Suki

Hi, My two daughters and I will be visiting American University soon, and I wondered if anyone could recommend a hotel nearby? If I were to use Priceline, what area would I bid on? Any info is appreciated.

rkkwan

Closest "Priceline area" will be Bethesda in MD. Or Geogetown/Foggy Bottom in DC if you want to be closer to the attractions.

Make sure you go to biddingfortravel.com to do some research before using Priceline.

bardo

There are not a lot of hotels close to AU. Here are two, however: I would not recommend Priceline in this particular case since some hotels listed as Bethesda are actually quite far away from AU (Bethesda is a huge zone). Georgetown and Foggy Bottom are quite far away also. Of the two listed below, the Residence Inn has the advantage of being close to a metro stop if you also want to go sightseeing on your school visit trip.

Embassy Suites Chevy Chase Pavilion
4300 Military Rd. NW ? Washington , DC 20015-2019 ? 202-362-9300; 800-EMBASSY

Residence Inn - Bethesda Downtown
7335 Wisconsin Ave. ? Bethesda , MD 20814-3288 ? 301-718-0200

bob_brown

Another choice for an area in which to select a motel orhotel is Rosslyn in Virginia.
There is a Courtyard, a Marriott Hotel, and a Holiday Inn. I am assuming your group will have a car.

Before anyone gets upset over my suggestion, let me tell you how to get to AU from Rosslyn. Drive over Key Bridge, turn left, and follow along Canal Road to Foxhall Road. Turn right, at about a 45 degree angle, continue up the hill to Nebraska Avenue. Turn right on Nebraska, and American U will be on your left as you approach a traffic circle. The circle is Ward Circle, and it is where Nebraska and Massachusetts Avenues cross.

It is a straight shot up Foxhall, and most taffic crossing Key Bridge turns left at the Whitehurst ramp or M street in Georgetown.

Coming back can be tricky because of the left and right turn only lanes. Once on Canal Road, you do NOT want to be in the rightmost lane because it forces you onto the Whitehurst Freeway.

I have stayed there many times and find it convenient. If you want to run downtown to the monuments and museums, there is a subway station in Rosslyn. You can board either of two lines and to to Smithsonian, Archives, Foggy Bottom, etc.

rkkwan

That's a great suggestion by bob_brown. I used to live on MacArthur Blvd just off Foxhall, and that IS a very fast way to go up to A.U. by car. Much less traffic than Wisconsin Ave or Mass. Ave.

soccr

Let me second the suggestion of staying in Rosslyn if you are driving. I attended AU for 2 years and lived in Alexandria. If I was driving, I often took that route.

However, if you want to stay at a hotel and take public transportation, you're best off staying downtown and taking the bus or a cab (cabs aren't terrifically expensive, but you may have to call one to go back from AU, they don't "cruise" that area looking for fares, usually) up to AU. Some of the buses go up "Embassy Row", which is a very cheap way to do some interesting sightseeing.

bob_brown

OOPS. Traffic crossing Key Bridge turns RIGHT onto the Whitehurst ramp,or RIGHT on M street.

And two weeks ago, Wisconsin Avenue was paved with steel plates that looked like battleship armor.

The Courtyard is where I stayed two weeks ago. It has parking under the hotel in a gated lot. The gate is a ceiling to floor steel mesh type of gate, not just a barrier arm.

Suki

Thank you for all the ideas. My inclination though is to stay in DC so that we can walk to breakfast, dinner and maybe do some strolling or sightseeing. I would prefer this to staying in a suburb. Would Georgetown be a good bet? Any particular hotel? Thanks for all advice.

Anonymous

If you want to stay right IN DC, and you're thinking of bidding on Prlceline, I'd recommend that you bid for a 3 or 4 * hotel in the Convention Center/Capitol Hill area, or perhaps Downtown/White House. You'll be handy to sights and furthermore to the Metro. If either daughter is a prospective student, then taking the AU shuttle from the Tenleytown stop on the Metro will give you that much more insight into the AU student experience. We got quite an earful just overhearing conversations while waiting for the shuttle back to the Metro after our visit!

To expand on bardo's hotel recommendations -- the Embassy Suites at the Chevy Chase Pavillion is literally atop the Metro stop for Friendship Heights. We stayed there and found it delightful to get off the Metro and just ride escalators back to our hotel room after a long day of sightseeing and college visits!

rkkwan

Suki - Neither Geogetown nor Rosslyn are really suburbs. For those, you'll need to go further out.

On the other hand, sites in DC is really spread out, and buildings are huge, so you can't just walk from site to site. The subway system is great to get from place to place, and the Rosslyn stop is just one station from GWU/Foggy Bottom.

However, keep in mind that the subway doesn't go up to American U, nor does it go to Georgetown. Yes, you can take buses that go up to Amer. U, but it's pretty time consuming.

So, are you going to have a car at all? If not, then you should look for a hotel that is close to both the subway (for sightseeing), and the "N-line" buses that go along Mass. Ave to AU. Any hotel near Dupont Circle will be great, and there are lots of restaurants and shops where you can actually walk to.

Suki

I know that Georgetown is not a suburb, but I did think that Rosslyn was. My point in asking about Georgetown was that I wanted to stay somewhere that strolling around in a nice neighborhood would be an option. We will have a car but I think most posts have assumed that if we stayed in the city, I would not want to drive to AU. Is traffic that bad at say 10 AM on a Monday? The shuttle from AU sounds interesting, Anonymous. Was it easy to locate?

Anonymous

The AU shuttle is right at the Tenleytown Metro stop, it's one stop on a loop of 3 or 4 stops that the AU shuttle just goes round-and-round for. I don't recall having any trouble figuring out exactly where to stand to wait for it, either at Tenleytown or on-campus, since there were signs. The driver was checking IDs (which IMHO is a Good Thing) but he didn't give us any argument; if he had, we had our interview appointment letter with us. In our college search, we found that informal observations of students (in cafeterias, extracurriculars, etc.) were much more useful than formal stuff (interviews, presentations, sitting in on a class) in getting a "feel" for different schools.

Georgetown (and Dupont Circle) are both good for strolling around nice neighborhoods, but they're not good for Priceline bids because some of the hotels that PL has assigned to these zones are actually rather far out. The zones I mentioned above are handier to Metro stops, and more densely packed with hotels, but they're also not as picturesque and stroll-worthy as Georgetown.

We'll be in DC in 2 weeks for an admitted-students weekend at another university; I just booked our rooms on PL earlier this week and did a lot of research, so if you want details just ask. April & May are busy months in DC; what are your travel dates?

rkkwan

Traffic isn't bad going up from Georgetown to AU if you're driving. You can also take Reservoir Road west past the Georgetown Univesity Hospital/Med School and turn right on Foxhall up the hill, instead of taking Wisconsin and Massachusettes Ave. Should take you 15 minutes tops. Just get some instructions from AU about where to park.

Again, one thing about Georgetown is that the subway doesn't go there, so you'll need to take a bus to the city sights when you're not driving there.