Dupont Circle Embassy Inn by FOUND — Hotel in Washington

This was our third stay with Sonder, having used them twice before in Chicago. Our first stay in Chicago was great. Our second stay in Chicago was bad enough that it resulted in $200 worth of Sonder credits, which we used for this "let's give them another try" stay in DC.

Never again.

I'll start with the good. The exterior of the building looks really nice. It's easy to find. It's in a very nice neighborhood with several good dining options within walking distance. That pretty much sums up the good.

The bad... The room was small, laid out kinda wonky, the carpet was badly worn, and all the furniture was trash. It's one of those spaces that you could clean as much as you want, but it's never gonna BE clean because it just needs to be renovated. Straight up. Just renovate it already.

The bathroom was tiny, and the shower was aggressively bad. For whatever reason, they hung the shower curtain such that the bottom was about 3" above the floor, so the draft wafts it into the shower to the point that your whole body is WRAPPED in the shower curtain the entire time you're showering. Also, the shower is very small. Like, slightly bigger than an RV shower, small. The stall itself is maybe 24" from the curtain to the back wall and, in another stroke of absolute genius, they elected to mount the LARGE soap bottle holders to the back wall. Not under the shower head, out of the way. No, no, no. They put them as much in your way as possible so that you'll bang into them over and over and over. They're stainless steel with some sharp pieces, so they had to wrap the sharp parts with a plastic tube so you won't physically injure yourself as you clash with them. Just DUMB. Careless, really.

As if all that weren't enough, somebody vomited in the only elevator in the building at about 7pm on our last night there, and they couldn't get anybody to clean until after 11pm. We had to take the stairs to the 5th floor multiple times that evening, which SUUUUCKS after walking all day. The next morning, there was still absorbent material soaking up all the alcohol-fueled vomit in the elevator.

I get it -- people vomit sometimes. That's life, right? But to be unable to fully get it clean for over 12 hours? To not even PUT UP SIGNS taking the elevator out of order? Just letting people play vomit roulette with the elevator?? COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE.

All in all? Yeah, this stay was terrible. Just awful. We're officially done with Sonder, which sucks, because I really had high hopes for them after our first...

TLDR; Excellent customer service. Fantastic location. Average rooms. Imagine a higher-end hostel and that’s basically this.

I stayed here for 3 nights in 2 different rooms (#508, & #103). First I want to commend the excellent customer service I experienced. I had trouble checking in as my contact info was incorrect — the staff was able to resolve this and get me inside the building quickly. On the day I switched rooms (had to stay an extra night unexpectedly) I could not check in until the afternoon and all the luggage lockers were full! Luckily there was an employee present, whom checked if my room was clean and allowed me to leave my luggage inside the locked room while I waited for check-in. Finally, and most impressively, I left in a rush to catch a flight & left my AirPods behind! The staff was very responsive, retrieved them & mailed them back to me in another state! I appreciated this so much, and it made me feel like this is a trustworthy company.

The building is older, as expected in a city like DC. Rooms are good for a couple nights stay, nothing luxurious. Someone else posted pics of the shower in room 508, I will agree that the shower liner bar & shower liner need replaced. It’s falling down & water gets on the floor. Aside from that I was comfortable in the room. Room #103 a/c unit is so loud they leave earplugs on your nightstand lol. I was tired enough that it didn’t matter, but the A/C unit needs maintenance or replaced. It is loud, smells moldy, does not get very cold, and feels humid (also maybe because bathroom door doesn’t close… letting humidity into room from shower). 103 felt small and dysfunctional.

I enjoyed the workspace in the lobby with coffee, tea, water as well as microwave and refrigerators. Location is awesome — nice neighborhood and nearby restaurants/grocery. City E-bikes located just across the street.

My advice to owners/investors would be to better maintain the showers / A/C units and add more storage lockers for luggage, as they seemed to be full a majority of the time. If you happen to get there with luggage prior to check in, you’re SOL unless there is one of the 6 lockers available in a building which has probably around 40 rooms.

I would stay again for the location and great...

Do not stay here.

I am a huge fan of Sonder, and I have stayed at several of their locations, most recently in London earlier this year. I have had a fantastic experience each time. Their Dupont Circle location in DC, however, is horrible and I will not be using Sonder in the future based off my most recent experience.

My first impression upon entering the hotel was how run-down and poorly taken care of it seemed, which is very different from my past experiences. When I entered my room, I discovered that it hadn't been cleaned properly and that it smelled very musty/damp. Sonder, to their credit, said they would re-clean the room and issued me a small refund of $75. However, the issues did not stop there.

The rooms (and I stayed in a deluxe room) are in incredibly poor shape: our bathroom curtain was completely ripped, the hardware in the shower was broken, and the tile looks like it has been destroyed. There is a reason there are no pictures of the bathrooms on their website. Throughout the property, you will notice peeling paint, stained carpet, scuffs, etc. This is completely unlike their other properties. It's shocking.

Finally, when it came time to check out, I noticed that there was no luggage locker room as advertised on this location's website. Instead of a room with large lockers, the luggage lockers provided are small (there are only 2 big ones) and accessible to anyone/viewable from the street. Since there were no luggage lockers available (except for a small one that fit my backpack) when I checked out, I asked Sonder if there were any staff on site or if they could possibly extended our checkout time and they said no + told me I could pay for an outside service. Really?

Secure luggage storage is a basic service that any hotel should provide, and Sonder falsely advertised storage they don't have. The solution is not to upsell your customers on an outside service -- the solution is for Sonder to actually have what they advertise on their website and to anticipate the needs of their customers.

I am incredibly disappointed by the condition of this Sonder location and the service I received. I do not recommend staying here. Please see the attached photos for an example of how run-down this...