Channel Inn Hotel

The hotel is definitely a little run down. The price was right and the location was great for walking everywhere while visiting the city and all the monuments and museums. When we checked in I noticed crumbs on the top of the bedspread and all the fixtures seemed a little outdated or in disrepair. The bathroom doorknob was falling off on one side of the door. Free parking was a big bonus. Overall I would recommend it to college age people or those who can overlook minor cleanliness issues. Not the kind of place I would want to bring my kids.

Originally they placed me in a room that was frigidly cold. Okay folks, it’s December and it is raining, sleeting and snowing. How about some heat up in this camp? I went back to the Front Desk and they put me in another room; this one with entirely too much heat. I was comfortable once I opened (and left open) the balcony doors.
The bed was comfortable with lots of pillows. The room appeared clean on first glance. When looking further, well. .. not so much. The housekeeping staff, however, is wonderfully pleasant!
The hotel is old, outdated and in need of sprucing. As I understand it, it is scheduled for rasing ~ probably a good thing.
Now, if you go to the Engine Room (the bar inside of the hotel), be prepared for much less than friendly service! The staff in there seem to think it is YOU who should be serving THEM. Ugh! The drinks are expensive! The service is the PITS! The crab cakes, though, are pretty damned good.
If you’re working on a budget, Channel Inn is the place to stay in DC. Other than that, GO ELSEWHERE!

Visiting our nation’s capital on a budget can be a challenging adventure at times. Normally I stay at a different hotel on the other side of the mall but unfortunately it was not available for my fall trip so I was left with the Channel Inn.
Channel Inn is a dated property in desperate need of a refresh. Situated nicely on the waterfront it shows its advanced age both in the structure and in the way they do business. When you get to the front door you may find that the center automatic doors are shut down, about 60% of the day, and that you have to use a single door on either side. For the life of me I could not figure out the piss poor logic for this decision. Why have giant double automatic doors if you are going to turn them off?
LOBBY
If you are lucky enough to arrive when the restaurant is closed then you will be spared the heavy fishy smell. The kind you get when you leave that salmon steak in the fridge to thaw for a week too long.
You may or may not be greeted when you enter, it happened to me one time in twelve days, but only once. Check-​in was an ominous experience that would make any traveler cringe.
Automatic double doors will likely be locked with no sign telling warning you
CHECK-​IN
Front desks staff is rude, abusive, incompetent and lacks basic English comprehension skills. They will lie to you and have no remorse. When I checked in my credit card info was left on the counter for over 20 minutes and the rep didn’t even know the hours for their own room service. Reps won’t even get out of their chairs to stand up and serve you.
The front desk is where you can experience first-​hand the treatment given to Taliban prisoners as the staff does their best to treat each customer with disdain, contempt and disgust. They seriously work harder to treat people like crap than they would if they just pretended to care.
FACILITIES
Elevator works! That is good, although it is slow as time. The soda machine on level three never worked during my 12 day stay (not once). The pool houses some special flesh eating bacteria and was closed of course (it is a wonderful bright green though!).
ROOM
First off my door didn’t latch unless I ran full speed into it to force it shut. The bed spread looked like some sort of atrocity you might find at your grandmother’s house tucked away in a deep dark corner of the basement. It felt like sandpaper with a floral print and I was fairly certain that it had not been washed since the Reagan era. Tip number one: Throw the bed spread on the ground and do your best to limit bodily contact with this DNA sponge.
TV was from 1990, an actual round tube 13″ and part of overflow from Smithsonian museum. WIFI does NOT exist, do not believe their lies. Not enough outlets in room. Water was nice and hot and plentiful though and the balcony view is nice.
ROOM SERVICE
I could not bring myself to try it out; the rank fish smell in the lobby (where the restaurant is located) was too much of a turn off.
Overall:
A budget hotel in a decent neighborhood, just remember you get what you pay for. If you expect good customer service or to be treated with dignity and respect the Channel Inn is not the place for you. If you just want a room to sleep in that may or may not be more comfortable than solitary at San Quentin then you might do alright here. Just don’t ask the staff for anything or expect a polite response when communicating with them and you will be okay.
PROS:
Inexpensive
Decent sized rooms
Good views on most rooms
Good neighborhood with easy access to Metro and several bus lines
Housekeeping staff was polite and actually knows how to greet people
AC units work great!
CONS:
Customer Service is worst in industry, they would rather spit in your face than speak to you
Rooms are stuffed with unnecessary junk furniture
TV’s are relics belonging in a museum
Bedding is a DNA nightmare and likely to cause heart disease, black oily discharge, hypertension, rapid weight gain, constipation, headaches and flatulence
Management is a failure on every imaginable front, the hotel is so poorly run that it defies explanation
There is no WIFI, it is a lie to get you in the hotel
Front desk staff will rip you off and overcharge you or attempt to lie to you to get more money
Front desk staff is the very definition of incompetent

