Washington D.C. Concierge Question

[DisneyStarWisher]

My son has the chance to go to Washington D.C. with a school group. Our whole family would like to go, but it seems very costly. I think we could go independently for a lower price, and I was thinking of using our points to stay at the Mandarin Oriental. Has anyone done this? How easy is it to go during value season and get a city view (cheapest points)? Also, I'm concerned about the cost of parking and the metro. Can anyone give me details? We have to make a decision in the next couple of days as to whether we are going with the school. TIA!

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

This is not first hand...but from the DIS


I believe Mandarin Oriental is extremely upscale with few reasonably priced dining options nearby.

I do believe that parking is extra, BUT please verify. I do not recall the price or convenience to the metro, although the metro is the way to get around DC.

Its been years now, but we used to stay in Northern Virginia instead of Washington DC to avoid high hotel bills. This may have changed, but like I said YEARS AGO, a Hampton, Holiday Inn, etc. in Northern Virginia was not really higher in price than those chains in other small city in America. It may be worth it if you can get a room for $100/nt. instead of $300 nt. Some of these hotels are near the metro line.

Good Luck!

 

[vicki_c]

The Metro stop at the Smithsonian is about 3 blocks away.

I found something online that says parking is $34/day. I don't know if that was up to date or not.

It's a beautiful hotel - I would love to stay there for a weekend with my husband sometime - don't think I would use points though unless I was about to lose them or something. Especially with the $95 charge added on.

 

[bookwormde]

We stayed at the holiday in capitol. we waited until about 2-3 weeks out and got a room for 129. Parking was an extra $20 it is 1.5 blocks from the mall at tha air and space museum. If yuo happen to stay there request near the lobby. Her is a link but they have a price match policy so you can serch any of the mehor travel sites and then call them.

http://www.hicapitoldc.com/?src=ppc_google_brand

bookwormde

 

[ldo]

DCA airport (Crystal city area in VA) is right over the bridge--a 5 minute metro ride. There are a number of hotels there (all the major chains) and many offer very good deals on the weekends. In DC, many things are free or very low cost, so you won't have to spend a lot extra. There are many food options not too far from main DC attractions (Smaller restaurants, Fudrcukers, cafeteria at Natural History Museum, Armands Pizza near Capitol Hill (local favorite). A few on this BB have also stayed at MArriott REsidience Inn in SW DC (only a couple blocks from the Museums and really liked it). have fun, Elaine (in DC).

 

[nzdisneymom]

My son has the chance to go to Washington D.C. with a school group. Our whole family would like to go, but it seems very costly. I think we could go independently for a lower price, and I was thinking of using our points to stay at the Mandarin Oriental. Has anyone done this? How easy is it to go during value season and get a city view (cheapest points)? Also, I'm concerned about the cost of parking and the metro. Can anyone give me details? We have to make a decision in the next couple of days as to whether we are going with the school. TIA!

We stayed at the Mandarin Oriental in summer 2008 - I have our trip report here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1653615

We booked city view but they gave us water view when we checked in because our city view wasn't ready. We did get the Concierge level which was worth it in our experience for the breakfast and the soft drinks / water. Parking was about $40/day. The metro was about three blocks away, but most of what we saw we didn't need the metro to get to. There is not much around in terms of dining - that was our only "complaint" really as to the location - we ate at McD's at the Space Museum a lot, but we did have our car so we could've ventured out or taken the Metro to other areas, but we were always pretty tired when we got back to the room that we didn't.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[5forDiz]

Heard great things about Mandarin Oriental but I am just too cheap to use our points there & would rather save the pts for our DVC trips.

Our family went to DC in July and I booked Marriott Metro Center by bidding on priceline for Capitol Hill - Convention Center area at 3.5 star level at got this hotel for approx $75 per night including taxes & fees (give or take couple $'s) - regular price through Marriott's site & expedia, etc was over $300!
It is an excellent, well kept property & in a VERY convenient location/easy walking distance to Whitehouse (actually is closer to Whitehouse than Capitol), Capitol, Smithsonian's (Mall) and a number of other attractions (Lincoln Theatre, house where Lincoln died, Spy Museum among others). Metro Center station is located adjacent to hotel too - it is located at NW 12 St & G. It has indoor pool & gym, Starbucks in lobby as well as small restaurant (didn't eat there but prices did not seem too outrageous). Valet parking was $40 per day with unlimited in & out privileges and you may leave your car valet parked until 5pm on your checkout day so we took advantage of that and spent our check out day seeing the sights until late afternoon. There are many places to eat nearby including Chinatown, EPSN Club, Hard Rock Cafe, Lincoln Diner, Potbelly Sandwich Co., McD's, etc. On street parking is extremely difficult if not impossible until evening so we really appreciated the ability to walk to so many places & the Metro couldn't have been closer.

If you do decide to book through priceline be sure to visit a site like bidding for travel dot com to read up on bid strategies and also check out Washington DC board to see what recent bid amounts are being accepted. For this area ( Capitol Hill / Convention Center ) I wouldn't bid below 3.5 stars because it the hotel quality could get dicey below that star rating - - if you bid 4 star or 3.5 star in this area the hotels are good quality & well located ( you can look them up on their official websites too).

If you need anymore info feel free to pm me.

Best wishes on your planning

 

[Halle]

I booked Hilton Garden Inn in Arlington VA for $94.

 

[eliza61]

We did this a few summers ago. WE LOVED THE MANDARIAN. Cannot scream it loud enough it is a fabulous hotel. Dining can be a challenge but if you have a car there are some really good restuarants 10 minutes away. Actually we parked our car and caught metro to our eating spots. If you guys are good walkers I think there was an espn restaurant maybe mile and 1/2 away.

Sorry Dissers this is the one hotel that I think is way better than any Disney offering. Truly one of the few places I would use my points in a nano second. The luxury is that good.

 

[Psychodisney]

We also stayed at the Mandarin summer 2008. We booked about 5 months out for summer time. We needed 2 rooms and could only book concierge. The hotel is beautiful but was too fancy for my kids. We did love the concierge lounge. The breakfast was wonderful as were the afternoon snacks. The only convenient food is a Starbucks and a Potbelly Sandwich. We used our car and went to find resturants with a GPS. Driving around DC is crazy.