Kimpton Hotel Monaco Washington DC — Hotel in Washington

Hotel- Kimpton Monaco DC (Washington, DC) Date- April 2021 (2 nights) Overall: 5/5. Excellent. This was our first experience at this hotel, and we will definitely be back! Rewards Club Recognition- 5/5. Excellent. Upon arrival we were verbally thanked for our loyalty, and a credit of $20 was offered to be applied to our bill for minibar or restaurant purchases. Our room was upgraded, and as Inner Circle Loyalty members, an amenity was present in our room (bottled water, Perrier water, sprite, pretzels, a dried corn snack, and a small can of pringles). We were also proactively offered a late checkout. We genuinely felt like valued guests at this property. Staff- 5/5. Excellent. Sergio, who checked us into the hotel, was stellar. He was efficient yet thorough, and he was a model for customer engagement. As we observed him and the other reception staff members interact with guests during the evening social hour, we could see their genuine intent to please the hotel guests. Property Appearance & Maintenance- 5/5. Excellent. Exterior- The edifice is in great shape, and the hotel is well branded. Interior- The lobby and hallways were clean, stylish, and interesting to behold. Some of the baseboards in the guest rooms could use cleaned up, but for a historical building, maintenance does a great job. No outstanding maintenance items of substance were evident. Accommodations- 5/5. Excellent. We were assigned a “Premier Monte Carlo Guest room,” and we were happy. The high ceilings really added to the spacious feel of the room. The headboard of the bed was dramatic, as was the large stone lion face above the headboard. The bathroom had a shower/tub combination, which was quite clean. Housekeeping- 5/5. Excellent. The room was immaculately cleaned, and all toiletry items (shampoo, conditioner, body wash, soap, toilet paper, facial tissues, etc.) were provided in a supply adequate for the length of our stay. The carpet was vacuumed and in good shape. Daily housekeeping service has resumed, and guests who would like their room refreshed can arrange with the front desk so that a housekeeper can enter the room while unoccupied. Pool/Gym- 4/5. Very good. No pool at this property, but the fitness center was available and contained a reasonable set of equipment. Access was provided by the front desk to ensure appropriate limitations on usage during the pandemic. Breakfast/Meal Options- 5/5. Excellent. The Dirty Habit restaurant was open for dinner service during the days of the week while we were present, and a weekend brunch service was available. Morning coffee service and the evening wine hour went smoothly and were appropriately modified for the pandemic (served from the front desk by a gloved representative behind plexiglass barriers). Laundry- not evaluated. A pricing sheet and laundry bag was present in the room, and the pricing was appropriate for a hotel of this category. Computer/Printer/WiFi- 5/5. Average. The WiFi connected easily, and the speed was adequate for smooth streaming of music and video. Other- Pandemic operations were appropriate and included social distancing protocols, sanitizing stations, and appropriate barriers to protect the staff and guests. The staff reliably wore masks over their nose and mouths. The sole drawback we could find with this property was that there is no way to load your belongings into a luggage cart from the street; stairs are required for entry; be mindful that you will have to get your belongings up the stairs in order to get inside the hotel entrance. Although an ADA entrance is present, it is not available for usual...

I wanted to share this review with everyone being since I've seen similar reviews regarding the bad attitudes of the front desk. I have always wanted to stay at Kimpton Monaco DC and I figured I'd treat myself to a 1 night stay for New Years eve. I decided to call the hotel to speak with someone regarding the amazing amenities that I read about in other reviews and on their website. A women name Raina answered! I mentioned to her that I saw a post regarding happy hour, and I was wondering if the happy hour is on weekends? She immediately and rudely corrected me by saying " It's not called Happy Hour! It's called social hour and its only 2 kinds of wine and a few brews, but it's definitely not called Happy Hour". She talked very fast as if she was trying to hurry and get me off the phone. I tried to not believe she was getting smart with me as I've not given her any reason.

