YOTEL Washington DC

YOTEL, a play on the words ‘YO!Sushi’ and ‘hotel’, seems like a clever concept but it really isn’t. We stayed at YOTEL Washington, D.C., on two occasions in May 2025 during two separate visits to D.C. for a vacation booked with British Airways Holidays. We did not enjoy our two visits. At YOTEL you check yourself in using a kiosk. It was simple enough to use and quicker than lining up at a desk. This is the first U.S. hotel we’ve been to where we haven’t been asked for I.D. upon arrival. Our two rooms were paid for as part of our vacation package, however there was the obligatory additional ‘facilities’ fee, payable upon check-in: $70 for each of the 2-night stays (so $140 in total), plus a $200 refundable hold on our card for each stay. We also paid an additional $55 for a late check out, extending our second stay from 11am until 1pm. That meant we had to consider an additional $395 into our busget (this is typical in American hotels, with the resort fee and holding amount varying hotel by hotel). Visit 1: First Class King (May 24-26) Visit 2: Premium King (May 29-31) We did not have a comfortable stay at YOTEL. On the first night of our first visit, we were kept awake late at night by excessively loud music and noises coming from a roof-top bar. The noise seemed to reverberate off the exterior walls of the building opposite and the single-paned windows didn’t help. We had read about this online, and as residents living in a noisy town centre thought we’d cope, but this was a different level altogether! Far too intrusive. At 2am we were woken by screaming and shouting from other guests in the hallway. On night 2 it was even worse: it was being caused by a room full of girls across the hall. They even drew the attention of the hotel security, as they were screaming, shouting, laughing and singing so loudly. It went on for hours despite security telling them to quieten down. When we checked out the next morning it looked like they’d damaged a light fitting in the hallway near our door. Not good. Both rooms were modern and featured an electronic bed plus mood lighting, which got the better of us on the first visit. The motion sensor in the bathroom seemed like a great idea for saving energy, but not such a good idea when a pregnant woman is showering and the room kept going dark. It’s no fun either when you’re doing your business but have to keep moving so that you’re not sat on the John in the dark! It seemed that we were destined not to be able to relax in our room: 😴 On our second visit we were awoken at 9am by housekeeping tapping loudly on the other room doors…. 😴 The room walls were clearly so thin that you could heard the neighboring guests using the window rollerblinds. 😴 Every so often there was a periodic rumbling coming from the bathroom area. No idea what that was. ☔️ On the second night we were awoken in the early hours by a loud tapping. Tap, tap, tap…. We investigated by torchlight and found that the roof above us was leaking in and the noise was the water hitting our possessions. We were on the 3rd floor, so knew there must be rooms above us, but D.C. was on flood alert that night, so assumed it was from that. YOTEL was clean and smart and looked impressive - it had clearly been designed for the Instagram generation - but sadly we did not enjoy our two stays there. The smell of cannabis from several other guests only added to our dismay. POSITIVES 👍 Close to Union Station 👍 Close to the Capitol Building 👍 Giant bed (you could roll over 5 times!) 👍 Clean, tidy and modern 👍 Friendly staff 👍 Efficient air con (reasonably quiet, too) 👍 Complimentary coffee machines (4am-10am) 👍 The steam iron was impressive: it looked like a spaceship! 👍 Close to a liquor store NEGATIVES 👎 Single-glazed windows allowing in loud music from a roof-top bar 👎 Sliding bathroom door that wouldn’t remain closed 👎 Rowdy guests 👎 Only one small towel per guest 👎 Noticeable smell of cannabis from many other guests YOTEL could be so much better and while we were uncomfortable and sensitive to the negatives, we would still recommend the hotel for those on short stays in D.C. You would have to consider whether you could cope with the potential noise, however. Read less