The Royal Sonesta Washington DC Dupont Circle — Hotel in Washington

Do not recommend. Also, really unlikely to stay at Kimpton again if this is what is to be expected.

I stayed at the Palomar for 5 nights.

First, it should be noted that they charge an "amenity fee" which is like $25 a night. DOUBLE NOTE: This is charged on Reward nights including the Anniversary Night.

Second, aesthetically, it's a nice looking hotel, but it has poor functionality, needs maintenance, and their customer service is lacking.

On functionality, the room was a decent size, but poorly laid out. One of the beds was far too close to the wall on one side, making it difficult to get in and out of. The bathroom was also poorly laid out, with the toilet too close to the bath faucet. The sink is pretty but non-functional, it splashes a lot and doesn't drain well. And lastly, there isn't a fan in the bathroom. There is a vent, but it doesn't accomplish enough to get moisture out of the room.

On maintenance, the AC did not work in the room we were staying in. For anyone that has spent time on the east coast in the summer, it's humid. The room was probably as humid, if not more humid than outside. There is no active ventilation in the bathroom, which only exacerbates the problem. Then, the AC simply doesn't work. The room was 73 degrees when we arrived and slowly climbed throughout the night despite being set to 68. It simply doesn't work. I think they actually don't have zoned heating/cooling and the thermostats are simply for show. In addition, the pool was closed when we arrived, and while it was later opened, it was disgusting. It's already off of the gross, little alley, but then it's cramped, it was not clean, and there were mosquitoes in the area. Lastly, they had to do "emergency maintenance" on their water lines, so we were without water for one night. They said they would have the water running by 6:30 AM, but they did not even after 7.

On customer service, when we first arrived Jessica made a good impression. When the water was out, the front desk said they'd apply a credit to our account and when I mentioned that I thought there was something wrong with the AC, they said they'd send someone to take a look. After that, things just went downhill. I don't think anyone ever actually looked at our AC, it certainly didn't get any better. When I complained at checkout that the AC was an issue the entire stay, they said they'd apply a credit, but it turns out that was just part of the credit we'd already received for the water being turned off. When I asked to get the district manager's contact information, the rep instead gave me an assistant manager's contact information. Not even the manager's information. I emailed and asked for the district manager's email and that was ignored. Next Jessica followed up on a survey I completed and I again asked her for the district manager's information and again, she ignored my e-mail.

This Kimpton is all about looks. That's it. It looks nice, but don't expect a good experience. I definitely won't stay here again and I'm going to have to have a really good reason to stay at any other Kimpton in the future.

In Response to the comment from management: I did e-mail directly in the days following my stay as noted in my review. No one has responded. The response below is not an actual attempt to resolve anything, they simply are giving the appearance of...

