WOW are Washington DC hotels expensive!

[mrsv98]

Being from Chicago I thought I was used to expensive cities but geesh! We are taking a road trip to Monticello and then DC in June (DH is totally geeking out, he is so excited! ) Looking through hotels dot com, it is hard to find something reasonable. I like the Embassy Suites downtown, expensive but at least they feed you and the location is great.

I started looking further out, Alexandria, Silver Springs, but it isn't that much less and then we would have to take the train in every day.

I am taking into consideration that almost all the museums/sites are free so that does help.

Any suggestions where a family of three with an 11 yo (gosh, I can't believe DD will be 11!) can stay and not break the bank?

 

[plutotek]

I've found in the past that the weekends (Fri/Sat) are usually cheaper than during the week (lobbyists and other factors drive up the price during the week). When we went a few years back, we booked through Hotwire and stayed at a 4 star Wyndham in Georgetown for about 80 a night.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I have had success with first scouting out the best rated hotels on Trip Advisor, then adding myself to their mailing lists and waiting for a secret deal to be sent my way. Marriott does a lot of this kind of promotion.

Good luck

PS- when visiting big cities I don't know well I ALWAYS want a doorman for safety, it might make the place a bit more expensive but those extra eyes at the door mean there is someone at the front desk and those are 2 really good deterrents.

 

[mjkacmom]

As a ES fan, love the room, snacks and cocktails. I stayed at the Dupont Square location, a 5 - 10 walk to the metro, but a friend stayed at the one in Chevy Chase, MD, a little further out on the metro, but the metro was right below, so it took the same amount of time to get downtown, and cost $100 less than the Dupont Square location.

Keep in mind, for most hotels, you will need to get on the metro to get to some, if not all, attractions, so you might as well be another 5 minutes on the train, and pay less $.

I'm minutes away from NYC, so the hotels actually seem reasonable to me!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

A local suggested to me that on the weekend, using priceline, you can often score a deal. But it leaves your planning until later on.

If you really search the outskirts, you might get better prices.

We live 35 minutes from the Vienna metro--while it is a haul into the city, it isn't too bad. People commute that daily to work and we just consider it part of our DC experience. Try checking along I-66 west of DC. I live in Manassas and there are lots of hotels out this way. Not exactly "convenient", but it might be significantly cheaper.

For example--I just plugged in dates in the middle of June and found the Courtyard by Marriot for an average nightly rate of $69 and a Four Points by Sheraton for an average nightly rate of $87 per night. Both are by Manassas Battlefield, if you are into Civil War History.

You could also incorporate a trip the the National Air and Space Museum by Dulles airport--it has it's own name, but I can't recall it. I find it to be a much better museum than the one downtown that always seems tightly packed with stuff and people.

Now--I offer this b/c you wanted a way to do it cheap. It will be about an hour commute minimum--but totally doable. For 1/3 of the price (at least) of downtown, I would consider it.

RT metro into downtown isn't that much if you are looking to save money. (less than $10 pp/RT per day...so around $100 total per day if you stay that far out.)

 

[pennymom]

In November, the 4 of us stayed at Capitol Hill Suites in a junior queen suite for about $110/night through Travelocity. We had to do a special request through the hotel for a room with a sofabed for the 2 boys, but the location was awesome with lots of reasonably priced restaurants nearby (it is in a residential neighborhood), and the continental breakfast was very good. More than I usually pay, but we walked everywhere except for one Metro ride, so saved on the bus/transportation costs, and we were only there for two nights.

 

[Jeafl]

We've gotten some great deals on hotwire.com. You don't know the actual name of the hotel you will be staying at until you book it, but if you make sure you ask for 3 or 4* in the right neighborhood, you will usually be fine and save tons of money.

It's been a few years, but we stayed at 3 different hotels in a 10-day span. All of them were convenient to the metro. One that we really liked may have changed names but it used to be called Loews L'Enfant Plaza. It had a small mall and a metro stop in the basement of the hotel. There were very few restaurants in the area, but we took the metro for a short ride to Union Station and the choices were limitless. Also, this hotel is about a 5-10 min. walk to the Smithsonian, the Holocaust Museum and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (where you can watch them print money).

Another place we've stayed was the Radisson on P Street. Very nice hotel, and great location. Lots of shops and restaurants within walking distance. The other hotel we stayed at was the Courtyard by Marriott Northwest which was about half a block from the metro station, and not too fair from the zoo.

My best tip is to buy the one day pass on the trolley tour. It was pretty reasonable and you can hop on and hop off at virtually every attraction in the city. If you think you walk a lot at WDW, you ain't seen nothing until you've walked around DC! On the trolley you can even transfer and get a bus to Arlington National Cemetary which is not to be missed!

My kids loved the Spy Museum, the Holocaust Museum, the Smithsonian, the monuments at night tour, the zoo, and Ford's Theater. If you do go to Ford's theater, make sure you go into the museum in the basement. They have Lincoln's coat he was wearing when he was assassinated and a lot of other cool stuff. Also, across the street from that is the house where Lincoln died. You can go through that too.

We were there 10 days and still didn't see everything! We were able to get a lot done in one day on the trolley tour though. Have a great trip!

 

[Amy]

Glad I found this thread! We're planning a trip to DC at some this summer (no definite plans made yet), and I also was surprised at the price of hotel rooms.