So, Then I asked how much were incidentals? She quickly and rudely said " incidentals are $100 per day". Then I said, " are you guys doing anything special for NY Eve and she responded so rudely by saying " I don't know what the hotel is doing but I'll transfer you to our restaurant". She proceeded to transfer me in the middle of me asking her another question. And then she hung up on me! So, I called back to see if I can get another person, but she answered again. I said " Hi, what time does Dirty Habit restaurant open?" She rudely and quickly said "I don't know what time they open but I'm transferring you now" before I could finish talking, she had already hung up to transfer me. The restaurant was not open and so the phone just rang. So, I called back one last time and now I'm pissed as I've never been so disrespected for just inquiring about the amenities. When I called back, I said, " is your manager available?" She said I am the manager". I said, " You are the manager" and she said, "again I am the manager is there something you need ". I didn't believe her as I've never met a manager who acted like that.

So, I hung up and proceeded to reach out to headquarters to report her. Again, her name is Raina and she is a front desk agent. She was utterly rude, disrespectful and seemed like the was in a rush to get me off the phone. I hope she is fired for her rude behavior and I'm sure this is not the first time. You never know who's calling and who they know and the connections they may have so that's why you treat everyone with respect. I firmly believe she should never work in hospitality again. I ended up canceling my reservation after spending countless hours of searching hotels just to be treated horribly for no reason. Why would I want to stay at a hotel where the front desk agents are rude to me before I even arrive. Imagine how she would have treated me had I kept my reservation and showed up. Just like other reviews stated, the front desk crew has bad attitudes towards guest for no reason. I was really looking forward to pampering myself especially while going through a toxic divorce and everything else I've experienced this year. Now I have to search all over again....

This place was very close to 5 stars but the details are what did it in.

The good: Gorgeous interior in an old beautifully preserved building. The rooms were big, equally pretty with wonderful details. They paid a lot of attention to amenities. Beds were comfortable and their pillow menu was great. We were able to request to have a Keurig in our room. The hotel is very big, with long hallways. Very quiet but we were there Wed-Sat. Pricing was pretty appropriate for where the hotel was, how pretty it was and how big the rooms were.

The not great: The customer service was very hit or miss. Front desk people were great but each time I ordered room service, the person answering was very brusque. They even told me that their creamed oats weren't gluten free....because of the oats. Feel free to Google that one. Then when I finished ordering they just hung up without giving a time estimate or anything. Cleanliness was ok. Nothing crazy bad but for example, the large windows in our rooms were covered in hand prints and just other.... prints. You could even see makeup residue probably from people pressing their faces against the windows to look out. Surfaces weren't wiped down very well, which was noticeable on a mirrored table. And it was definitely missing that freshly cleaned smell. Because the way the hotel is set up, it's not super accessible in my opinion. The hallways the rooms are off of are huge, but carpeted. But to get from the elevator to these hallways, you have to go thru a series of little skinny doorways with lips on the floor. We had to use a luggage cart and struggled alot for example, trying to maneuver it. That was another thing, they loaded our luggage on the cart but then didn't offer to help us drag the cart up to our room. Just simply told us to bring it back. Oh and location is great except for the Capital One Arena being one street over so if you need to go anywhere before or after a game, you're stuck in that traffic. Not the hotels fault but worth noting.

The bad: Room service. The food was very average for the price. And the menu in the room was wrong so I had to look up the appropriate menu online, not a huge deal,except their kitchen also closes at hours that are not clearly defined at all. And again, who ever answers for room service was not very nice. They told me to look up the right menu and call back. Let's just say....breakfast for two in the morning should not cost over $200. We got basic breakfast things like scrambled eggs, bacon,potatoes, two acai bowls, Avocado toast, and croissants. The Avocado toast was good. The American breakfast was very average. No salt or pepper. The acai bowls were frozen. Like even with eating them last, they had chunks of ice in them.

We also ate at their restaurant Dirty Habit but I'm going to do another review for them.

Overall I'd actually give this place a 4.5. I think it's worth a stay overall, at least once, especially if you can get...