For the price — its a good deal. It shows it age, but the view from the balconies across the Potomac is great. The staff where spot on. The room was always clean. there is parking under the hotel. Its nice to walk along the river front, and its near a few of the boat tours, close to the metro; and reasonable cost for a taxi into the sights of DC.

I have to give this establishment 3 stars due to the location and the amazing balcony/​view of the sites. That’s about the only decent thing that I can say about the place. It is older and dated but our room was clean and the house staff were friendly. The front desk staff could use some major customer service training. I would stay here again due to it’s great location but you have to be aware that you do get what you pay for. We were on an East Coast adventure from the West Coast and I couldn’t see paying $ 400-​$ 500 a night when we were not going to use the room that much. That’s pretty much the average when staying in DC.

If you’re looking for a run down Motel 6ish place to stay featuring 1970’s décor and
a staff that could care less about you, look no further! The Channel Inn is for you.
Maybe I shouldn’t complain. I’m on a budget and you get what you pay for.
I will say the location is great, close to all the touristy stuff and nestled in the quiet waterfront district. I could deal with the not so fresh feeling I got
after emerging from the possibly unclean sheets.
I was aware this was not The Ritz. The staff was my biggest complaint
My brother and I walk in after a long day of sight seeing.
Our card does not work to open the room door.
Owner/​front desk guy/​sad sack on duty is visibly annoyed
and tells us to keep trying. To make a long story short he finally
had to call an off duty maintenance dude to come fix our door while we
waited for an hour in the lobby. Then, we had to wait even longer because the maid never cleaned our room. No apology, no discount.
Just a lot of eye rolling and comments under his breath
In a language other than English. I’ll be back to DC. Won’t be going
back to this place.

BEWARE. Dirtiest hotel I have ever stayed at. Our beds had stains on the sheets two days in a row. Orange peel left in the air conditioner and no wifi in the room. No safe either in a place that looks like a criminals dream. View from the balcony was the only plus. The tv was tiny and had limited channels and front desk staff were extremely rude and not helpful in the slightest. Arrived at 2.50 and were told to wait until 3 before they could check us in. Really?!

This is a boutique hotel, folks. You get what you pay for. With that being said, it’s really quaint. Older furnishings, but clean and right on the wharf! Very close to the metro and all the monuments. Front desk staff not extremely friendly, but I wasn’t there for them.

Stay away no matter the price! I booked through
and it had a 3.5 rating there. What a joke! The second you walk in it’s difficult to breathe from the must or mold. My room was open when I got to it so I was already apprehensive about walking in. The room across the hall had the door wide open and the radio blaring. Not exactly a welcoming sight. I walk in and notice the stained carpet, flat bed, questionable covers, scratched door handle, scratched furniture, musty smell and half-​painted wall. I peek out the window to see an empty pool with stagnant dirty water and a big belly topless man across the way. I called
immediately to complain and see if they could book me elsewhere to no luck. I went to reception and they gave me lip service and denied me a refund, not even a partial. The kicker came when the female desk attendant whispered to me «I wouldn’t stay here either.» TRUE STORY! I checked out my Hotel Tonight app and found the new Hilton Garden Inn for the same price.

