Does anyone know anything about this place? I am flying up to DC for govt consulting work and the only place I can find at or under the per diem is this place. I called the number and they answered the phone by saying, "FDIC Student Housing." UGH.

I hate flying to DC on short notice.

I could always do a B&B I guess.

No, afraid I don't. But Virginia Square is the name of the metro stop close to George Mason University. Have you considered trying Priceline for a real hotel?

Thanks. I could try priceline, but almost everything is sold out for the night I need, and everything else is like $350 or more a night. So my hopes for priceline aren't good. I think I'm going to try out this place and I'll report back what it was like.

You have nothing to lose by booking something cancellable and then trying Priceline. PL has been known to release great rooms just a day or two before a stay, due to cancelled reservations. It's just human nature for people to respond to perceived scarcity by snapping up rooms just in case, then cancel them later.

Many hotels that offer rooms at federal rates will not extend that rate to contractors, only to actual federal employees. Even feds have a hard time finding a room available at per diem during busy times - like right now, when the place is full of cherry blossom and school trip crowds. Have you tried www.quikbook.com or www.accomline.com? I usually have good luck with them, but at during this busy period you may have to either stay a metro ride away from where your work is located or just suck up the cost.

I had no luck with priceline or the other websites. So I went to the FDIC hotel. It's in a great area - a 24-hour Giant next door, a Cosi in the building, etc. The lobby of the hotel is nice, and they have a large business center (free) open 24 hours with tons of computers.

The room was fine. The bedroom/living room area looked like a Comfort Inn. They had a full kitchen. The bathroom looked like an old Econo Lodge. The bed was not very comfortable and the sheets were part polyester and I sweat most of the night. But overall, it was not bad - very clean, very safe and generally OK. Would not be my first choice but certainly better than some hotels in the DC area!