At first I was really happy with the Hilton Washington. The location is a lot better than the other hotel I stayed at in Washington D.C. (safer, too). The hotel is on Connecticut Avenue NW 1919, a short walk from Dupont Circle. There aren't a lot of shopping options right near the hotel, but there is a drug store, newspaper/magazine shop (with lots of foreign editions!), and oodles of really interesting restaurants. If you're up to it, you can also walk (about 15 minutes I think) to Georgetown to get your shopping fix (M Street). I hate to be so negative, but the location turned out to be one of the only positive things about the hotel. I stay in the hotel on business and the company pays, so I don't know any information about room rates. I've stayed at the hotel about 7-8 times within the last year. It's not an awful hotel, there are some good points, so I'll start off with those.

POSITIVE POINTS
The appearance of the rooms is a plus. The rooms are tastefully decorated and clean. If you can see past the unique construction of the bathroom, they're what you'd expect from a Hilton Hotel. Let me explain the bathroom thing a little. It looks like they made the bathroom and once they got it finished they said, "Oh, we forgot to put in a toilet. Maybe that would be nice, too," so they jammed one in. It's sort of in the middle and under the counter. At first, I thought they just made a construction flaw in the bathroom in the room I was in, but either that's the way it was intended, or they made a mistake in all the bathrooms. Another positive aspect of the hotel is the concierge. I've always received good and correct information from the person behind the concierge desk. No matter who was there at the time, he (so far only a man) was always polite, helpful, and usually witty, too.

NEGATIVITIES
What isn't so nice about the rooms is that the walls seem to be thin. You can hear your neighbor's alarm clock (and telephone) ringing loud and clear. This gets extremely annoying if he/she keeps hitting the snooze button. There are also a lot of conventions in the hotel, or people in the city for special events. Once there was a convention/party, complete with a band, that took place outside at the pool. My room was on that side of the building and although I was many floors up, the noise still bothered me (and I'm actually pretty noise tolerant). Another time there was a cheerleading competition in town, so the hotel was full of very loud teenagers just wanting to have some fun! Often there are parties going on in private rooms, too. On one occasion my neighbor was convinced the party was in my room, so kept pounding on the adjoining wall to complain about the noise. So, on one side of me there was a party going on, and on the other side pounding!

The hotel rooms have one of those nice, little coffee machines. This is definitely a plus, but what's inconvenient about that, is they usually neglect to restock the coffee items. The first thing I do now when I get to my room, is check the coffee department. Usually, I have to call because the coffee and/or cups aren't there. And it wasn't until the third time I stayed at the hotel, that I realized the rooms are also supposed to have packets of sugar/non-dairy creamer in them. To be fair though, when I call to report the missing coffee items they send someone up very quickly. Then a few minutes later, they always call to make sure that I received the items. This is guest services that handles this (not the front desk).

The thing that bothers me most about the hotel is the front desk. Often when I call to ask about something (not to complain) they are very brisk, and sometimes even hang up before I'm finished talking! I figure a mistake can happen once in a while, but I've repeatedly received false or contradicting information from the front desk. These instances are too numerous and lengthy for me to go into detail about, but here is one example: I called for information on their telephone fees when using a calling card. Finally, the third person I talked to could answer my question and tell me there were no extra charges for the call I wanted to make. Yet when I checked out, these charges were on my bill. I had to talk to three more people before they grudgingly removed the charges. To top things off, wake up calls seem to be too much for them to handle, too. I either never get them, or get them late.

I am sorry to say that I am not impressed with the hotel. The noise level and the front desk are things that a guest should not have to deal with, especially not at the Hilton.

Recommended: No