Hotel Washington — Hotel in Washington

My family had an absolutely terrible experience at this hotel. Other than the great location near the National Mall and the historic nature of the building, this hotel is a nightmare. It would be better described as a nightclub. The staff care more about visitors to the rooftop bar than the guests who pay an excessive amount to stay in tiny rooms. We had a reservation for two nights in October. The first night, my family and I barely slept (no exaggeration) because music was playing very loudly on both the hotel rooftop and in the lobby for many hours throughout the night and early morning. The music could be heard in our room, the stairwell, and elevator shaft until 2 am--even with a sound machine and earplugs. Our room was literally vibrating. I called the front desk twice around 12:30 and 1 am and was told that "the lobby was busier than usual." (It took three calls to get someone to answer the phone each time.)The person who answered the phone said he would turn the music down (it was difficult to hear him over the phone given the music volume). He also told me that the rooftop would be open the second night of our reservation, until midnight. He did not offer to move us and told us to talk to the manager in the morning. After finally falling asleep for a brief period of time, we were awoken by the alarm clock in the room; someone had set it for 5:50 am. Wow.

There are also incredibly long waits for the elevator--going up and down--due to the volume of people visiting the rooftop and the fact that one of the three small elevators was out of service. The hotel should prioritize hotel guests going up to their room when there is a line for the elevators. I gave up on waiting for the elevator to take me down and instead carried my luggage downstairs. I can't imagine what I would have done if I was on a floor higher than 3.

I was so frustrated by the morning that I canceled our second night and moved us to a quiet, lovely, less expensive hotel (Hamilton Hotel, highly recommend). The Hotel Washington manager refunded our first night's stay but refused to refund the second night, even though we were not staying there. She said she would move us to a "better" room and comp some food in the restaurant, but admitted that the rooftop would still be open until midnight. Essentially, they cannot guarantee you a quiet night! All we wanted was a good night's sleep. Why would they place ANY guest in the room they gave us on the first night if they know how bad it is?

After saying there was "no way" she could refund the second night (I know that this is not true), the Guest Services Manager, Alexandra, gave me her card and told me to follow up with her. I have emailed her twice. No response. It would nice to just get a confirmation email.

This hotel should clearly communicate that they operate a nightclub that can seriously impact the...

Let me start by saying I love luxury experiences and obviously this review and experience is just purely based on experiences I have had with 5 Star luxury hotels. With that being said I have an elevated critique level since the high price tag and the level of hotel I am staying at.

I have been to the Vue plenty of times which prompted me to think of staying with them with my wife. I have pretty much have knocked out the bucket list of all 5 star hotels besides the Washington Hotel.

Upon Check in we were greeted by valet and there were no carts offered to me by anyone. I opted in to Valet the car and haul all of our luggage to the Front Desk. At this point we waited for a brief moment and got checked in. The front Desk checked us in handed us our key and told us the floor to go to.

They did not go over any amenity for us to be able to utilize or explain any restaurant or spa that they might have. Usually at this level of hotel I expect them to be thorough of the amenities of what this hotel has and offers. It is all about the feeling and experience and I feel as I did not get that from the front desk. They gave me a $15 credit for us to be able to use and explained that to us briefly but nothing else.

The room I could say was excellent it was my Wife and I's anniversary and we splurged on a junior suite which was excellent, spacious and clean. Room service was quick and prompt when we ordered breakfast in the morning. That I can say

One thing I will say that prompted me to write this was the concierge service was not prompt or helpful to top that off the front desk was no help either. I saw a trend in the lack of customer experience. I had to call Guest services to explain that it was a special day for my wife and I. I was looking to pay for extra amenities to be in our room prior to us arriving to look like a caring and thoughtful husband. A personal from the Hotel named Ingrid Ceron reached out to me through email with the services they offer and I responded promptly as to what I wanted and also asked to get information about the spa and the possibility of late checkout.

Nobody responded prior to me arriving as I thought maybe they just took care of it for me since I had booked a king suite or since its our anniversary but I show up and nothing has been arranged. Maybe I was wishful thinking but again its all about the experience and how you make a guest feel, especially at the level of hotel you are booking for. I was not looking for anything free I was just looking to be treated like an appreciated guest. And part of that is responding and being thorough with my booking.

So all in all I never booked the spa, nor used the restaurant or even went to the vue because they closed early that night due to low demand. Not a great experience for the quality of hotel...

It depends on what you expect. I have stayed in 38 hotels this year, most of them 4 and 5 stars so my expectation of a 4 and 5 star hotel is high. It's what sets them apart from a more affordable 3 star hotel. No free parking is available on the street. You must use their valet service at $60 a day. The one good thing is you do have In-N-Out privileges where some hotels don't allow for that. My introduction to the hotel was lame. There was no one to greet us or open the door which is standard practice in DC in 4 and 5 stars hotels, I've stayed in enough of them. Second, at check in, we were not told about anything in the hotel. Times the restaurants are open, facilities, or anything. The room is quite nice. I accepted a room with the view of the courtyard (well not really and you have zero sunlight) as I don't like street noise and it's $50 cheaper. Shower is a nice size, however it is following the trend of placing it in the room with frosted glass so you don't have any privacy. This means no in and out privileges or children of the opposite sex as you will be on display in or out of the shower. Not sure the point of this trend. The wall facing everyone could easily be solid. After arriving we decided to eat dinner at the hotel restaurant vs going out to eat. It was a bit late in the evening, 830pm, but still within the timeframe for dinner. Even though we asked for the restaurant, we were offered the bar. I was disappointed as I wanted to sit at a table. Further frustration set in as the bar had a different menu, so what I had chosen to eat, and why we selected the restaurant was no longer an option. We ordered hot wings w/blue cheese and chips with guacamole. The wings were good and quite large, but did not come with the standard carrots and/or celery. The chips on the other hand for $18 was ridiculous! We got a total of 20 chips, no refills (those were $3 more). That's basically $1/chip! Then we ordered hot chocolate. It was delicious! However, we asked for a splash of Bailey's and the bartender brought a small, 6oz glass filled ⅓ full. My husband and I looked at each other as we asked for a splash. This however, was definitely not the amount you would get if you had ordered a glass of Bailey's either. When we got the bill, he charged us $20 for 2oz of Bailey's! Also, though there were only the two of us, they tack on a service charge of 20%. We assumed that was for a tip, but how presumptuous. Over all, VERY disappointed in the service. Room and location were...