Sofitel Washington DC Lafayette Square — Hotel in Washington

My stay could've been better and had high expectations for the hotel. First, I was very happy that they were able to accommodate my last-minute change to upgrade my room from a standard to the Luxury Corner King room, which we absolutely loved the room. We also were very appreciative that we were able to check-in at 2:00 PM instead of 3:00 PM as we had just traveled from Virginia Beach, VA by Amtrak and it was our first time in DC (this was a surprise birthday weekend trip). The woman that helped us check-in was very very nice and the check-in process was less than 15 minutes, she gave us 2 complimentary drink tickets to use at the bar which also made us really love the experience so far. What was not a pleasant experience and was very upsetting and disappointing was the following: 1. We went to go get ice on our floor, but the ice machine was out of order. We called down to the front desk to see if there were other ice machines and were told no, that they are on other floors. We were then told that someone would bring ice to our door shortly...nobody ever came nor did we ever get a call about the ice. We tried to use our key to get to a different floor to use their ice machine but it was not working. We were also on a time crunch/schedule to go see some museums/monuments (as some require timed-entry tickets) so we never did call back about the ice. We returned hours later and finally, our key let us go up to a different floor to retrieve ice. I don't think guests should have to be going to different floors to get ice. 2. There was no ice bag in the ice bucket, which is a health and sanitation issue, as putting the ice inside a bucket without a bag can make it dirty and you can get sick from this. Other hotels that are not "5-star" rated always have ice bags, so this was very disappointing. We ended up using the disposable shower cap to place the ice in the bag. 3. One reason we picked this hotel was that there was a concierge service offered, which we were going to use to get information about the monuments, museums, and restaurants as this was our first time in DC and only there for a week. We walked down to the front desk and spoke to the same woman that helped us check-in to inquire about how to get tickets to the United States Holocaust Museum (tickets were almost impossible to get/booked in advance) and we thought maybe the hotel had a select number reserved. She told us that the concierge service is unavailable/suspended and that she would talk to her manager and call us to let us know what they could do. She took my last name and our room number and we went up to our room...we never did receive a phone call, and at that point, it was already too late and we headed to bed. 4. Our bed was completely missing a fitted sheet on the bed and we essentially slept on top of the bare mattress. The bed only had the top sheet and the comforter, and we can see the mattress pad that was on top of the actual mattress (which also was very very dirty), and that upset us a lot as we just have traveled all day, had things to do once we got check-in, and then we're about to lay down for bed. 5. The bathroom was amazing, the separate tub and shower are what sold us to getting the Luxury Corner King room, but, there was an issue with our shower. The walk-in shower was missing the rubber sealant on the bottom of the door, so whenever you took a shower, the water got all over the floor and basically flooded the bathroom. 6. We ordered in-room dining breakfast both days honestly, it was not good. Eggs were overcooked, protein was undercooked/raw, and some of the items were completely soggy. Overall, the stay was not great/OK. I really expected a better experience, as I was highly recommended this hotel by others. Our stay failed to live up to the "5-star" rating and the "one-of-a-kind-stay" from their website. It's upsetting how much we paid for a room yet we did not receive the experience and service that should have...

I don't like writing negative reviews, but I feel it is important to inform everyone of our experience at this hotel so that the reader may make a well informed decision...

TLDR; The bad: they tried to charge us $50 extra a day, the hotel star rating is completely untrue, some of the staff is often apathetic to their guests.

The good: bed is comfortable, the room was clean and the location is amazing.

This hotel is described on Google as five stars (hotel rating, not the Google reviews), but if you look on the official homepage of the hotel, there is no rating in stars whatsoever (also I have not seen a sign at the entrance declaring this rating) and it is very clear to me that this isn't a 5 star hotel, if it were reviewed today it wouldn't even make 4 stars. Although when I asked the front desk about this, they say it is a 4.5 star hotel (by who's standards?).

Why am I giving this hotel such a low rating?

During checkout they tried to charge a total of $50 extra a day. We booked via their website. The confirmation showed everything was already paid, from fees and taxes. $30 a day was a "resort fee" (there is no sauna, pool, etc so what resort?), and another mysterious $20 a day that the front desk could not explain at all. Had I not first asked for a print out, gone over it line by line, then asked for an even more detailed print out, finally showing the booking confirmation which explicitly states all fees and taxes have been paid, we would have been charged an additional $50 a day. I have seen other reviews here stating similar, so that makes me really wonder how they can keep making this "mistake". Please watch out here!

It seems the hotel is understaffed(?), some of the staff that is here doesn't seem to care about the guests (as someone who lives in Germany, I have slightly less expectations of service, in general the service in the US is above and beyond any service I would ever expect in Germany and I am always so grateful for such incredible "American service").

