The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C.

My wife and I stayed at the Ritz West End recently and had very high expectations for our first stay at a Ritz given their reputation, but unfortunately, we were very disappointed. The short version is that the location is fantastic, the staff is great, but the facility itself is on par with a 3 star hotel. We had a broken toilet that took multiple attempts to fix, the gym and "spa" features are just at basic gym (that's more for local members rather than hotel guests), and the room/bathroom just feels like it was built to look expensive but isn't really practical. Broken toilet experience: We got into our room and noticed the toilet was running. Went in to see that the handle was broken/disconnected. We called down and they sent someone up to fix it. He was there for a bit, but after he left we tried it and the handle fell off again. As best we can tell he tried to fix the toilet with hopes and dreams. We spent the first night there with a loud running toilet. The next morning we told someone it was still broken, then went to the gym to check it out. After about 20 minutes of looking at the (disappointing) gym, we went back to our room and nothing had been done. We went down to the front desk and told the manager about it and they sent someone up to fix it. They finally got it fixed, which was great, but it was extremely disappointing that it took multiple complaints to get a working toilet at a Ritz Carlton. The Positive: The bed is extremely comfortable and the folks that work there are very friendly. Negatives: Bathroom: Other than the broken toilet, the door stop was barely attached to the door and dragging on the floor. The shower is an awkward shape that caused my wife to smack her head on the wall, and isn't big enough to raise your arms to the side. The toilet is tiny and behind a huge door, so in order to get in and out you kind of have to push your body into the corner or stand over the toilet to swing the door open, it just feels like the big door is there to make it look expensive, but the practicality is lost as soon as you try to actually use it. There's also a nice soaking tub that looks relaxing (and works perfectly fine), but the lights in the bathroom only have one setting, and it's SUNLIGHT ALL OVER - so you can't dim the lights or have any kind of ambiance, which is a bit disappointing given how nice the tub is. The Room: The room is fine, it has 4 walls that are great for making it a room. The only odd thing is that they have a really nice huge mirror that's great for getting ready in front of, but the lights are the opposite of the bathroom in that there are only 3 small lamps, so the brightest you can make the room is akin to a full moon on a clear night. It just makes it hard to get ready and have certainty that your fly is up or that your makeup isn't accidentally on the back of your head. Gym - it's a regular gym. There are no real amenities on top of what you'd get in a gym by your house, small sauna/steam room in the locker room, no actual "spa" services, they have racquetball, but you have to bring your own equipment, it's just clearly a gym for members that live nearby and not meant for people on vacation and away from home in terms of the amenities. In all - the staff is great (except for the hopes and dreams repairman), the location is awesome, but the building is just old and the rooms seem like they're planned to look expensive vs actually be practical.

Best hotel in Washington! I have stayed at many DC hotels - but this one is quite unmatched. We truly enjoyed our stay at the Ritz Carlton and highly recommend them for your hotel needs, both corporate and personal use. Of course, our party will certainly be back for future trips to Washington. Thank you!