The Royal Sonesta Washington, DC Capitol Hill — Hotel in Washington

If you book a room with an atrium-view, you will not have any access to natural light - ZERO. If "atrium" suggests plants, and butterflies, and maybe a fountain, think again. In this case, it's a cold, undecorated space with only artificial lighting with a view of a corridor and/or windows into other people's rooms. We booked a wheelchair accessible atrium suite, and a few days later got an email from Sonesta asking if we'd like to upgrade to a city-view room for an additional fee. We said yes, and assumed this was what we would get. When we arrived, we were given an atrium-view room. We spoke with a hotel representative with limited English language skills about changing rooms. Eventually, he said they could give us a city-view suite. We waited for 10-15 minutes for him get the OK from his manager, and he then accompanied us to the room to "make sure it's OK." It was much better, with a nice view and lots of light. I saw the room was not technically wheelchair accessible, but that I could use it if I had a shower chair. I asked the guy to have one sent up, and he said he wasn't sure about this but would ask. When we returned after a couple hours there was no shower chair. I called down, and a woman told me they don't provide these. I asked if they have any chair that I could use, and she said they couldn't give me anything safely, and they only thing she could offer me was to go back to the atrium-view room where a shower chair is bolted to the wall. I said I had stayed in many hotels where they provide shower chairs, including Marriott and Hilton products, but this woman would not budge. Essentially here position was, "you can have sunlight or you can bathe, but not both." I ended up buying a shower chair at Walgreens for $40 that I safely used for 3 days and abandoned when we left. Few of you will need accessibility in your room, but this should give you some indication of hotel's attitude about accommodating guests. When the woman refused to help me, I let her know (in a civil way,) that I was pissed off. When we were checking out with another staff member, she engaged me again and tried to reignite the argument - really? Smaller problems: There were 3 of us staying in this suite. When it came time for bed, we found there wasn't any bedding for the sofa bed. My wife called guest services, and spoke to another employee with limited English. When asked for "bedding," the woman responded, "what does that mean?" She understood "sheets and pillows" and we got past this, but why did we have to call for this in the first place? The lights are on motion sensors that are annoying. On all three days, the bathroom lights turned off in the middle of my shower. The small mirror light stayed on, so I could still see, but it was not a good experience. Water in ice bucket wasn't emptied At check out, we asked them to call a taxi that would handle 3 people, luggage and my small collapsible wheelchair. They told us the taxi company they use only has small cars and they had no way to get a bigger one and we should use Uber to get our own ride...so now we have a Lyft account. This could have easily been a positive review. Location is convenient, the room overall was nice, and decor, while quirky is fun. Sadly, the idea that hospitality includes anticipating your guest's needs and helping them have an easy stay in an unknown environment is lacking, or at least hasn't been communicated to the full team. We'll stay somewhere...

The day started with them not having our room ready for when we actually got there, so we had to wait. So the wife and I Ubered elsewhere to get food and upon returning our room still was not prepared (about 2 hours later). By the time we received our room, we had to get ready for the event that we were going to be attending.

The food was extremely salty that evening, and my wife was sensitive to salt. I'm thinking maybe it's just one dish, so we can try something different next time. Breakfast comes the next day and why we're on the 6th floor for an event again, that's catered by them. We reached for potatoes, and there was a foot long hair connected to potatoes. I'm thinking like. "Wow, that's amazing." But when I grabbed my plate, I looked down on it. Yes, it had hair on it as well.

Later on a day, my wife and I will go to meet an old friend and eat at the restaurant connected to the hotel. The food was nothing special and actually a little salty.

Now we have to check out the point of this visit, and there was a breakdown in communication because my wife selected a day early on accident for our reservation. Our flight was the next morning. I think this is not a problem, we'll see if we can extend our stay one night. Why, pack up and check out if we already have a room. (Wrong) Housekeeping comes to the room (not a problem, just doing their job). They are the ones that informed me that we were a night short of our flight. I let housekeeping know I'm gonna take care of it and not a problem.

This is when I was told by the front desk that I have to pack up all my stuff and bring it to the lobby because you have to check completely out before getting another room. I asked if there's any other rooms available. Their reply was yes. Therefore, wouldn't it make more sense if the room that I'm in is still available to book it for the evening? Or when I pack up my stuff on the room, I could just go to the next room. Not to mention, the room was overpriced for the area. In the middle of packing, another lady comes by the room, making sure I was leaving. We had a conversation, and she claimed she agreed with me and that she would take care of it. Lies, never saw her again.

So I sat in the lobby for hours waiting for my wife to come back from Capitol Hill, and we went to get another hotel room elsewhere.

We will not be returning to this franchise, and if the organization we came with asks about our votes for locations for next year, this place will definitely not be...

Short version: I will not come back or recommend this hotel due to the fact that the rooms are dirty. If you have high standards of cleanliness like me, you would not find this hotel clean at all. I will get to the details at the end.

Location: great location, close to many museums and capitol. Good food options around the area. Some of the reviewers mentioned about the homeless outside the hotel: I did not witness any in front of the hotel, but around the area. So overall, I felt fine walking/parking around the hotel. Parking: you can do valet parking or park outside the hotel. It is metered parking and there are certain times you cannot park. Just be careful to read the signs. We fed the meter throughout the day and it was fine. Staff: most are friendly, kind and helpful. I will mention what others have mentioned as well, which is the resort/destination fee. It was very confusing and it seems like they want to charge you more than what you paid. Although that was sorted out, they could have definitely explained it better and in a nicer way. Room: the positive: we stayed at the premium room and it was very spacious, thoughtfully designed and new. I really like that they had hand soap vs those mini soap bars. The light in the bathroom does come on by itself at night (spooky!) but I really think (hope) it is a timer/electrical thing rather than paranormal. So, don't be alarm if that happens to you too! Some reviewers mentioned the bed being uncomfortable and that is true if you sleep on the side next to the night stand. If you sleep on the other side which clearly most people don't sleep on, it is better. Pillows are comfortable, TV and air works fine. Also nice that they had coffee machine, refrigerator in the room as well. Negatives: the rooms are dirty. The toilet is clean thank god but the rest of the room was dusty in all areas. the bedding had stains on them. the shower had grime and hair from previous guests. there were black spots on the base of the shower which tells me that it just hasn't been cleaned in a long time. there were little hairs left behind from previous guests on the sink counter. All that just made me very uncomfortable being in that room.

I hope this helps future travelers and also the hotel for...