The LINE DC — Hotel in Washington

I recently stayed at the Line DC for three night (Friday to Monday), having made the booking through my airline, Qantas. When I booked, I asked for a quiet room. When I checked in, the front desk confirmed that we had been given a quiet room.

The good: a. The two beds I got to try were comfortable, the rooms quite spacious, and one room (Monument Corner, Room 533) had windows on two sides and was particularly light (but…see below). b. Cheerful, friendly service from the barista at the coffee shop by the main entrance, and the valet who organised taxis for us.

The bad: I’ve now read through negative reviews from the past six months and note some recurring themes: a. Many have commented the excessive noise from nearby clubs (and possibly the roof?) on (at least) one side of the hotel, and I can confirm that, at least on Saturday night (I was fresh off the plane and dead to the world on Friday) you will hear very loud music, cheering and chanting in your room (as said, I was in 533) until 2am, and then there’s a further 45 minutes of bottles being thrown out. My watch tells me I had 1hr20mins of sleep that night. The hotel’s response is that it can’t control external noises. Well no, but a hotel that describes itself as "luxury" would mitigate the noise and provide a quiet sleeping environment (even a 2-star hotel would see this as a minimum). The noise is not a new or occasional feature so obviously - if it cared about the customer experience - the hotel could properly insulate the rooms (airport hotels looking onto the runway manage it fine) so as to be able provide quiet rooms. b. The (negative) attitude of front desk staff is regularly commented on. I personally didn’t experience any rudeness, but I got very little assistance either. It took 3 trips over 12 hours to the front desk to sort out a move to a quieter room for the last night of my stay: the first two times I was offered a move to directly above or below my existing one, as though it would somehow be quieter. I don’t know whether the cause is simply lack of training, but it’s definitely a negative customer experience. I should add that the front office manager’s response to negative reviews is generally to ask the writer to contact them at frontdesk.dc@thelinehotel.com. Besides spending an inordinate amount of time trying to sort things out at the front desk, I also sent two emails to the front desk address but didn’t receive a reply. When I spoke to the manager on the Monday morning they told me that they don’t work on the week-end (so presumably there was no-one no covering!); and, even though it’s now Wednesday evening, I still haven’t had a reply.

The ugly: a. Lack of honesty: (knowing that the noise from clubs is a real and recurring issue, at least on Saturday nights and at least on one side of the hotel) if the Line didn't have any quiet rooms available, it just had to say so rather than thinking they had some right to exploit customers. There are hundreds of hotels in DC and I would have booked elsewhere. b. Very poor customer service and customer experience: if the Line is getting the same negative comments about its front desk again and again, why are they still unresolved? If it's a matter of training, provide it; if it's a matter of staffing, change it. c. The front desk is either unwilling or unable to take responsibility and do any work to actually try to help or provide meaningful resolution: the manager, who couldn't find it in themselves to apologize told me that, because I had made my booking through Qantas, all they could do was waive something called an ‘amenity fee’ (news to me: I didn’t see or use any additional amenities that warranted a supplementary fee) and that I should address any issues to Qantas. In other words, the Line takes no responsibility and is not going to make any real attempt to make amends. Instead, it will gamble on whether I'm going to bother spending more hours trying to seek proper redress...

