My wife and I stayed at the Thompson Washington D.C. from December 26 to January 3, and the experience was consistently disappointing. Upon arrival around 9 PM, we were greeted by a front desk staff member who remarked, “Wow, this is the longest I’ve ever seen someone stay,” which was an unnecessary and unprofessional first impression. We were assigned an accessibility room, which felt like it was done to prioritize turning over other rooms for shorter stays, and upon entering we immediately discovered a ceiling panel had fallen; while maintenance did come and repair it, additional issues followed. The detachable shower head was broken and, despite being reported the next morning with photos, it was never fixed, forcing us to use only the overhead shower for the duration of our stay. We also later learned that the main room light must be turned on in order to use the bathroom, which was extremely inconvenient, especially at night. We booked through the American Express Hotel Collection, which includes daily breakfast for two, but this benefit was poorly explained and the breakfast experience itself was chaotic and poorly managed, with wait times ranging from 30 minutes to over an hour. On our first morning, my wife’s food was served extremely cold, and despite not being the type to complain, it was cold enough that it had to be addressed. Hoping to avoid further issues, we later ordered breakfast to-go, only to encounter complete disorganization, guests openly arguing, a 90-minute wait, and food that was delivered cold; after leaving out of frustration, we were later contacted and offered the same cold food over an hour later, which we declined. The only consistently positive aspects of the stay were the housekeeping staff, who were thorough, respectful, and attentive, and the valet staff, who were always polite, welcoming, and knowledgeable. Overall, this stay fell far below expectations for the Thompson brand and was absolutely not worth the use of my American Express points.
