Dupont Hotel Wasington DC
 

Have you stayed there recently? How was it? Pros/cons?
We will be there 3 days in August, mostly doing Smithsonian museums.
Is it a 4 star in your opinion?
Thanks!

wrote this on your other thread:

It is newly renovated, in a great location and has a nice bar on the first level. I've never been in it or read any reviews. I think it reopened a year ago.


Does the star rating refer to the amenities offered?

Deb, did you get it on Hotwire? How much did you pay, if you don't mind me asking? (We're going, but in July, and hotels are pretty astronomical)

I just got it, hotwire, for $109!

Wow, it's double that in July!

SF, did you look at the Washington Court Hotel? They have a 35% off nights sale for the summer on their website. I just booked there for August for $105 per night.

yeah, well I think the heat and humidity is double in August! :)

Deb, I realize that, but thats what cold beer and air conditioned museums are for.

tc, I'm going to check into that -- when I looked on quikbooks yesterday, it was nearly $500 a night for "my nights", but we're flexible as to when we go.

I started on quikbooks and then changed to their website. Booked a Deluxe king with 2 beds.

It's a solid 4- or 3+. Very modern, sleek renovation. Fun and lively bar. Can be a little noisy but it's an urban hotel on a circle intersected by heavy traffic (people and vehicles).

That's a very good price even in August when rates drop.

One comment I might add is that if the Smithsonian Mall area is your primary destination that you will be changing trains at Metro Center to get to the Smithsonian stop. That's not a big deal but will add a little time to your trip, esp. during rush hour.

Avoid Metro during evening rush hour if you can, especially Gallery Place and Metro Center stations. It should be easy enough to linger downtown for an hour or so after the 5 pm closing of most museums.

Debit...how did you get such a great price? Did you bid on hotwire? Will be in DC in Sept, just curious.

I just found it on hotwire; I have been looking for a couple of weeks, off and on. Just went over to look today, and there it was!

Are you going to go to a Nationals game while there? Its a very nice stadium and worth a visit.

LOL, if my husband has anything to say about it, we sure will.

BTW, he loved your "cold beer and air conditioned museums "

Wow...I'll have to keep an eye on Hotwire! The bidding part of it scares me though, but if you found it as the list price that's awesome!

You don't bid on hotwire, it is different than Priceline. The price is visible, however, the name of the hotel is hidden until you purchase. They do have some deals where you can see the hotel, but the prices aren't as low.

Betterbidding.com is a great site, you can often figure out [by location, amenties, star rating etc] which hotel is being offered.

Oh, ok, I see. Thanks Debit, I thought they were the same (Priceline and Hotwire).

What you'll find is that often the same hotels are "available" on both Hotwire and Priceline. However, the "areas" as they each define them differ somewhat, and Priceline is truly anonymous (no way to tell what hotel you'll get, except you might know a list of the hotels that are "typical" in a particular area), whereas on Hotwire you can often match up the amenities to figure out what hotel is "likely". Because Hotwire is very slightly less anonymous than Priceline, the prices tend to be very slightly higher on Hotwire.

DebitNM, guess what, I just got the Dupont for our July stay for $119 (way down since I first started looking). We'll be there in a few weeks, so I'll be sure to let you know what I think!

Oops, forgot to say that was on Hotwire.

Now this was a successful thread! Fun seeing how it all unfolded!

excellent, sf! Can't wait for feedback, but of course, it won't change anything as we are locked in, but I am sure it will be great.

saw your thread on betterbidding :)

I went to the Dupont Hotel bar last week. They have a happy hour that only lasts until 6 pm which features $5 specialty cocktails

how did the lobby look, vjp?

And thanks for the tip!

Just got back from the Dupont. Excellent location and our room was not huge, but modern minimalist style nicely appointed and had a view of Dupont Circle (I'm guessing rooms on any floor that end in 17,18,19,20 will have that view). Great that you got such a good price - mine was considerably more. If you have a car, parking runs $35 per day and room taxes are about 14.5%.

