We usually stay in Super8. www.supe8.com. Clean but no frills. Continental breakfast included. Join the VIP club and get an additional 10% off. For good hotel web sites, try www.travelweb.com and www.lodging.com. I have had good luck with both in getting cheap rates.

As a long-time resident of D.C. I can tell you that it is very important, for safety reasons, to carefully consider what part of D.C. to stay in. The budget hotels are sometimes located in unsafe areas - for example, Chinatown at night is questionable (lots of muggings). Also, I would stay away from hotels in N.E. or S.E. and certain parts of N.W. Once you are narrowing down your choices, I would suggest you ask about the safety issues of the particular neighborhoods on this forum.

Generally I would not recommend Super 8, I stayed with them twice, and promised never ever to stay there again. If you are going to a big city try using sites like Travelocity, or expedia to find a luxury hotel really cheap, (I found a Sheraton in D.C. for $60), but if you find something cheap via expedia check the hotel website to see if they have the same rate as Expedia charges a service charge, while hotels dirctly dont. Also Best Westerns are usually preety good, though they can be quite different, Econolodge isnt bad either, the Choice Hotels properties are also ok. Also for the same price u can try Amerisuites, though I never stayed with them, they prmose more room then other hotels.

I have recently gotten some really good deals on hotels from Oribitz. I always check all the travel websites, but orbitz has had the best deals for my past couple of business trips.

With regard to Best Westerns, my experience has been that BW's in the eastern U.S. (say east of the Mississippi) are far less desirable than those in the western U.S. I realize that is a blanket statement, but I would suggest other lodging if your travels bring you to the east. Any of the budget Marriott properties like Fairfield Inn or TownPlace Suites would be better.