Pros - |- Comfortable, clean room|- Friendly front desk, responsive to the one concern about the toilet quickly|- Great neighborhood and location; wonderful nightlife, but not crazy, just good vibes all around. As a solo female traveler I felt safe walking at night and safe at the hotel||Cons -|- I submitted two queries on the form they want you to use for such things on their website. I submitted one months before my trip and one the first day of my trip. I never got a response to either.|- They tack on a $35 per night destination fee. It covers plenty of things you don't want. One of the queries I submitted above was asking them to remove that. It amounted to over $200 in charges for my six night stay. This fee is NOT a DC tax of any kind. It is simply a way to gouge customers for more money. They tell you that you get a $15 credit in their restaurant per day as part of the "perks" of that $35 per day. I did not care to eat at their restaurant so even if they just refunded me $15 x 6 for my stay, we are looking at $90. This practice is so scammy that I hope everyone looking to stay at the Royal Sonesta reads this. You may still book, obviously, but go in knowing what they are doing. |- The entire block lost power for one of the days of my stay. That is obviously not the hotel's fault! However, here is my experience: I woke up and realized there was no power. Of course the phones did not work and there was no other communication, such as a note put under the door, to let me know what was going on. I looked out the door - PITCH BLACK - no emergency lights of any kind. A few young guys with their cell phone flashlights were walking by with coffee; they told me the hotel hoped the power would be back on within the hour (it was about 7am at this point). Since I planned on being out the whole day anyway, I got ready and left. Thankfully the elevators were working (they were also lit) - I was on the 9th floor. The hotel did have plenty of staff on hand in the lobby and were also handing out free water bottles (or maybe they were part of my $35 'destination fee' - little joke). I was kind of floored at how dark the hallways were outside guest rooms; I'm talking you can't even see your hand in front of you. They should seriously consider installing emergency lighting.||Honestly, I hate giving this 2 star review. I did enjoy my stay, and this is a nice and comfortable property. However, they don't respond to questions via their own system, they engage in scammy "destination fees" that tacked on, in my case, over $200 to my bill for almost nothing in return (I say almost because I did drink the water bottles they left in my room each day, which they claim is covered by that fee - most expensive water.I've ever had, but otherwise I wasn't getting anything it was supposed to "cover"), and they need to reassess their emergency communication and systems.||One final note - they respond to negative reviews on here with vague promises of doing better. You may note that if you read through the reviews. If you look closely, their language in those responses is pretty broad, at least, I think it is. They want the credit of responding without making any real change. I always look to see if a company has responded to a customer's complaint, and they do, but there's no "there," there - no real substance to...

Preface: I stayed at the new Royal Sonesta on Capitol Hill and had such an amazing experience and figured I’d stay here for my next work trip since it’s the same chain. DuPont Circle and Capitol Hill are like two entirely different worlds.

Service: I was visibly struggling with my bags when I arrived and there wasn’t a bellhop on site nor did the people that checked me in offered to call one. When I arrived to check in, the two people continued their conversation, never greeted me and simply asked if I was checking in or out. I’ve never felt so insignificant and it was completely different from the warm welcome I received at Capitol Hill. I had dinner at the Capitol Hill location and attempted to change hotels but it was too late and the wonderful representative hugged me because she felt so bad and could attest to the horrible customer service here at DuPont and I’m stuck here 5 more nights.

Room: It’s spacious, the bathroom needs a facelift and the lights flicker. Layout is a little funky as the closet doors must be closed in order to get out my room. Sliding doors would be better if they intend on updating. The huge mirror is nice too.

Amenities: The hotel is old, but many are in DC so it’s never an issue for me. The gym was fairly well equipped although it was dark and they called it “The Sculpting Room” - weird. I only had breakfast at the restaurant and the options were eh. I settled on avocado toast and the avocado was browning. You’re not gonna serve me brown avocado for 18$.

Overall, I’m dreading the remainder of my stay all because I assumed there would be consistency in the level of service and consideration I received at their newer location and that couldn’t be further from the truth. And it truly sucks because DuPont Circle is a great area with many things to do.

Honorable Mentions: front door doesn’t work handicap door inoperable Ty is sweetheart (worked Sunday night -graveyard shift?) gym towels in cooler look and smelled ancient and water dispenser had seen better days

Update: I was contacted and spoke with the director of rooms, Miguel, and I specified that the level of service here was not consistent with their sister and namesake property. I was promised two nights stay worth of points (I still down have them as of 12/19/2023) as I really just wanted to stay at the other location but he told me that wasn’t possible.

His solution was providing a “tune down” which consisted of someone coming in after housekeeping to provide Voss water, treats, and rearrange my pillows. I just wanted the people upfront to not look like they hated their jobs so it didn’t move me much. It seemed like the only thing that mattered was me changing my review.

Update 2: Tunde Sodeeq reached out to me and helped me get what I was originally promised- two nights at any Royal Sonesta by way of points to my Travel Pass account. Additionally he did offer to ensure my stay is more comfortable the next time I visit, however I assured him I won’t be staying at RS DuPont Circle because it shouldn’t take a bad review to fix a known problem within an organization. As I found out a couple of the employees allegedly no longer work there.

Thank you to Tunde and his manager for their willingness to rectify the situation far...