Kimpton Carlyle Dupont Circle — Hotel in Washington

The front desk staff was atrocious. I am a very seasoned traveler, having stayed in many locations in which the culture was different than my own, I was truly dissapointed to have been greeted by the front desk staff so poorly. My new wife and I (it was our honeymoon) were not greeted with warmth or any sort of hospitality. It seemed English was not their first language, but my other travels have shown me that a language barrier should be no excuse. The staff seemed annoyed to even have to be attending to us at all. The room itself was nice enough for the price range, but nothing exceptional. The blanket on the bed, however, was disgusting. It was a duvet that was sandwiched in between two non fitted sheets and at night it would shift and I'd end up with an unclean duvet on top of me, rather than a clean duvet cover or blanket of any sort. The bed itself was tempurpedic, but it was a little too firm for our tastes. When calling for assistance from the front desk, we reached the same rude front staff man that had greeted us. Upon asking him to send an engineer to our room to assist in connecting in HDMI cord (because the TV was installed in the wall and the port was inaccessible to us), responded condescendingly that we should be capable of doing so ourselves. When his co-receptionist came to assist, he was polite and helpful, and even acknowledged that the ports were inaccessible, which only made us more frustrated in how his partner had treated us. The bar staff in the Riggsby was fantastic. Nolan, the bartender, gave my wife and I many recommendations for around town; meanwhile, the receptionists gave no assistance with the city when we asked. There was also a cocktail hour(s, 4-7pm) where free wine and snacks were supplied. However, there were not many choices of wine. Additionally, arriving only an hour late, there were no snacks left. It seemed they had two small plates out for a decently sized group of people at the party. The staff that you would normally have the least interaction with were the ones that treated us the most kindly and with respect, while the ones we had regular interaction with were either irratable or unhelpful. There was one receptionist that was always please to interact with, so thank you to him. Parking is either $17 per day or $45 per night with the hotel. Street parking is allowed overnight, but you car must be moved within two...

During our recent trip to Washington DC, my fiancé and I stayed in Carlyle, where we had a pleasant experience overall. The hotel was great, the rooms were comfortable, and the location was convenient. However, there was one unsettling incident involving the housekeeping service that left me feeling uneasy.

One evening, upon returning to our room, I noticed that my laptop had visible dents on the edges. I was surprised to discover this, as I had left it charging on the floor in the kitchen area while we were out, leaning against the wall because it was the only available outlet at the time. I suspect that the housekeeper may have accidentally run into it with the vacuum cleaner. I immediately reported the incident to the front desk, and they referred me to the head of housekeeping, who promised to investigate and call me back.

Unfortunately, we had to leave early the next morning, but I received a voicemail from the head of housekeeping informing me that he had spoken to the housekeeper, who denied having touched my laptop. However, given that there were other indications that the housekeeping service was not up to par - such as expired items in the fridge, un-replenished water after we drank it during the first day of our stay, and an open and sipped alcoholic drink from the previous guests - I am inclined to believe that my suspicions were well-founded.

In conclusion, while our stay in Carlyle was enjoyable, the incident with the housekeeping service left me feeling dissatisfied and questioning the level of care and attention to detail provided...

The front desk staff were nice.

But the hotel is not as nicely renovated as the website suggests. The hallways are very dark and decorated with bad lighting fixtures. The website advertises Frette linens...... that’s not true. Our room was a double queen suite with kitchenette. The room was large but it was dark and did not feature a sofa or lounge chair as pictured. The kitchenette was very dark. The closet (located in the kitchen) was even darker - despite the stick-up led light on its wall. The bath was poorly laid out and crowded. More disturbing, the bath was not clean. The wall had brown hand prints by the light switch. There was a big black curly hair left by a previous room guest. The crusty white stuff all over the floor was unidentifiable. The electrical box and surface mounted conduit was unsightly. Room service lunch (from Rigsby that they brag about so much) took over 2 hours, was cold and contained unacceptable surprise substitutions. While the hotel is pet friendly and does not charge, the amenities described on the website were not available.

The hotel is not 3 or 4 star. Make sure to bring along a pair of bedroom slippers or showers shoes you don’t mind leaving behind when...