The Dupont Circle Hotel — Hotel in Washington

Worst hotel of our round the world trip. Rude staff.

I am copying this review, from a review I wrote a day after visiting in June 2013. However, even three years later the stay is memorable for being so bad (and I travel a lot - so it even rates badly among the years).

Location: I thought the Dupont Circle location would be ideal. In retrospect, I would now choose a hotel closer to the main. It was a fairly easy hotel to get to by car, and the valet was easy to use. But Washington DC proved to be a walking city. I would recommend choosing elsewhere if you intend to walk.

Staff: The staff were unfortunately quite detached and only as helpful as they were required to be. The weekend we stayed was fairly heavily booked due to events that were on that weekend. As a result, and despite having booked 5 months in advance and arriving shortly after normal check-in time, the hotel didn’t have our room allocation and were going to downgrade us. Upon being able to show how far in advance the booking was, the hotel staff member simply said that booking with a third party instead of the hotel meant that I wasn’t entitled to a room guarantee and he insisted I take the lesser room. I refused. The staff member went into the back to speak to the manager, then returned a couple of minutes later saying that my original room was actually available. The manner in which this was done was unprofessional and it appeared to be they way they ran the business in order to store higher rooms for sale or people who complained. From my experience, I am certain a lot complain. It’s not a way to run a hotel, and this single poor handling of my booking would ensure I never book with this hotel again.

Rooms: The rooms were much smaller than I expected from description and photos. Worse still, to save on space the bathroom is integrated into the bedroom space. A further insult is the lack of any basic items you automatically expect in a hotel showing this number of stars. Overall, a disappointing experience.

Would I stay again: Given the experience with staff and the size of the rooms, it would be unlikely that I would stay again.

Room Tip: Facing the street would be better. But honestly another hotel altogether would give you a better outlook.

The manger replied to my review then:

Hotel M, Manager at The Dupont Circle, responded to this review, 17 July 2013

Thanks for being a guest of the Dupont Circle Hotel and for taking the time to share your experience and frustrations with us, Glenn. Clearly we are not perfect and mistakes certainly happen from time to time with reservations; however, it is the manner of how this is dealt with that is key, and in this instance that did not happen.

We take our guest experience and guest service to heart, as can be seen by the countless reviews on Tripadvisor that highlight how friendly each of our team members is, which ultimately highlights what a great team we have. Obviously, you did not have this same experience, and for that I offer my sincerest apologies. There are no excuses.

Regarding our bathroom design, we do indeed have a modern luxury design across the hotel with a number of different configurations; I was disappointed to see that this was not to your liking.

We very much hope that you'll reach out to us again the next time you return to the area; we would love a second opportunity to showcase the exemplary services that have become synonymous...

From the moment I stepped into the hotel, I knew that this was the perfect hotel. Initial reviews showed that it was great for its location and great for its convenience, but said nothing about its price or service. I did some light research before making my reservation, but I was not prepared for what I had reserved. For starters, the service is amazing. It's unclear how, but as soon as you check-in for your reservation, every employee in your hotel knows you by first and last name (even without introductions). Every employee holds a smile and is always looking to assist or enhance your stay. I didn't get a single sense of negativity from the hotel staff and was amazed by the atmosphere they created alone. In addition, the rooms were amazing!!! For a single room on Valentine's Day for $260, I was shocked. The room was spacious, the lighting was perfect, and the bathroom was phenomenal (from heated tile flooring to glass doors to a flat screen TV directly in front of the bed). And lastly was its service. My girlfriend and I saw that our check-in time was at 3:00pm and by the time we showed up at 3:40pm, the front desk had told us that the room was not available yet, but had offered to move us up to another room. It happens in the hotel industry and it's completely understandable, so we had decided to simply wait around until the room was ready. Just for the wait alone, we were treated to complimentary drinks at the bar and after our 30 minute wait, the front desk staff notified us that our room was ready and for the inconvenience, they had treated us to free breakfast vouchers at their own bistro. I've never seen service go above and beyond to make up for an honest mistake and it was greatly appreciated.