The other hotel we stayed at was the Courtyard by Marriott Northwest which was about half a block from the metro station, and not too fair from the zoo.

I like staying at Marriotts, and I'm pretty sure this is the one I was looking at. I picked a random week in June - weekdays, a room with 2 Queens was $299/night; weekends, the same room was only $169/night. Quite a difference!

Does the National Zoo still have pandas, or have they been loaned out to some other zoo for breeding?

 

[Wall-E1]

Don't use hotels.com. Use trip advisor. Put in your dates and it will search the databases of expedia, orbitz, travelocity; hotels.com. You'll find a better deal. We went a few years ago on July 4th week and got an excellent deal at the Mandarin Oriental - less than $200 a night, I think.

You can also check individual hotels on their own websites. Sometimes they have sales that aren't advertised elsewhere.

 

[lovemygoofy]

When in June are you planning your trip? Anytime near Memorial Day weekend or the last few days before July 4th are expensive.

Hotels are also more expensive during the week instead of like the normal weekend. If you could swing staying Friday through the weekend and even a day or two into the week would save you money. The metro is halfprice on the weekends and free parking at the metro.

Hotels in Old Town Alexandria are really nice and they have a huge Embassy Suites right near the King Street metro. You can walk to it with no problems though I don't know how much parking is.

One book that I recommend and still use living here is the DC for Dummies guide.

 

[kirbydog48]

We've stayed in Alexandria at the Residence Inn. We had a 2 bedroom suite for 179 last December. It's right near the train (takes 20 minutes) and it's a nice location, right near Old Town, and there's a Whole Foods right down the street. Breakfast is included.

 

[DVCBELLE]

Try lastminutetravel.com and hotwire - I just went this week and used them and got reservations at 2 different 4 star hotels for $100 a night and $150 a night in the city a few blocks from the White House - I know it is off season - but their prices are great and you should find a deal for this summer

 

[rascalmom]

Priceline worked well for us for a DC trip a few years ago. We got the Grand Hyatt very near the National Mall (H Street, I think) for $89 per night. It was a very convenient location - the Metro stop was connected through the basement of the building.

We also stayed at the Hilton Suites for a couple of nights - that was $179 a night, but it was a suite (though tiny) which gave mom and dad some privacy.

There is so much to do and see - you'll have a wonderful time no matter where you stay!

 

[PrincesCJM]

We live 35 minutes from the Vienna metro--while it is a haul into the city, it isn't too bad. People commute that daily to work and we just consider it part of our DC experience. Try checking along I-66 west of DC. I live in Manassas and there are lots of hotels out this way. Not exactly "convenient", but it might be significantly cheaper.

For example--I just plugged in dates in the middle of June and found the Courtyard by Marriot for an average nightly rate of $69 and a Four Points by Sheraton for an average nightly rate of $87 per night. Both are by Manassas Battlefield, if you are into Civil War History.

DH and I stayed at the Courtyard in Vienna and we loved it. We didn't find the metro ride to be too long - just a short walk to the station. It had free parking for you car, which is important because I found that many hotels in DC charged a lot to park per night. We went in August and the rates seem to be cheaper if you stay on a weekend (Thursday thru Sunday).

 

[Winky7650]

We visited DC last summer with our DS10. There is a website... DestinationDC... that has some "packages" available. We stayed at the Holiday Inn~Capitol which was wonderful. Clean, nice and located on the Mall about 1 block to the Air & Space Museum, 2 to the Smithsonian. The metro was a 2 block walk. If you join HI's club, you get some nice coupons when you check in such as free breakfast buffet, and 2-1 dinners. They also had a really nice roof top pool!

 

[mrsv98]

Thanks for all trhe great advice! Trip Advisor has been a wealth of info. I am actually now looking at a rental townhouse/condo. There are several in nice areas with parking and wifi included. We can get some breakfast food and save money by not easting out 3x/day. I will defintitely look in some of the outlying areas and check out priceline.

Thanks again!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Here are some links I had from our trip back last June....

My thread.....

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2485600


And others......

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2364602

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2360325

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2468089

http://www.city-sightseeing.com/ind...&clear-search=true&destinations=washington+dc

https://www.commuterpage.com/

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2464391

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2484883

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2328032

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2475819

I do agree with Tina on the Dummies book, very helpful. And the trolley.

 

[PaulaSue]

Thankis for the info!

 

[MEBT315]

I would recommend staying outside of DC...I've stayed in Alexandria and somewhere else in a Holiday Inn...both very affordable...also look to see where metro stops were because you sometimes even though you are outside DC the stop is a few blocks away from your hotel.

 

[TTFN]

I've stayed in this Hampton Inn twice, once for just over $100 a night, once for just under that. Last time we had a view of the Washington Monument across the roof tops! http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/...ionid=XA1FA33RQSQDYCSGBIVM22Q?ctyhocn=WASHHHX

Nice rooms, friendly staff, good free breakfast with spacious breakfast area, about 2 blocks to the metro, next to China Town which has a row of good restaurants, and a grocery store about 1/2 block away for cheaper snacks and stuff. We just walked from there to the mall; it was maybe 15 minutes.

Both times I did pay for the room upfront (no refunds possible) and got the best price that way. We were picking our daughter up from an internship both times, so someone was gonna have to go no matter what!

Edited to add: there are cheaper parking options available, one lot on the same block, and one fenced lot on the next block.