The Westin Washington, D.C. City Center — Hotel in Washington

Starwood properties have always been my first choice, which is why I became a cardholder. However, my stay in D.C. was obnoxious.

The room:

1. The size of my first room was great. But after being forced to change rooms due to a gushing leak in the ceiling, the second room did not compare.

2. The bathroom in particular was not clean. There was blue dried goo (maybe shaving gel?) on the shower curtain and wall of the shower. In addition, a chunk of soap was stuck to the wall.

3. It was quiet and had a partial view, which can be hard to get in the city.

4. The leak. It randomly started one morning while I was getting ready to head downstairs to the training I was conducting in the hotel. My partner was unfortunately left to deal with it.

He spoke to the front desk, which informed him we'd need to change rooms. Not surprised, he packed up EVERYTHING around 10:15 AM(two weeks worth of clothing and presentation supplies), and asked for a luggage cart. They told him they'd bring it, but did not deliver it with the keys, so he called again. They gave him the run around, asking if he really needed it, and then finally dropped it off and left him to load it and manage things himself. A manager sent him to a large room (926), but when my partner arrived and opened the door, maintenance was doing work on that room, informing him it was closed. After working with other front desk staff (the manager was unavailable), a "suitable" room was finally offered... It was the middle of the day on a Tuesday and their first offer was a room with two full size beds. Upon asking for a king, which is what I had previously, they said they didn't have a room with a king bed available. This room was a downgrade and I paid far more than what they had offered me. This new room (335) was small, loud and all around worse than the first room. My partner and I couldn't move around the room without bumping each other.

In short, a problem with the ceiling that was the hotel's fault became a waste of a day for my partner and a distraction for me as I took breaks from the training I was conducting downstairs.

Maintenance:

1. Both rooms had broken parts, such as door stoppers and lights.

2. The same place in the ceiling in the new room had water damage that had been painted over. I wonder how many rooms were like this...

Service:

1. Every interaction with any staff was unpleasant. From room service to room cleaning, nothing was with any integrity or kindness.

2. Housekeeping in the second room was worse than the first. Housekeeping left trash around the room, such as empty coffee pouches. Often they gave us two lotions instead of hair conditioner. They'd neglect to leave us water bottles.

3. We wanted to heat some food and the staff could not provide a microwave. That's fine. But then, we asked if it could be reheated for us. They sent my partner back around to their kitchen and had to reheat the food himself in the employee microwave. Then, security asked him if he needed help, wondering why he was there.

4. At one point, a man and woman behind the front desk were talking about their dating life and flirting, not having acknowledged my partner after several minutes. The man said to my partner, "What can I do for ya, buddy?"

In summary, this experience was worse than a two-star hotel, and I'm disappointed in Westin. The biggest things that frustrated me were the housekeeping team's blatant lack of caring and the amount of time and run-around my partner dealt with in moving our rooms.

I don't normally post negative reviews publically because I'd rather work it out with the hotel, but this was ridiculous and I need others to know...

I honestly cannot recommend this hotel. There are some good points, but there are some extremely low points that make me tell people to stay away! While there are many choices in DC, this hotel is centrally located making it convenient for getting around.

At checkin, the agent, Ecaterina, was very nice and took down my mobile in case they needed to communicate with me. Unfortunately, the first room I was assigned in this fully booked hotel was near the elevator and the whooshing sound of the elevator made me feel like I was in a wind tunnel and would not be able to get my work done. A quick trip downstairs (no one would answer when I called Guest relations) and I was reassigned another room.

The next room was fine, standard room facing the interior. I unpacked and noticed the smell of vomit in the closet. As I had to rush out for meetings, I decided to take all my clothes out of the closet and leave them on the other bed so that they did not get the vomit closet odor on them. As luck would have it, Ecaterina texted me to see how things were and I mentioned the closet odor to her and she said they would take care of it. I did not return my clothes into the closet as it was not cleaned during my stay, but did tell them at checkout after my second night of the vomit smell to make sure they took care of it. Knowing the hotel was fully booked, I did not bother to try a different room as I avoided the opening the closet which would bring the smell into the room. The front desk agent was courteous and offered service points and this was followed up by an email from Wesley, the front desk manager acknowledging the issue and thanking me for bringing it to their attention. All good so far, until.....

