One Washington Circle Hotel

Needs Improvement

This hotel had some very good attributes and several really bad points. However, the few bad points overwhelmed the good points and I cannot in good conscience recommend this hotel. The Good: -Great location. -Reasonable price. -The kitchen was quite satisfactory. -Most employees were very pleasant and eager to provide good service, specifically the bellmen, parking valets and several of the front desk people. -The bathroom was well-appointed. -Maid service was good. --The bed was comfortable. The Bad: -The recently installed (presumably) flat screen TV in the bedroom had 6 feet of cord dangling across the wall back to the point where the previous TV had been attached near the corner. The wall where the previous TV had been mounted had not yet been repaired and unsightly holes and bare patches had not yet been repaired. I believe that it is really bad form to put guests into rooms in this condition before the work is completed. Our first room had this situation, so I asked if I could be moved to a room that wasn't under construction. The second room was in the exact same condition. The manager told me that "burying" the wires in the wall was a 3 to 4 day process. -The carpeting in the halls is in very, very poor condition with tattered edges and huge bumps and wrinkles. It gives the hotel a really grungy feeling. -I dropped the rubber cover to my iPhone in the lobby around 7:00pm one evening as we were returning from a day trip. At 11:00am the next morning I inquired at the front desk. With a straight face and no apologies or regret the woman at the front desk said that they had found it, but had already thrown it away. Otherwise, she was good. -Another young woman working at the front desk was terrible. During our seven-day stay she never once smiled or acted pleasant to us. My eleven year old daughter said to me in the elevator after our first interaction with her, "That woman is mean." -The window treatment in the bedroom sits about 5-6 inches from the wall. Th

Not Good

Didn't honor a reasonable cancellation policy.

Guest did not leave a comment.

Do you like ambulance sirens?

I never have posted a review before, but feel I need to for this one. We stayed July 4, 2009. The hotel is tattered and right next to the GW Medical Center. All night just as we fell asleep, we were awakened by ambulance sirens, when the air conditioner unit wasn't slamming on - my husband said the air conditioner sounded like someone was throwing a golf ball onto the wall. I won't stay there again. I would have paid extra to another hotel just to not have the sirens and the golf ball all night.

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A MOUSE IN MY ROOM!!!!!

Upon first glance at my room I was very satisfied. After I was sitting down to eat dinner I saw something move out of the corner of my eye....to my surprise a mouse crawled from under the couch I was sitting on and ran into the kitchen. After calling the front desk around 20 times and ONLY getting a busy signal, I tired any one else I could get a hold of. Room service couldn't help (obviously) but was willing to get a hold of the front desk. I called the concierge and got a curt response. 35 minutes later I spoke to the front desk ...by then the mouse was no where to be seen. They asked if I would want a new room or for someone to catch it....ummm both!!!! After waiting another 15 minutes finally someone came up to catch the mouse...obviously with no luck. Upon talking to the person at the front desk about the mouse he ask "What, are you scared of mice???" No just grossed out that I was sharing a room with one! Couldn't sleep all night thinking that another mouse would crawl on me. They moved me to another room that smelled like BO. Upon checking out I got nothing off of my bill only the woman at the front desk responding to the mouse situation by saying "Don't tell anyone." What!!!???!! Don't tell anyone??????!!!!!??? Never again!!!!!!!

equipment

everthing is already equiped.

Rough start, but good deal

When we arrived we were informed that there was no room for us in the hotel that evening but that we would be housed in a sister property. We learned this was quite common for this hotel but didn't appreciate having to haul 5 nights worth of packing between two places. We were upgraded and taken care of for for the remaining 4 nights due to the inconvenience of our first night. Overall the hotel was nice. We had a penthouse room so there was plenty of space, the room was clean and the floor plan was convenient. The area itself was fairly noisy due to construction, ambulances, various city noises. If you are used to noise at night you won't have a problem. The sister property had much better mattresses and tv channel selection which were two things my husband would have wished for at Washington Circle (will review this hotel if we can). We didn't appreciate the desk clerk trying to sell us a tour after telling us we didn't have a room but most other hotel employees were wonderful and very helpful during our stay. Service in the restaurant at breakfast was an issue and the buffet is not worth the price but dinner and bar service was great! We got a bargain in terms of what we got for the price and the location.

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Time for a Make-over

The One Washington Circle Hotel has a certain mid-century modern vibe - one that felt authentic instead of retro. That's in part because it doesn't seem to have been updated since the early 1960's. The hall carpets are starting to come up and the furnishings appear about 50 years old. On the other hand, hotel service was fine and the location is tough to beat on the west side. The Circle Grille provided a fine meal.

Close to George Washington Univ. Hospital, but no help if you have an emergency, as I did!!

I had an emergent situation that required being taken to the hospital, which is literally 500yrds away. The front desk was alerted to hail a taxi to get me there. As my husband carried me in his arms at 3:00 AM, the doorman didn't have a taxi waiting, nor did he open the door. While we walked out to the street, 2 taxi came and went and none were hailed. My husband held me with one arm and hailed the taxi with the other. Subsiquently, I had emergency surgery hrs. later. When we returned to the hotel the front desk staff did not help with a rate change(so I could recover), nor did they offer help and were irritated that we expressed anger over not getting help with an emergent situation. I was in a strange place, trying to recover from a painful surgery and we were not treated with any compassion, offered any help with supplies, such as food we needed, etc. We ended up having to speak with the GM. In fact, he expressed that they deal with many that come and stay due to family members who are sick and need attention at GWU Hospital. Having been in severe pain, requiring quick medical attention for a life threatening situation and not even having a doorman hail a taxi when several rounded Washington Circle(and we saw them), I would say this was the worst place to be. Apologies from the GM, days later, could never make up for the inhumane treatment that my husband and I felt from the unhospitable front desk woman, to the doorman who was waiting for his friend to circle around the building so he could get our taxi fare. I would stay anywhere, but at One Washington Circle, especially if you need help of any kind. They don't like problems here, even if it is a simple problem, like how to close the drapes. The front desk woman took three times(enormous language barrier here)to explain and then in anger jammed a pen into my husband"s hand, because she couldn't explain this to the prior customer. Customer service??? NONE!!!

Not great

It was a nice room and a nice location. The walls are thin so you can hear your nieghbors. For this kind of money, I did not appreciate having room service knock on the door at nine in the morning to see when we were leaving. I was told by Hotel.com that there was parking at the hotel. There was only street parking or valet parking. Durring the weekend it was easy enough to find street parking.

great location/large rooms

The hotel is in a great location for touring D.C. but I was unaware of the remodeling until we arrived.The rooms are very spacious and clean.It will be great when everything is complete.Nice to be so close to the subway system.

NO one told us the hotel was being worked on.

Hotel was being worked on. Pool is close, they start jack hammering at 9:00 am and stop at 5:00 pm you could not hear yourself think.