Washington Hilton

No Stair Access I’m rating the Washington Hilton a 1 star for one reason alone; no stair access. As a person with severe claustrophobia, elevators cause me great anxiety. I stayed here for a recent conference and was given using the elevator as the only option to access my room. You can enter all staircases from the ground floor. However, once in the staircase, you are not able to enter the door to any of the floors from the staircase. Every door on each floor is locked. When I inquired about this from the hotel staff, I was told the doors were locked for ‘security’ reasons. This makes no sense. Anyone from off the street can take the elevator to any floor. Also, the staircases are accessible to anyone that wants to go down from their floor. The problem is that once you enter the staircase from your floor, the only way out is the ground floor. To me this is a greater risk seeing that if the ground floor is blocked for some reason, you cannot exit onto any other floors and are stuck in the staircase. I have stayed at many hotels in the DC area and over a hundred hotels in my lifetime and have never experienced a situation like this where a patron had zero access to stairs to reach their room. Lack of access to the staircases caused my entire stay to be filled with anxiety.

Great stay! Exceptional friendly service! The breakfast buffet is amazing, the food is superb and the service is outstanding. Our server Mei is a true gem -simply the best! Friendly, attentive, courteous, she set a positive tone that made our long days and stay special. Furthermore Askalu our hostess, Araceli, Ana, Josephine, Zufan, Li Wang epitomize customer service! The buffet was fresh each day, beautifully displayed the food by Sonia and Yvonne. Highest compliments to all the chefs (do not know them all but grateful to Antonio and Lazano). The exceptional service is a true testament to the leadership, the managers Walter A, Chamath G, and Stephane. It is our good fortune to have such a positive experience based upon the teamwork and to the loyal employees who go the extra mile to ease the stress and strain of business travel. The pool and fitness center are amazing, could not ask for better. The hallways are outdated but the rooms are clean, immaculate and comfortable. Appreciate housekeeping and all you do!

Cigarette Odor in a Nonsmoking Room The Hilton app invited me to check in the day before, which I did. At 6pm on check in day, no rooms were available. After waiting 2 more hours for a room, I get inside to find it smells like stale cigarette smoke. No other rooms are available so stuck with the smell. The rooms are tiny and dark. The furniture is chipped. No refrigerator. No offer of water at check in and none in the room. The hallways getting to the rooms are dark and rat maze like with dark gray walls and carpet and weak white lightbulbs. Compared to other Hiltons, this property is the pits.

Terrible, just don’t TERRIBLE This motel relies on its name and location to get bookings but once you stay you will never come back. Bed has no give and pretty sure original mattress from when it open and if you want a hot shower you have a 50-50 chance of it being above cold and then you realise the black dots in the shower curtain is not a pattern but black mold. Resturants with different names but the exact same menu and it’s not even mediocre at that. Customer service couldn’t care less and didn’t even return calls

Dreadful Service The Washington Hilton will be the last time I stay at a Hilton property. Upon entering my first room, the bathroom door did not work as it was a sliding door that required the glass door being on the railing. I did not want to adjust the glass door myself as it was a safety hazard and when addressing this to the management, they moved my room. The evening went down hill as there was music playing throughout the night as my neighbors partied the night away. I called security twice to complain about the noise. The next morning, I woke up to speak to the management of the hotel about my situation. I simply wanted to have a room where I would sleep quietly, and ideally without neighbors. I didn't ask for a refund or upgrade. The response I received from the manager Alisha (sp?) was that they were "fully booked" and could not guarantee me a room that did not have neighbors to my left or right. I asked Alisha, "What would I do if I heard more noises through the night?" and Alisha informed me that I would simply call security again. That's simply not acceptable. Looking at their website, I was able to attempt to create a reservation for that night so the management was not honest in their assessment of a "no vacancy" status. I left the hotel the next day in the middle of my stay. It's the first time I've ever left a hotel during my stay. Upon calling the Washington Hilton the next day in an attempt to receive a refund for my stay, I spoke with a gentleman named Godfrey. He reinforced that Hilton would not issue me a refund as their attempt to move my room was deemed sufficient in their eyes. Godfrey informed me that guests have different expectations of their stay and service. Upon hearing that, I asked Godfrey if "a quiet night's stay was too much of an expectation for the Hilton brand." Godfrey simply reinforced that the Washington Hilton will not issue a refund for the stay as they feel they had a sufficient solution for their guests. Simply put, customer service is not within the ethos of the Washington Hilton or their staff. Alisha called me "combative" when I never cursed or raised my voice. This type of service is why I will never stay at a Hilton hotel again. Prospective guests, beware.