Comfortable beds, great shower, uniquely designed and decorated, but sub-par service. When staying at a higher-end hotel, it’s generally the service I expect to be significantly better than an average run-of-the-mill hotels. Unfortunately, the Line DC fell short. From the moment my coworker and I checked in, we were a bit stupefied by the lack of any sort of enthusiasm, charisma, or at least welcoming interactions from the front desk person. It was almost as if we were bothering her by checking in. Fair enough - can’t win them all. After checking in, I headed to my room (cool on a hot day, which was welcome), changed out of my work uniform, and headed downstairs with my form and bagged work shirt and pants to have dry-cleaned. Ticket and front desk gal both noted that out by 9 am, back by 6:30 pm would apply to this, my work uniform. It was set aside Tuesday evening, going to be picked up Wednesday morning, and returned Wednesday evening. Not to my room, but available for me to pickup from the front desk. No problem. Wednesday evening prior to dinner, I headed down to pick up my dry cleaning. The front desk gentleman goes to look for it, and comes right back out stating it didn’t get picked up but not to worry - they can have it picked up the next morning and back by the next evening! A fine solution, except that I was leaving the next morning. Now mind you, this is a pilot shirt, so I can’t exactly run down the road and grab a spare white pilot shirt. Also, this shirt had already crossed the country on me twice and really needed a cleaning, not to mention sitting in a plastic bag with dirty pants, wadded up, over night. The gentleman tried to call their dry cleaner, but to no avail. He mentioned there was a laundromat open down the street I could walk to and do it myself, but better hurry - it closes in an hour. I kindly explained that this was a major inconvenience but the most aggravating issue wasn’t just that it didn’t get picked up (mistakes happen) but that nobody had bothered to note the bag of laundry sitting there and inform me it hadn’t been picked up until the evening when it was suppose to be done. No alternative solutions. No laundry facility available at the hotel. So I took my shirt upstairs and did what we’ve all done and washed it in the sink. Now, knowing this was an issue, the front desk person informed me multiple times the hotel manager would be in contact with me to discuss the issue and try to make it right. I noted I could be reached anytime prior to 10am on the next day as I’d be leaving shortly thereafter. Needless to say, perhaps, no manager ever contacted me. I didn’t suspect they would considering the lack of service thus far. Time to leave. I text down my valet ticket number 15 minutes prior to needing my vehicle. I check out, waltz to the valet station where I see the valet playing on a device, but no car. Hmmm. I mentioned I had requested my car by text and question if he had gotten that. No discernible response. He asked for my ticket number so I dug out my phone and showed him the texted ticket number. Off he went to find my car. Once he returned, I asked again if the texting method didn’t work or what happened. His response was that the text goes inside, but he, clearly I should have noted, was outside. Ah. I see. Excellent system. Hang out outside away from the device that informs of a vehicle request so one can play on their phone and listen to music. I must admit, I just don’t understand this location. Comfortable, sure. But so is a Marriott. I’ve had more friendly and reliable service at nearly every Hampton Inn I’ve stayed at, but at a fraction of the cost. The location is decent, but not exceptional. The architecture is unique, but not overly so. For the cost of what this location is attempting to be, I would expect a more service-oriented stay. This wasn’t that, and because of this, we won’t be back. Too many other great options where this fell short on...

I’m leaving a very mixed review because some interactions with staff were not great, while others were amazing. I don’t know if I got treated differently for booking third party, and I’ll take the L on that… but I’ve never experienced such inconsistency with staff customer service.

We arrived 7/3, and admittedly, later than we would have wanted to around 11:30 p.m. When we arrived, there was no valet (which we knew because we called ahead), so we parked in the car bay area. We called the front desk to ask if we were at the correct entrance (the doors were locked). We were told we were and the front desk person came to open the door for us. There was no greeting or basic acknowledgment. I actually said “hello how are you”? It seemed like the person at the desk simply didn’t want to be there. They were the only one at the desk, so maybe they felt overwhelmed? Not sure. However, we did have a car and they explained we could leave it there for the valet. We were simply requested to leave the tag in the car and keys with the desk. The following day when requesting the car, the valet admittedly stated they had a hard time finding the vehicle because the vehicle type and room number were not aligned or updated. Not really an issue, but worth noting.

On the night of 7/4, we had a great interaction with the front desk attendant. I wished that I had gotten the front desk person’s name, but they were quite literally the highlight of our experience there. We arrived after valet left, again, as we were coming back from the Beyoncé show. The person from the front actually met us outside and guided us to the garage because it was packed in the parking bay and we could not fit. They gave us instructions on getting back up. Once we got to the front desk, the person stated they were getting concerned and sent security to check on our safety. While leaving the front desk to go to our room, we heard the front desk attending call security and let them know we were okay. I personally work within customer service and that employee did everything I would do. They were attentive and considerate. I would also like to note that during the day, we received a message from the front desk checking in on us and that was also greatly appreciated.

The following day, 7/5, was our checkout day, and the checkout process was smooth. The front desk attendants were also very kind, and I witnessed them have pleasant conversations with everyone. We received our vehicle and left. A few hours later, we were charged for a water bottle from the minibar. However, we didn’t take anything from the mini bar; in fact, we didn’t even take the bottles labeled as “free” on the desk. When I called the front desk about it, I was asked if I was confused about the charge. I stated yes because we did not take anything from the mini bar. The person on the phone sounded annoyed and told me to hold. When they got back on, they stated they would refund me the $5.50 for the water bottle. I then said thank you, and they replied “mhmm” and swiftly hung up. Again, leaving little to be desired. Had we drank a water bottle, it would not have been an issue, but I think just the way that it was handled was just “ehh”. I would strongly recommend recording what is in a mini bar when you arrive and leave (this goes for any hotel). I’ve never had this issue before, but I’ve learned my lesson. I will say that the person on the phone did not give a hard time with a refund, but I guess on top of our experience when we arrived, I could not ignore the way in which some employees interact with customers.

All in all, I can’t honestly say I’d return. Beautiful location and stay, but customer service is too inconsistent to say...