Need a Washington, DC hotel recommendation

[hwic04]

Visiting for three days in early June. Planning to visit the National Mall, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Capitol, National Archives, etc.

Looking for a hotel within walking distance. Any recommendations for clean and safe at a reasonable price? I don’t need the Ritz, but I don’t want to scrape the bottom of the barrel either.

Thanks for suggestions.

[Guest]

I don't consider those places to be within easy walking distance, though I guess one could. I usually get some place in Crystal City in Arlington and take the Metro to those places. I'd just use the 3-day Short Trip pass for the metro. If you stay in Crystal City, most of those hotels have shuttles from DCA (National Airport). And Freddie's Beach Bar and restaurant, Arlington's gay bar and restaurant, are right there. Last time we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, or the Marriott is right nearby. 

Google Maps

WWW.GOOGLE.COM

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★★★★☆ · Gay bar

If you want to stay in a gayer area, pick someplace near Dupont Circle. such as the Washington Hilton (I'm a Diamond HHonors member so usually stay at Hilton properties). The metro is your friend--you need it. It even goes to Dulles now.

 

[mike carey]

Hotels in DC were quite expensive when I booked for my stay there last week, but as Unicorn mentioned Crystal City is an option, and both it and Old Town Alexandria (which has more plentiful dining options) cost significantly less at the time (still not exactly inexpensive but that might be just my perspective). As he also said, the Metro is your friend, and both those areas are accessible on the Blue Line, which also takes you to the National Mall area. (The Yellow Line is closed now but is scheduled to reopen before June.) The Silver Line from Dulles is a game changer! Six bux at peak times.

[+ tassojunior]

Metro's nice if you want to spend much of your time in a subway and it's working on your needed line. I'd rather spend that extra hour doing something else even if Lyft's and Uber's are expensive now. Better yet a walkable gayborhood. The government's still closed from the pandemic so areas around the Mall (Federal Triangle) are dead and deader even if there are a couple world-class museums there. Splurge on a $10 Uber to them and stay in a nice gay neighborhood. The areas around the White House to Georgetown to U Street are the nicest neighborhoods with the most attractions and co-incidentally very gay. And also very walkable. For an economy hotel I'd suggest the Windsor Inn on 16th by me. The Hyatt Places around the White House are also good for Hyatt awards. Dougie Meyers the big NYC/DC gay party promoter just opened a gay bar behind me called Bunker. That's 12 gay bars within 6 blocks or me. For restaurants my visiting company always wants repeats of every on trip, it's the Diplomat (a complete Parisian bakery/restaurant 100 years old that was disassembled and rebuilt here close to me) , Filomena in Georgetown (a very Italian Italian restaurant with Linguini Lobster Cardinale to die for- Pres Clinton still gets it delivered by air) and of course Annie's Steakhouse ( a glorious steak-and-eggs type gay cafe celebrating it's 75th anniversary). Georgetown and it's reopened C&O Canal and waterfront is The place to be and walk around and, if possible, a trip out to incredible Great Falls, especially the MD side is The sight to see. (huge Colorado River type rapids). 

Welcome to my town. 

Edited April 30, 2023 by tassojunior

[+ LS299B]

Try Hotel Banneker - easy to navigate to where you're visiting. Walking distance to Dupont Circle METRO (On the red line) 

Hotels in Downtown Washington DC | Kimpton Banneker Hotel

WWW.THEBANNEKER.COM

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Nestled in the heart of Downtown DC Kimpton Banneker Hotel offers sweeping city views, inviting design + personalized service. Book your luxurious stay today!

 

[Guest]

On 4/30/2023 at 5:24 PM, LS299B said:

Try Hotel Banneker - easy to navigate to where you're visiting. Walking distance to Dupont Circle METRO (On the red line) 

Hotels in Downtown Washington DC | Kimpton Banneker Hotel

WWW.THEBANNEKER.COM

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Nestled in the heart of Downtown DC Kimpton Banneker Hotel offers sweeping city views, inviting design + personalized service. Book your luxurious stay today!

 

I checked that hotel's price for June 6-9, since the poster said early June. That hotel has $30/night "amenity fee" which it tacks on, so the least expensive nightly rate is $437/night with taxes/fees (with AAA discount). The Hilton Garden Inn in Crystal City goes for $293/night with taxes and fees for their cheapest rate. The Hampton Inn Crystal City goes for $264 with taxes and fees (again with AAA discounts). I hate those dishonest "Amenity" or "Resort" fees. They're just an underhanded way to jack up the price. 

[+ azdr0710]

1 hour ago, Unicorn said:

I checked that hotel's price for June 6-9, since the poster said early June. That hotel has $30/night "amenity fee" which it tacks on, so the least expensive nightly rate is $437/night with taxes/fees (with AAA discount). The Hilton Garden Inn in Crystal City goes for $293/night with taxes and fees for their cheapest rate. The Hampton Inn Crystal City goes for $264 with taxes and fees (again with AAA discounts). I hate those dishonest "Amenity" or "Resort" fees. They're just an underhanded way to jack up the price. 

if you're comfortable using hotwire (nonrefundable, unnamed hotel), I'm just now seeing a Doubletree, Crowne Plaza and a Hampton Inn, among others, in Crystal City for 170-199 plus taxes/fees for those dates.......a hack with hotwire is to sort by lowest to highest rate, note the star rating and number of Expedia reviews in the unnamed hotel (cheaper rate), and scroll down to the named hotel with the exact same number of reviews and star rating to find out which one the unnamed hotel is......works about 90% of the time.......

