The Latham is a great place if you want to be in the heart of Georgetown, and enjoy the exterior look of a classic 1920's hotel. It's not a good place if you speak English and expect air conditioning on the hottest weekend of the summer. It's also not a good place if you're any bigger than a fifth grader and expect a shelf or towel rack in the bathroom. Looking for a bed w/ paper thin sheets that also doubles as a spring trampoline? How about ceiling plaster on your night stand and a TV from 1986? If any of these are of interest, then The Latham is for you!
Full disclosure, we were two families w/ five kids (two rooms). We wanted a decent place in a good location and didn't want to break the bank on a spot where we were only going to quickly use the pool and sleep for three nights. We're regular travelers and are well versed in "you get what you pay for," but man did we blow it w/ this place.
We arrived at the designated check in time to a stifling lobby w/ the assurance that the air conditioning would be fixed "within the hour." The staff member was difficult to understand w/ the language barrier, but after a 20 minute check in process where our rooms still weren’t ready, we were content w/ his reply that things would work out. Three hours later we return w/ the AC still not fixed. We all take warm showers (the compressor controlled the water temperature too, so you couldn't even get a cold shower) and went out to eat in Georgetown. We returned around 10:00 w/ the AC going strong and life was good.
Fast forward to 4:15 in the morning. The bursting pipe of the AC wakes us up and you can hear every cool drop of water rushing through the 80 year old walls straight to the lobby floor. The outside temperature was around 90 degrees (look it up - July 24 and 25) and it didn't take long for that to work its way into the room. This is a potential vacation wrecker when it’s just you or another adult, but when you have five, sweaty, cramped and tired kids w/ you, it’s all but certain the day is already ruined.
Four hours and a warm shower later, we enter the lobby to a scene out of the Poseidon Adventure. Water was still leaking from the ceiling, and the completely unaffected staff was meandering around placing buckets in the spots they deemed the most affected. Those buckets were then carried outside, and the filthy brown water was dumped into a drain a mere five feet from the front door, main entrance of the building. “Welcome to the Latham!”
We were touring DC, but it took an entire day for them to get any outside contractor (a lot more expensive than the two guys on call) for them to even look at the problem. Those two guys were the only ones who earned their pay in the whole place, and they still didn’t fix it. That evening, a cleaning company was finally summoned and the air conditioner was restored to usual it’s usual 1926 noise and temperature.
A re-cap - Check in on Sunday at 3:00 w/ no AC until the following night at 9:00.
I could go on and on about the comedy of errors w/ this dump. Again, you get what you pay for, but don’t believe their touched up website or the insincere cut and paste managerial replies on many bad reviews. This place does nothing for it’s guests, and that’s no excuse for any hotel, regardless of the price.
I sincerely wish I had more time and patience to continue this review. I’ve been fortunate in my travels in that I’ve rarely been ripped off or disappointed w/ my choice of any accommodation, but I seethe whenever I think of our family getaway to Washington and The Latham Hotel. The absolute lack of urgency or response from a single member of this hotel’s staff is what will stay with me the most. As you can imagine, we requested not one, but two nights free of charge after our Clark W. Griswold experience, and in keeping w/ the service model tradition of The Latham Hotel, they went against their word that they would honor a discount through our travel vendor. In short, no AC, no service, no discount, and we’re out the roughly $1,400 our two families spent on the property. As a result, I swore I would make it my life’s work to let the world know that if Osama Bin Laden were alive today, I wouldn’t recommend to him The Latham Hotel in Washington DC.
Tim Hemmert
Braintree MA
hotel reviews