The Line DC

Where do I begin? This hotel has a cool vibe in a great neighborhood. The rooms are lovely. Unfortunately the service is ridiculously bad. We were there for our son’s wedding. Actually wanted to hold the Rehearsal Dinner there. Emailed the event person and didn’t hear back for 2 weeks. Said she was catching up on her emails. Guess our event wasn’t worth her time. NO ONE answers the phone; no one gets back to you. We gave them our credit card to pay for 3 rooms when we checked in. All of them were screwed up when we left. We are currently on 5 days of trying to get someone to respond to us - much less actually fix the problem (I did actually get someone on the phone once. Said she didn’t know what the reservation meant, wouldn’t give me the name of the event sales person and got mad when I tried to clarify the email address). For a place that does weddings all the time, you would think they have it down pat. My son and daughter in law confirmed that their communication experience and “bait and switch” money grubbing tactics were apparent the entire planning process. Just check all the line items and make sure they aren’t blindly charging you. Read less

I recently stayed at the Line DC for three night (Friday to Monday), having made the booking through my airline, Qantas. When I booked, I asked for a quiet room as we were coming from Australia and would likely be jet lagged. When I checked in the front desk confirmed that we had been given a quiet room. 1. The good: a. The two beds I got to try were comfortable, the rooms quite spacious, and one room (Monument Corner, Room 533) had windows on two sides and was particularly light (but…see below). b. Cheerful, friendly service from the barista at the coffee shop by the main entrance, and the valet who organised taxis for us. 2. The bad: I’ve now read through negative reviews from the past six months and note some recurring themes: a. Many have commented the excessive noise from nearby clubs (and possibly the roof?) on (at least) one side of the hotel, and I can confirm that, at least on Saturday night; I was dead to the world on Friday) you will hear very loud music, cheering and chanting in your room (as said, I was in 533) until 2am, and then there’s a further 45 minutes of bottles being thrown out. My watch tells me I had 1hr20mins of sleep that night. The hotel’s response is that it can’t control external noises. No, but a self-styled "luxury" hotel would mitigate the noise and provide a quiet sleeping environment (even a 2-star hotel would see this as a minimum). The noise is not a new or occasional feature so obviously - if it cared about the customer experience - the hotel could properly insulate the rooms (airport hotels looking onto the runway manage it fine) so as to be able provide quiet rooms. b. The (negative) attitude of front desk staff is regularly commented on. I personally didn’t experience any rudeness, but I got very little assistance either. It took 3 trips over 12 hours to the front desk to sort out a move to a quieter room for the last night of my stay: the first two times I was offered a move to directly above or below my existing one, as though it would somehow be quieter. I don’t know if that’s lack of training or thoughtlessness or not wanting to do any actual work; it’s definitely not service. I should add that the front office manager’s response to negative reviews is generally to ask the writer to contact them at frontdesk.dc@thelinehotel.com. Besides spending an inordinate amount of time trying to sort things out at the front desk, I also sent two emails to front desk address but didn’t receive a reply. When I spoke to the manager on the Monday morning they told me that they don’t work on the week-end (so presumably there’s no cover at all!); and, even though it’s now Wednesday evening, I still haven’t had a reply. What I have had is a jaunty (presumably automated) text, “Hi William S - We just wanted to check in and see how your stay is going so far. Let us know. Hope all is well, The LINE DC Front Desk team :)”. I had let the front desk team know, repeatedly, that it wasn’t going well, but obviously that hadn’t registered with anyone in any meaningful way. The ugly: a. Lack of honesty: (knowing that the noise from clubs is a real and recurring issue, at least on Saturday nights and at least on one side of the hotel) if the Line didn't have any quiet rooms available, it just had to say so rather than thinking they had some right to exploit customers. There are hundreds of hotels in DC and I would have booked elsewhere. b. Very poor customer service and customer experience: if the Line is getting the same negative comments again and again, why are they still unresolved? If it's a matter of training, provide it; if it's a matter of staffing, change it. c. The front desk is either unwilling or unable to take responsibility and do any work to actually try to help: the manager, who couldn't find it in themselves to apologize (maybe they thought that they would be admitting liability?) told me that, because I had made my booking through Qantas, all they could do was waive something called an ‘amenity fee’ (news to me: I didn’t see or use any additional amenities that warranted a supplementary fee) and that I should address any issues to Qantas. In other words, even though the Line messed up my stay (not Qantas, in any way), I'm on my own: the Line takes no responsibility and is not going to make any real attempt to rectify the situation. Instead, the Line's approach seems to be to gamble on whether I'm going to bother spending more hours trying to seek proper redress. I have contacted Qantas and it will be interesting to see if the Line answers Qantas' query quickly or at all. If this site allows follow-ups, I will post how this ends in due course. Read less

When we first chose The Line for our wedding reception, the main selling points were the classy-but-comfortable decor, the decadent menu selection, and the panoramic view from the rooftop. What we could not have expected was the experience that came with all of our guests staying at the hotel for the weekend. Every day, the sweeping atrium on the main floor was full of people we loved, gathering and visiting with one another. Everyone we talked to raved about the location and surrounding neighborhood, as well as the service they had received from the hotel staff. As for the party, the Line was everything we could have hoped for. The rooftop cocktail hour provided incredible pictures and we had countless compliments about the quality of the food served for dinner. Finally, a huge shout out to our on-site coordinator Lauren and her team for guiding us through the months leading up to the event. Read less

Check in staff were poor, seemed not interested in service. Coffee shop was nice but one employee was very rude. Lobby area was loud and packed full with people on their laptops for hours. Room lacked a dresser or place to hang wet towels. This was our second stay and it will be our last. Room was expensive compared to other DC hotels we have stayed on and not worth the price.. Read less