Edited May 2, 2023 by azdr0710

[Gary]

Oddly enough when I was checking about a month ago, the Mayflower Hotel was cheaper than the DuPont Plaza or a private club I had access to.  All are in the same very general area, and each has ready access to a metro stop.  You could walk to the White House from any of them.  I’m guessing:  $295/$375/$375.  There were add-on charges.  Good luck.

[+ FrankR]

3 hours ago, Gary said:

Oddly enough when I was checking about a month ago, the Mayflower Hotel was cheaper than the DuPont Plaza or a private club I had access to.  All are in the same very general area, and each has ready access to a metro stop.  

I used to love staying at the Mayflower but no longer recommend it. They have done away with much of what made it special: No more morning coffee service, no more complimentary overnight shoe shine etc.  They have also ramped up security - the last time I stayed there they had security guards checking to make sure people getting in the elevator heading upstairs to the guest rooms had a key card. So if you plan to invite company over, you will have to meet them in the lobby and escort them past security.  

[Guest]

10 hours ago, azdr0710 said:

if you're comfortable using hotwire (nonrefundable, unnamed hotel), I'm just now seeing a Doubletree, Crowne Plaza and a Hampton Inn, among others, in Crystal City for 170-199 plus taxes/fees for those dates.......a hack with hotwire is to sort by lowest to highest rate, note the star rating and number of Expedia reviews in the unnamed hotel (cheaper rate), and scroll down to the named hotel with the exact same number of reviews and star rating to find out which one the unnamed hotel is......works about 90% of the time.......

Thanks for the hack on Hotwire, though I seldom use that site anymore. One needs to be careful to compare rates with all taxes and fees. Those I quoted were with taxes and fees. Hotwire adds its own fees, of course. So you may not be getting a bargain when you compare $180 for the Hampton Inn (plus taxes and fees) to $264 (with taxes and fees). Also bear in mind that if you book on Hotwire, in addition to getting the hotel's worst rooms, you also won't be getting loyalty points for the hotel chain. I reap in thousands in free hotel nights with points. I saved some $1200 for a 3-night stay in Reykjavik's Canopy by Hilton last August, and will be saving a good $900 on the St. Regis in Venice next week. I told our fiance that our first stay in Italy will be the finest. I wanted our arrival in Italy to be the best, so water taxi straight from the airport to this 5* hotel. Our other hotels will be 4* and 3*, though. No convenient big chain hotels in the heart of Rimini, Florence, Siena, and Pisa, so we used hotels.com for those places. We get a free hotel night after 10 nights there. 

[Guest]

6 hours ago, FrankR said:

... if you plan to invite company over, you will have to meet them in the lobby and escort them past security.  

I'd much rather do that anyway. Much safer for the customer. If it turns out the escort lied about his age and/or used obviously old photos, easier to turn down the crook there than in my hotel room. 

[+ tassojunior]

I just checked and was surprised the Madison, The power hotel in DC is in the low $200s. The Dupont Circle Hotel, actually on the circle, is the standard preferred hotel of people who know and about $270. Both in the center of a beautiful monied gayborhood with a couple dozen gay bars and gay cafes in a few blocks. Hundreds of great restaurants and bakeries all walkable. Up from the White House, close to many museums, the Kennedy Center and Georgetown. A $10 Uber to the otherwise boring museum area of the Mall/Federal Triangle. The Tabard Inn and the Windsor Inn are small charming townhouse hotels around $160 to $200 in the same gayish area of $3-$4 million townhouses. (Georgetown's nice too but keeps hotels out).  Hard to go wrong with the Dupont Circle Hotel and the Madison Hotel is really nice. For chains, the Washington Hilton is nice as are the Courtyard and Marriott west of the White House at the entrance to Georgetown. 

 

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

3 hours ago, Unicorn said:

No convenient big chain hotels in the heart of Rimini, Florence, Siena, and Pisa, so we used hotels.com for those places. We get a free hotel night after 10 nights there. 

I use hotels.com unless booking directly with a small gay clothing optional hotel.

Besides the 10th night free, it has helped me a few times when I arrived at a hotel to find that I had accidently booked the wrong weekend, or the hotel was not what i was expecting and I wanted to leave.  In both insurances I called hotels.com on the phone and, because of my loyalty status with hotels.com, they were able to find a better hotel for me that night and refunded me the money for my stay that didn't work out.

So, if I'm not picky about staying at a particular gay hotel (Hilton, Marriott, Holiday Inn, or boutique, it's all the same to me), then hotels.com it is.  The slightly higher amount I might pay compared with booking directly with the hotel is worth the peace of mind to know I have help only a phone call away if I need it.

[+ Axiom2001]

Washington, D.C. is a city of many visitors/travelers.  You're traveling at the beginning of "tourist season," so expect the rates to be up there.  

In Bing.com, write Hotels in Walking Distance; then list two or three of your places that you plan to visit.  See what comes up.

Also, check the rates of hotels on booking.com.  I've been using this search provider for at least a decade or more when I've traveled and have been quite satisfied with the hotels and their price offerings.  Also, use hotels.com as well.

[I hope to be in D.C. in September for a mere 3 or 4 days and plan to obtain my hotel through booking.com.  ...have been to our capital on three or four other occasions; each trip was quite different. 

Edited May 2, 2023 by Axiom2001

[+ LS299B]

Now it's only matter of finding a decent provider for your massage needs! For a Capitol City, the pickens are pretty slim these days!