hill. You will appreciate the service as did I and you...