Make no mistake, this place is old and dated, and definitely tattered. It’ll be closing soon due to the upcoming redevelopment of the waterfront, so they’re not doing much «fixing up» of anything at all. But if you can handle a place that’s a bit rough around the edges, Channel Inn has some positives too.
Cons:
— old & run down
— faded glory
— rooms haven’t been updated recently (maybe ever?)
— staff often not very helpful
— no particular amenities (fitness room, etc.)
Pros:
— much more affordable rates compared to all other downtown hotels
— super convenient location to downtown & tourist attractions
— free parking– virtually unheard-​of for urban hotels
— waterside rooms have an awesome view of the Washington Channel & Jefferson memorial
— plenty of neighborhoody, authentic DC feel, such as the hotel’s bar that is a real scene of local regulars, and the hotel’s «Pier 7» restaurant, plus the historic Maine Ave fish market nearby
— conveniences nearby: a new Safeway, CVS, Starbucks, etc a short walk away (I had to laugh at the other reviewer who complained about walking ¹⁄₃ of a mile to Starbucks– must not be used to city living, it’s literally two blocks– here we call that «close»)
Channel Inn is definitely no Ritz, but then again you’re not paying Ritz rates either. Don’t expect a fancy new top-​of-​the line hotel, but you will get a conveniently-​located room for a reasonable rate, and potentially a great waterfront view. Soon this place will be just another memory of DC’s past, demolished by developers and replaced with some shiny new boutique or TGIFridays.

I stayed at the Channel Inn for two nights on business.
Pros:
— Showtime.
— Half a mile from L’Enfant Metro stop.
— View of the river (if your room faces the river).
— Close-​ish to the National Mall (15 walk from the Smithsonian Castle)
Cons:
— Very, very, very old.
— Need to walk at least a ¹⁄₃ of a mile to get to anything (including Starbucks, convenient stores, etc)
— Dirty.
I thought my bath tub was just old and discolored. Once in the shower, my foot scraped off dirt from the bottom of the tub. It had obviously not been cleaned in a very, very long time. If you can afford it, stay somewhere else. If you can’t, make sure your bathtub is clean.

You don’t get what you pay for with this hotel. What you do get is location. Musty old smelling rooms and a nice view of the water.
The place is old. Needs to be upgraded. The internt is a joke, only works about ¹⁄₃ of the time and when it does its dial up speeds. SLOW!!! The TV in the room was from the early 90s and TINY! The advertised gym is not in the hotel its 4 blocks away. Not a fun walk in the rain. Its an ok gym but still not in the hotel. The night staff kinda has a attitude but the cleaning people are very nice.
I was happy that i was close to a lot of stuff but got bummed out every time i had to go back to my room.

Stayed here for a couple of nights with our kitten because of a problem with our apartment building a while ago. We chose it because it allowed pets and because it was within walking distance of our work. And we got a very cheap deal on either hotwire or priceline. It wasn’t the worst in the world but we won’t be staying there again.
The big issue was that the hotel room was filthy. You can really tell about the cleanliness of the place when you have a cat who likes to explore every nook and cranny of his abode. We have stayed with him at several other places before, and usually the rooms are pretty spotless and he is fine. By the end of this visit however, he had turned up several pieces of trash from under the bed/​around the room and had adopted the smell of the room: a really foul musty odor and his usually silky smooth shiny fur became dull. The poor guy received a huge bath and a major scrubbing when we got home to get the smell off of him.
Another annoyance: we called the hotel before booking to ENSURE that they allowed pets as advertised on the discount website. The woman on the phone assured us that pets were welcome. But when we arrived with our kitten the angry man behind the counter barked at us about how pets weren’t allowed. Read your website, sir! Or talk to the other staff who told me already that it was OK.
I can only think of two good things about this place: 1. The water in the shower/​bath gets really hot and stays hot for a while and the water pressure is really good. And 2. I enjoyed the view out the window, as did kitten. You overlook the pier with all the boats and there are gulls everywhere.
Other than that, this is a skip it.

Stay away from this place! Before staying here I read every review on here and prepared myself for the worst. Well i didn’t prepare enough. Arrive to my room were one key didn’t work, to find it smelled very musty, carpet was filthy, furnishings were old and dirty, wallpaper falling off walls and A pool that looked like it was filled with urine. We couldn’t leave our room the first evening because the door wouldn’t lock! And they wouldn’t move us to a different room because they said they were fully booked but the place was empty.
This place is deplorable and should be condemned because of how gross it is.
DO NOT STAY HERE!

On my first trip to DC I stayed here at the Channel Inn Hotel as it is super close to any and all attractions. The metro is blocks from the hotel so it made it really convenient to get anywhere in DC.
The staff is really nice and housekeeping will stay away if you ask them too which I did so I can sleep an not be bothered by anyone or a pesky knock at 9am trying to change my sheets with me in the bed lol
The hotel is cute. Mind you it is really dated but cute. It needs a serious facelift but over all a great place for the money and location. If you need a cab it’s best to stand on the corner of 7^th and water st rather than try calling on to pick you up. They take forever or won’t come at all.