Another email followed from the Dir of Housekeeping, Steve, who denied there was a smell but said they cleaned it up. This response was denying my claim of vomit smell and in the same sentence saying they took care of the problem!!! How does that work????

When I questioned if he was there, he said only to verify that there was no smell after cleanup, but his staff denied there was a problem (well, no surprise, housekeeping staff will claim there was no problem with housekeeping!!!) He also gave a non-apology saying sorry if I was offended when he claimed I was lying about the incident. Frankly, if I wanted to make a fuss, I would have been in my right, who wants to be in a room with a vomit smell, but I took care of the issue in a calm manner, unbefitting of the response from this Director.

The response illustrates that not only is housekeeping not up to the task if they cannot detect the smell of vomit and refuse to take responsibility of the odor, and then say they cleaned it up (when in their words, there was no odor to clean up!)

As a lifetime Gold and likely Lifetime Platinum in the near future, this is the type of interaction that turns guests away and turns them off the hotel. The tone deaf response of this Director and housekeeping issues tells me this hotel has a lot to learn about customer service. After the email exchange, I decided to cancel my next 2 stays here in April and July. Who needs to stay in a room with a vomit closet and denial...

Given the mix of specific/detailed positive and negative reviews I'd read about this hotel, I was concerned about staying at this property but am a pretty loyal Starwood patron so I decided to give it a try and am VERY glad that I did. My experience was 100% positive. Yes, this is an older Westin property, most notable in the atrium-style interior structure/design...and the hallway carpets are showing wear. However: my room (9th floor) was light, quiet, furnished in classic Westin dark woods/white linens "sweet sleeper" bed & linens with Starwood's signature "white tea" spa amenities, and thoroughly/consistently clean. My stay was five nights (Thurs-Tues a.m.) and housekeeping was responsive to my changing schedule requests for making up my room (ie 1st day needed late housekeeping/getting on eastern time zone; 2nd day need room made up early/a.s.a.p. because I needed to work in my room mid-day; 4th day was going "green" so didn't want any housekeeping but did still need coffee/etc replenished and this was done immediately. In response to earlier complaints in reviews here, in my experience, towels were always new/good quality/fluffy, and linens were sparkling; all bathroom amenities were replenished without needing request; and other than one stream of emergency vehicle sirens on one early evening, I did not hear ANY street noise nor did I hear noise from my hallway or adjacent rooms (and my hearing is fine). I also unexpectedly ran into an acquaintance in the lobby who was staying in a 5th floor room and she said her room was similarly "great" with no problems. AND: the very good parts:

1. the central location of this property makes it easy to access all aspects of DC life...much of the tourist sites are in walking distance, metro is close, and if you want to cab, you're pretty much equidistant from most DC neighborhoods/venues.
2. from the front desk to housekeeping to room service to parking/valets--and including the "service express" phone line, all the staff I interacted with were knowledgeable, very pleasant, and efficient/responsive. I ordered room service dinner twice (late night when I arrived and early eve on my last night/packing up) and room service breakfast twice: all meals were carefully prepared/served (and I love the "superfoods" healthy/mostly nouvelle menu items). I specifically appreciated the thoughtful efforts of Carrie (front desk manager? Not sure about title) to make me feel valued as an SPG member and as welcome as possible.
3. visited during the opening weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival...and paid the least expensive price among comparable hotels in comparable locations: DC is an expensive hotel city...and the only less expensive hotels with similar levels of quality beds/linens and on-site dining etc were at much greater distance and/or had awkward connections in moving about the city so you would likely end up spending the difference in cab fees and/or lengthy metro trips. Bottomline, I've been to DC 7 or 8 times over the past 10 years but will need to be in DC for at least two weeks a year for the next few years and I will definitely be making this property my new "home away from home"...