I would like to highly recommend D'Jammel, the gentleman that had greeted us to valet our car, show us to the front desk, and carry our luggage to our room. I've never seen someone so energetic and dedicated to their job while standing outside in the DC cold, awaiting for cars to pull into the drop off zone. D'Jammel was especially careful to make sure that the guests, from stepping outside of their car, did not have to make any effort to help unload their car, park it, and check in. And he ensured that all our questions were answered as well. Tamara was the front desk staff who had notified us that the room was not ready, but had made sure that we were well-treated in the wait time and was the same one to make up for the mistake as well. And finally, I'd like to recommend David, the bartender, for his outstanding service. I'm no bartender, but we've never experienced such a laid back and comical experience while waiting for a room. He was very energetic and efficient at his job and I even learned better tips on how to make that mojito that I've always failed to make. Great job to you all!

The average cost of a hotel in DC ranges from $250 to $320, depending on the length of the stay and the time and location. But for a hotel that is on Dupont Circle (close to food and entertainment of all kinds) and has such a warm (ambiance, not weather unfortunately) and perfect experience, it was well worth the price that we paid for our stay. I've stayed at many hotels across the country, but I've never had such an enjoyable experience and every time I need a hotel in DC to stay at, I will not hesitate to choose the Dupont Circle Hotel. 5 out of 5; nothing short...

Do yourselves a favor and do NOT book a stay at the Dupont Circle Hotel. The summary of what happened was that my girlfriend was severely injured as a result of the hotel's faulty and outdated gym equipment, the hotel staff negligently responded to her injury, and my girlfriend as a result suffered extreme physical and emotional trauma.

My girlfriend was using one of the hotel's gym equipment, and the gym equipment malfunctioned and smashed her finger, resulting in a broken finger and an overnight hospital stay in the emergency room. The hotel staff failed to properly respond to my girlfriend's injury. When my girlfriend later posted a public review about the hotel, the hotel staff responded with a few points where they denied any responsibility for my girlfriend's trauma and in fact blamed her for it.

The hotel staff claims that, after my girlfriend's injury on their premises, they conducted "a thorough test on [their] equipment which resulted in user error rather than equipment malfunction." First off, this entire review process was purely internal and had no transparency, and the hotel staff has offered no basis upon which they came to the conclusion that my girlfriend injured herself based off of "user error." The hotel's alleged practice of "regular inspections of hotel gym equipment" is meaningless if the standards under which their inspections comply with are inadequate, which was clearly the case here given my girlfriend's severe traumatic injury.

Second, the hotel staff seems to claim that they properly responded to my girlfriend's injury because they "got an ice pack to help with any swelling." To reduce my girlfriend's broken, bleeding finger to a "swelling" is extremely disrespectful to her and trivializes the extensive physical and emotional trauma that she experienced.

Third, the hotel staff seems to claim that they are not at fault because they "not only recommended [that my girlfriend to] seek medical assistance but offered to call on [her] behalf which was denied." The reason that my girlfriend and I did not want the staff to arrange for a ride for us to the hospital is because we had already done so ourselves by the time the hotel staff offered to help.

Fourth, the hotel staff also claims that they acted properly because after my girlfriend and I requested another ice pack, they "did inquire on [my girlfriend's] well being and offered if there was anything we could do" and that "their service was denied again." This is completely false. When the hotel staff asked about my girlfriend's well-being, we replied by saying that my girlfriend was clearly not fine--which any of the many witnesses can attest to. The hotel staff never offered any other additional meaningful services to us, contrary to their dishonest claim. Even if they had offered additional services, there was nothing else that they could do in that moment to 1) fix my girlfriend's disfigured and bleeding finger or 2) undue the physical and emotional trauma that she had already experienced and was still experiencing.

The hotel employee who responded to my girlfriend's review stated that "[their] main priority is [their] guests' safety." The hotel staff's severely negligent response to my girlfriend's physical and emotional trauma clearly shows that the hotel could care less about their guests' safety. Avoid this place...