Ok. So the hotel is old and shows it’s age. But it is CLEAN. It’s in an excellent location, has a fantastic view of the river, and only a short walk to the metro, a new Safeway, Starbucks and a Subway restaurant.
If you are like me and prefer to spend your money on fun stuff rather than a place to sleep and shower, this is the place.
The Café just off the lobby opens at 6:30 am and serves breakfast until 11 and, although just a bit pricey, is worth the extra just to meet and hang with Lucille! She’s a down-​home Mississippi girl and has been running that café for 40 years. And if you get by there, tell her I said hello! LOL
But, heard through the grapevine while we were there that the Channel Inn as well as The Wharf right next door are soon to be torn down to make way for new, high-​rise condominiums — what a shame. So go soon!

If it weren’t for the price on priceline, the proximity to the downtown area, or the free parking I would definitely opt out of staying here again. The three reasons I gave earlier were the only saving grace of this hotel.
The rooms are outdated and despite being non smoking have a permanent smokers funk. We ended up in a room with two beds (which weren’t queens) and were quite small. The lighting is a bit dingy and the dark carpeting doesn’t help either.
I did however, like the fact that once you had the parking pass they didn’t place any restrictions on when your parking privileges were over. So my boyfriend and I got another full day of sightseeing in without having to deal with the hassle of paying for parking.
Good thing we only stayed the night.

Stayed here 4 days in July after Pricelining for $ 80. Mixed feelings on this place. Pretty good location with fairly close access to the subway and a Circulator bus right out front. We walked to the mall a couple of times There are no other hotels on the waterfront. I am not sure where all the other hotels are. There are a few fancy ones downtown but with all the tourists around, I am sure there must be a big hotel district somewhere.
Hotel is old and worn out but that doesn’t really bother us. The room was fairly clean. Balcony was dirty with cigarette butts and we didn’t get any deck chairs out there– just old stiff chairs. We didn’t have a view except for the parking lot. I don’t think we could complain much because we were «priceline» customers.
One night we went to the lounge to see some open mic jazz. I think it was open mic. There was just a few acts. It was really old school with an older crowd. I think we were the only white people. I would definitely recommend people go experience this place.
There was a cafeteria style breakfast that we ate at one day. Again, we felt like we were the only white people in there. I think there must be some retirement apartments or homes nearby that make up the «regulars» to this cafeteria. I had a velveeta and ham omelette that I would prefer to forget. Another weird experience. Kinda cool but kinda gross.
The pool was small and old but it had a lifeguard. I can’t ever remember a hotel pool having a lifeguard. Maybe it is a law in D.C. or something. We swam there twice and both times the lifeguard didn’t do anything but talk on the phone or play on his computer. There wasn’t enough pool towels and there was a pile of used pool towels. Someone asked the lifeguard for more towels so he went away without the used towels and came back with only 3 clean towels. Hmmm, how are we going to get clean towels until you get the dirty ones to the laundry…
There was also a big shortage of chairs around the pool. The lifeguard didn’t seem to notice. There was a stack of 12 chairs that were chained together and couldn’t be used. If we could use those…
So all in all, I think we got a deal. Location was great but it is an old hotel with a staff that is nice but fairly clueless on how to run a hotel.

Pros:
–Free parking for hotel guests.
–Good location. Close to a Safeway, CVS, Starbucks, subway metro station, and capital share bike station. Next to the Potomac River. Close enough to all the major D.C. landmarks and attractions.
— Friendly staff.
Cons:
–Furniture and décor is dated.
–Bad odor.
–Wi-​fi very spotty and unreliable.
–Uncomfortable mattress
–Toilets look like the public restroom type

The area is decent, but the hotel itself is in severe need of renovation. The lighting is poor. The furniture and carpets are old. Hot water isn’t so hot, the water pressure is low, and when someone in the building flushes the temperature changes. Paint is peeling off the bathroom door and wallpaper is peeling off the walls. There’s mold in the bathroom light fixture. Other fixtures in the bathroom have rust. Wifi signal was spotty. The WORST though, is that the room I got has an unpleasant odor. I paid $ 80 a night and feel that was too much.
Also, if you plan to ask the hotel to hold your bag after checkout, they will direct you to a small closet to DIY. No security, no claim stubs. Fear for your valuables.