YOTEL Washington DC

Front staff was not friendly nor helpful. At check-in all the front desk would at is that it is $100 for early check-in. No further information regarding how they wouldn’t do anything else until 2:00pm if you didn’t want to pay the fee. Just repeated “it’s $100 for early check-in” over and over. Finally the other front desk staff person was explaining procedures and options to another guest in more detail so you could actually comprehend what the check-in procedure was. Hotel amenities are marginal at best. If you want the Capitol Hill area, spend the extra and go to the Hyatt or Hilton.

Let's start from positives: 1) Perfect location. 5 min walk from the Union Station and a walking distance to the National Mall 2) They store your luggage before and after check-in for free and there is a big bathroom stall to change, if you need it. 3) Hotel looks new with modern design and most importantly clean 4) Mattress that molds to your body with an adjustable base. 5) Room has a hair dryer, iron, iron board, safe, small empty fridge (its not really a fridge but a cooler), phone. 6) In order to get to the floor you need a key (which makes it very safe). Also there are 4 elevators. 7) They have a bar and a café inside if you dont feel like going anywhere else to eat. 8) They have self check in and check out machines in the lobby. Negatives: 1) I interacted with 5 different front desk employees and 3 of them were rude or had attitude. Just girls. Guys were ok. 2) They take a while to answer your emails. And if you have 3 separate questions, they will only answer one at the time. 3) Even if the hotel is half empty (which it was) and mid week, they are not going to check you in early. They charge $55. 4) In addition what you paid per night. You will be charged $35 "resort fee" at the time of check in. Which doesn't cover anything. It doesn't cover early check-in or late check out, doesn't cover parking fee, doesn't cover breakfast fee, they dont even offer a bottle of water in the room. And the cherry on top - the pool is closed (coz its mid April and not hot yet). They do offer $10 credit for you to use at the bar (you can only use that credit the same day, not next morning, so can't apply to breakfast) 5) The toilet/shower doors are see thru, hear thru and smell thru (just the way they are designed), so be mindful who you share a room with. Its fine for one person though. 6) Bad soundproofing. I could hear neighbors using the toilet and woke up from people yelling on the streets outside (although I was on the 6th floor) 7) Not enough towels. Only 2 bath, 2 wash clothes and 1 for the feet. But they did bring more upon request. 8) No microwave or coffee maker in the room but there is a microwave on the 2nd floor. 9) Bed outlet doesnt work 10) Water and coffee stations set up on each floor but only working in the mornings. 11) Breakfast is a buffet style $28. Honestly Its an embarrassment for a hotel class like that. They only had 1 type of meat: bacon, then potatoes, pancakes and bagels (not freshly baked but the ones which can be on the shelves for months). They bring coffee and eggs to your table. So you expected to tip as well. 12) Most likely they will charge you more at the check out. Especially if you paid for a stay with CC points. Make sure you get your receipt even though they would insist there are no additional charges.

Small room, weird bathroom. I won’t stay agin because of the weird bathroom. The only thing it had going for it was the location. I also prefer to check in with a real live person. Had to hunt one down and she was friendly and helpful, but it didn’t make up for the weird bathroom deal.

First time I’ve stayed in a Yotel, and I like European-style hotels. The room and lobby were very stylish, but it felt like someone looked at a European hotel and copied it, missing all the details. For example, the bed tilts up (nice!), but has a hard rail around the mattress to keep it in place, and the mattress was so thin that the back of your leg rests on the rail when you’re sitting on the bed, say, to put on your shoes. You could use the desk chair, if there were one - instead, it’s a small beanbag-like thing. The TV is nice, and it has the ability to stream to it — but only if you use Android, since it doesn’t support Apple Airplay (unlike my $40 Roku stick - it’s not a cost issue). Another issue is the “activity fee” that Yotel charges, since they don’t really provide anything for that fee. Yes, they credit $10 towards food, but that requires that you buy their food. That’s about it — WiFi, coffee, water and ice, and a pool are all standard amenities for a hotel, so what’s the activity fee for? It may *seem* that the Yotel is less expensive than other hotels in the area, but it’s not once you factor in the activity fee that gets you no added amenities. But the biggest issue is one affecting every room: single-pane windows in every room. The Yotel appears to be a retrofitted building, but they didn’t bother to put in new windows. Making matters worse, there’s a fire station next door. Single pane windows allow heat and cold in, which wasn’t a big issue in March. But they also let noise in, and that *was* a huge issue, with sirens every hour or two all night, and the loud sound of a massive motor (a building HVAC system?) running from 7-7:30 one morning. This Yotel *could* be a nice place – it’s convenient to Capitol Hill and Union Station, and the European styling is modern. But there are so many errors in execution that I’d recommend avoiding this Yotel until they’re addressed.

I needed to get a quick hotel when I was flying into DCA for a day and found Yotel. It looked like a fiasco when I was checking in because it looked like people couldn’t get into their room, but I had no problem checking in to mine. My room featured a very modern design with RGB light control and a movable bed. I even ate out at their restaurant too, which was very good! Plus the location is fantastic for exploring and checking out the National Mall!