Everything is closed and unavailable "due to Corona" (really just cost saving measures by the hotel in my opinion, I have stayed in countries with extreme Corona measures and they all still found a solution). Don't book the breakfast with your stay, the breakfast is only to go and is limited, except for Saturday (Sunday too?). I guess Corona doesn't exist on the weekend? Although I must say: the kitchen staff has my upmost respect, the way they prepared the bagel with salmon I had was incredible from the taste as well as presentation despite the circumstances. However, I didn't see that breakfast was limited and to go only when I went through the booking process. Perhaps I missed this information on the website? Pretty much any luxury amenities you expect because you are paying for it are all unavailable.

The room I stayed in was pretty well worn, one of the USB chargers by the bed was broken, the hair dryer was missing the on/off button (how do you repackage a hair dryer, wrapping up the cord so nicely and putting it in the cloth bag without noticing a whole missing button?), marks on walls, frayed carpets, etc. However it was a clean room, the bed was comfortable, but nonetheless you can see a lot of wear and damage that implies the rooms aren't being kept up.

It's very sad, I am sure this was once a great hotel, the location is incredible, it has so much potential but I cannot recommend it here.

Had some of the staff been a bit better, I would have given this hotel another star, likewise with having the amenities they had advertised, and yet another had the room not been so worn. They get a star for the cleanliness and comfort of the room, and one for the location itself. Therefore I have given 2 stars. But I must deduct 1 star for trying to overcharge us, especially after having seen similar issues from other reviewers. Therefore only 1 star.

Such a shame, we came here to celebrate a very...

Meh. Nothing to write home about.

The general appearance of the hotel and design of the interior is attractive and posh but the amenities and services are basic to sub-par at best. And it's in a great location in terms of closeness to the historical sights and museums but it's also in kind of a food/shopping desert so finding things you may need is a challenge which it was one for us. More on that in a bit.

So, the room looks nice, is pretty spacious and has a generally attractive (although somewhat dated) look to it but things are a little off. Let me list some concerns I had. Firstly, the bed was pretty darn bad. It was lumpy and had a notable curve in the center where it had sagged from who knows how many years of use. It was kind of like laying in a hammock but not in a good way. The mattress has definitely seen better days. The pillows were similarly overused. They looked fluffy until you laid your head on one and it deflated to the point of feeling like a slab of uncooked pizza dough. Not comfortable or supportive. Really not a great sleep in that room. The bed is pretty much the most important part of a hotel and they missed the mark here.

There were other odd omissions that just felt cheap and lazy. For instance there was a bottle of water on the night stand the first night but they did not replace it the next day. There were only two towels in the bathroom for two people staying there for 3 days and they didn't change those either. Also odd was that there was only one, small soap in the bathroom. I looked for soap at the sink to wash my hands but only found one bar in the bathtub and had to swap it from one spot to the other when I needed it. How cheap can you be? In fact all the things you would normally find in a hotel bathroom were very understocked. It was also clear they didn't vacuum at all during the 3 night stay we occupied the room. Oh and this is super weird but there was a heating vent outside the elevator on our floor that blasted the heat of ten thousands suns all day and all night long. I have no idea why but it was always an unnecessary sauna in the hallways.

We were eventually able to get a couple more towels and two more pillows (they were deflated and flat, too) and extra waters when we made a point to leave a note for our room attendant and leave extra money for them.

Then there are the amenities (or lack there of). As I mentioned this hotel is kind of in a food/shopping desert. There are a few, generally high-end restaurants around but nothing really in the way of a bodega or grocery store or convenience store within close walking distance. And there's absolutely nothing around for later night or 24/7 needs. Also their bar and restaurant were always closed when we got back to the hotel (and it wasn't really that late) and they had no room service for off peak hours either. There were no snacks or even a bottle of water to purchase in the lobby so if you returned home hungry or thirsty, tough crap, off to bed you go. And there was what would be a perfect mini bar/snack bar set up in the room but it was empty. Why have that if you don't stock it? I mean a minifridge would be nice but again there's nowhere to buy anything to put in it. They really should make more of an attempt to have things on offer for travelers.

And now today I see that I was charged for some kind of "Urban Experience" upsell that I didn't even know about. $30 dollars a night for I have no idea what but since they never mentioned it to me, I'm getting a refund for it because I certainly didn't get anything out of that superfluous charge.

I don't know if this place is understaffed or if they just don't care but it was like the shell of a nice hotel but really lacking in service and detail. Don't trust the pictures. It looks nice but that's about it. I don't...