“We Hope Your Check-In Went Smoothly.” My Trip Had Fallen Apart.By Sergio de Varona Deed to ChainA family emergency forced me to abandon my planned trip to Washington, D.C. I tried to cancel my reservation at The Architect Hotel and was told the hotel would not refund the cancellation.Then came the welcome text.“Hello De,” it began, getting my name wrong. The message welcomed me to The Architect Hotel and expressed hope that my check-in had gone smoothly.There is something deeply frustrating about receiving a cheerful welcome when you have already been trying to explain why you cannot make the trip.I replied that I had experienced a family emergency, had tried to cancel, and was upset by the refusal and what I felt was a complete lack of empathy.The response?“It was our pleasure assisting you.”The message continued with an invitation to reach out for further assistance and a cheerful goodbye. In that exchange, there was no acknowledgment of the emergency I had just described. No question about my circumstances. No explanation of whether anyone could reconsider the decision.I cannot tell from these texts whether I was communicating with a person, an automated system, or some combination of the two. I can describe how it felt: like my message had not been heard at all.I understand that hotels have cancellation policies. I also understand that a reservation comes with terms. My criticism is about how a business responds when a customer says a family emergency has disrupted their plans.Even when the answer remains no, a business can acknowledge the situation, explain its decision, and treat the person asking with care.In my experience, that basic acknowledgment was missing.Hospitality is easy to advertise when everything goes according to plan. The harder test comes when it doesn’t.That is where The Architect Hotel left me disappointed.

Love the location, was not feeling the over head shower and there’s no fridge BUT the major issue was I experience bed bug bites as I did see a pest in the bed on the second night but couldn’t register what it was moving forward as I was heading out the next morning to see sites I noticed there was a pest control company truck parked outside and that raised an eyebrow until later that evening and even as of today I have bumps all over my body and went to seek medical attention to confirm that’s what’s causing it

BAD WIFI!! Needs to be fixed! I stayed at this hotel for four days, each day I had to go to the front desk to get help for the Wi-Fi. There is a lot of options available, but none were working. PROS: Front desk staff were nice. Water was always out. Housekeeping came every day, very pleasant women. Bathroom was updated, however, the room was not. Nice working AC great location, okay price compared to nearby hotels. 6th floor, great views!Would go back only if I didn’t need WIFI during my stay.

I am extremely disappointed with my experience communicating with The Architect Hotel. I spent several weeks attempting to resolve a simple reservation date modification due to a high-risk pregnancy that required me to change my travel plans.I was not requesting a cancellation or refund. I simply wanted to move my reservation to different dates so that I could still use the booking for my honeymoon. Booking.com informed me that they required a response or approval from the hotel in order to proceed with the modification.Despite numerous emails, phone calls, and repeated outreach from both myself and Booking.com, the hotel was consistently difficult to reach. I repeatedly received automated responses directing me back to Booking.com, even after explaining that Booking.com had already contacted the property multiple times and was waiting for a response.Most concerning, after my fiancé was finally able to speak with the hotel directly, we were assured that the hotel would respond to Booking.com’s email regarding the requested modification. However, Booking.com later confirmed that no response was ever received from the property, and the issue remained unresolved.The most disappointing part of this experience was not that the hotel may have been unable or unwilling to accommodate the date change—it was the lack of communication, follow-through, and willingness to provide a clear answer after weeks of repeated attempts. Guests should be able to expect timely and reliable communication regarding active reservations.I hope The Architect Hotel improves its customer service, responsiveness, and communication practices so that future guests do not have a similar experience.

If you are looking for no frills, value and a superb location, this is it. If you can't deal with an older property and it's quirks, maybe try something else. We stayed 4 nights. Our room, located on a high floor off the street was quiet. Shower had plenty of hot water and nice rain head. Room is small but adequate. We were in DC to see the sights. This hotel room worked just fine. Just be prepared for bare bones. The staff is very nice.