Hotel Rouge - A Kimpton Property

If you want to sleep on microfiber sheets inside a microfiber duvet, covered by plastic from top to bottom… You should definitely stay at this . I was flabbergasted to find out that I was sleeping on 100% plastic sheets inside of a plastic dove and plastic pillows… I was told that this is the hotel standard so this is a nice two star hotel Standard that I will never be visiting again. What a bummer because this is an IHG property and I thought that they had higher standard S

For those who loved the Kimpton brand before it was bought by IHG, this property still has the old school Kimpton vibe with the great service, decor, and upkeep I always appreciated. Rooms are big, clean, stylish, and comfortable. Front desk and Le Sel staff are perfect - super friendly and giving great guest experience. Minor complaint that the elevators are painfully slow. The meeting catering is mediocre for vegetarian/vegan options. I suggest the culinary team get more creative in that aspect.

The two-star review was designed for a place like Kempton Banneker. I'll start with the good. Their front desk staff is excellent. Check in was a breeze, the desk clerk could not have been more friendly and helpful. They cleaned my room. I'm only here for two nights, so they only had one chance to forget to clean my room, and they did good. Why then only two stars? At the ridiculous room rate one expects something special. They can sell the rooms at the ridiculous prices they do because other hotels get away with it also. I recently stayed down the street at a Marriott citizen M property, paid ridiculous room rate, but I at least I had a nice view of the Capitol building dome from my bed. The Kimpton Banneker has literally nothing special about it. The room is large and clean and reasonably comfortable. The bathroom has shampoo and conditioner and it smells good. But it's ordinary. My view out the window is of a back alley. There's a really attractive restaurant attached to the front of the hotel. But an artsy fancy restaurant is not a hotel amenity. The restaurant has a sort of Caribbean island vibe, but it needs a pool or something to complete the experience. And the 10 or 15% discount they give you is a joke. Mind you, I am not a penny-pincher, although you couldn't tell that by this review. But I spend a huge amount of time traveling both for work and pleasure. I love a comfortable hotel that has something special about it. I can live with mundane for about a third the price I paid for the Kimpton Banneker. Final note: IHG properties are usually not a disappointment. But never find yourself having to deal with their incompetent customer service on the phone. They are poorly trained. They aren't allowed to make any decisions. They have no sympathy for an American traveler with certain expectations, simple expectations. They read from a script. I've had crises ranging from checking into a hotel that has no hot water to having my reservation canceled during a transcontinental flight because the hotel couldn't reach me by phone. For this stay, I had to talk to them on the phone about my IHG rewards account. Angry and incompetent are gift words for the customer service agent that I dealt with. Thankfully, when I checked in, the desk clerk made it all better.