As vjp said, Happy Hour special cocktails are $5, and the Cafe has a full breakfast for $11 - $13 not including $3 coffee, but my breakfast was so huge I didn't eat the rest of the day. Kramer books and Afterword Cafe is directly across from the hotel cafe and a cute alternative.

Just read some recent posts on Tripadvisor re: The Dupont. There's a lot of grumbling, esp. about a/c not working. I hope this doesn't turn out badly.

Good luck Debit. Our A/C worked fine.

susncrg, what room were you in - maybe DebitNM and I can both request that room!

I was in 720 (only partial Circle view, but good view nonetheless) but 718 or 719 might have full Circle view.

I just saw this. We stayed there in early February and were there for the first blizzard and the huge snowball fight on Dupont Circle. We loved the hotel. It was clean, very comfortable beds and nice linens. And the breakfast is huge. If you like books, Kramers, across the street is great. Decent food too.

Deb, the lobby is minimilast and has several areas of comfortable seating.

We had planned on seeing the Smithsonian too but the blizzard changed that! It was still a lot of fun.

DebitNM, I'm here!! We're on the 4th floor, overlooking Connecticut Avenue. Our room has 2 beds. We'd have preferred a king, but there wasn't one available, and of course, we got our room on Hotwire, so we can't be choosy! The room is narrow, but long, the bathroom is great, the room is very nicely decorated (shutters on the windows!), the bed in comfortable, there a desk and a settee/chaise-like thing, and most of all, the A/C is working just fine!! I'm very happy so far (of course, we've only been here about 1/2 hour). We parked directly across the street in the Central Parking garage - $21.00 overnight. We're returning the car in the morning.

SF - enjoy your trip!!!

YAY!!! A real, first hand report. Let me know how the stay goes. Let me know what sites you go to as well. Stay cool!
Deb

Update - it's 19th that we overlook (not Conn. Ave), and the shower is excellent. I just got back to the room after being out all day -- it isn't at hot as it's been, but wow is it humid, and my feet are killing me! Tomorrow, sneakers instead of sandals!

Let's see, yesterday, we took a cab to meet my DS and his GF, and my cousin and her family for dinner in Chinatown, but not at a Chinese restaurant -- new place called Zengo -- Asian-Mexican fusion (?). It was really really good -- shared plates. All eight of us enjoyed both the food and the place. We walked back to our hotel, enjoying the slightly cooler night air.

Today, we returned our rental car (oh, update about parking below), walked through Union Station (where the rental car return was), and then met my cousin at the Newseum. So interesting. We spent about 3 hours there, then walked over to the cafe at the Museum of the American Indian for lunch. Very very good -- I had mussels, and they were cooked in front of me and yummy. After lunch, we walked past Ford's Theater (didn't really see the point of spending money to go inside), then walked past the White House, finally hopped in a cab for the last mile back to Dupont Circle. I'm just cooling off before we meet DS and GF for dinner at 7:30. DH is poking around Kramerbooks.

Two practical items:

Parking at the Central garage across the street is not a good idea unless you're just parking overnight as we were. It's cheaper to park overnight there than at the hotel, but more expensive than the hotel if you leave it all day, too. For that, use the PMI garages on the south and north sides of the circle.

Re the rental car. We rented at Dulles, from Budget, and specifically had a "plan" that allowed us to return the car to Reagan or to Union Station (the latter for a $12.00 surcharge). We get to Union Station (finding the car rental return was no easy task), return the car, go to the counter, and the young woman says "$710.00", to which we said, of course "Uh, no. It should be about $160.00". To which she said, "but you rented it at Dulles". To which we said, "yes, and we were told specifically that we could return it any day Thursday through Saturday at the same per day rate, to either Reagan or Union Station. Oh, okay, $162.65". Ridiculous -- imagine if we didn't speak English, or weren't assertive!

Oh, I forgot to say, the 2 beds are doubles, not queens. We're not used to such a small bed, but we're managing :-)

sf--welcome to DC! sorry u were greeted with such awful weather, but it sounds like its not stopping u. Zengo is a fun place esp when there are games at the Verizon Center. Enjoy your stay!