We are planning a 5 day trip to Washington, DC at the end of May and need to decide on a hotel. So far we've considered either the Hotel George on 15 E Street, NW. or the Embassy Suites Washington Downtown on 1250 22nd St NW.

We're a family of four (2 adults, 2 teens)

1. Are both of these hotels in a good area (safe and near attractions)?

2. If you had to choose one which would it be? Has anyone stayed at either of these?

3. Is that Embassy better than the one in Alexandria?

I think my son said the Hotel George was on the travel channel a while back, does anyone know if that's true?

I know the Embassy comes with breakfast which is nice and has two separate rooms but if the other hotel is much nicer then those benefits wouldn't matter.

Any other hotel suggestions would be appreciated too.

i have stayed at the hotel george many times for business. it is a fine hotel- but lacks a reasonable restaurant. it is mostly convenient to union station and the capital. the mall is a bit of a walk from there but quite doable. you can always walk over to union station for food court breakfast. the area is safe, i've never had any trouble. but you might want to search out the marriott site. i want to say the convention center marriott- somewhere around 14th. that is much more convenient to the mall only a few blocks away and you are in the center of it. lots of folks prefer the dupont circle area, again good hotels but you need to use the metro to get to attractions. if you are driving and use the george, park in the lot across the street from the hotel, this lot is below the hall of states. this lot is much cheaper parking than hotel lot but is not valet.

1. Both hotels are in safe areas and close to Metro. The Embassy Suites is walkable to te Lincoln and Vietnam Memorials, Hotel George is a quick walk to te Capitol Bldg.
ANY hotel will require you to take the Metro (or taxi) at times. There is no single hotel that is an easy walk to ALL the attractions.

2. If I had to choose, I would probably choose the Hotel George - provided it wasn't WAY more than the cost of Emabassy Suites Downtown.

3. Not familiar with the Alexandria Embassy suites hotel, but the location of the downtown one on 22nd St. is far superior.

I don't have cable, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Hotel George was featured on the the travel channel. It does get a lot of national and international press.

The Hotel George is much "nicer" than the embasssy suites, but you may want to walk one block away to Union Station for breakfast or elsewhere in the neighborhood for meals. The restaurant at the Hotel George (Bis) is one of the very best in the city, but somewhat pricey. Here is the menu to give you an idea:

http://vidaliadc.com/bistro/index.asp

I am a walker, but for me the walk all the way down 22nd, around Washongton Circle and all the way up 23rd St and over to the Lincoln and Vietnam memorials is a l-o-n-g walk, esp. if one is going to be walking all around the Mall for the rest of the day. For me, that's a cab ride. As Bardo said, you will be using some cabs and likely using Tourmobile.
The Embassey Suites is a typical ES. It is close to a Bread and Chocolate cafe (unless that has closed) and a little grocery store across the st., and a few restaurants close by, plus it is a manageable walk to Georgetown for some (fairly hip) shopping and dinner on M St and Goergetwon Park mall and Wisconsin Ave. at night. I don't know about the one in Alexandria to compare it. It is pretty close to Foggy Bottom metro stop (across Washington Circle). I think that is the closest one, although you can also walk to Dupont circle from there.

Thanks to all who replied to my thread. Also, appreciate the website for the menu to the Bis. Looks like we won't be eating there, way to expensive for a family.

Is the one block from Hotel George to the metro station a long one? What type of food or restaurant do they have there for breakfast and approx. what price range are we looking at? Are there any other inexpensive places to grab some breakfast near the Hotel George? Couldn't we always eat in the area we were heading to prior to checking out the museums or attractions?

I've seen several good reviews about the JW Marriott would it worthwhile for me to check prices out for that hotel? We don't want to be 15 mins. away from the downtown but if anyone can recommend a good hotel please do. We're open to suggestions.

Yes, the block from Hotel George to Union Staion is indeed long.

There really isn't an (inexpesive) breakfast on the way from walking from the Hotel George to the Mall - you're best bet in that situation would to go over to Union Station where there are about 50 different restaurants, cafes, and eateries in all price ranges. You could then simply hop on te Metro right there.

Another option would be to walk From George to Chinatown where there are another 50 places or so clustered together around 7th & H st. (hardly any of them Asian, BTW). Again the Metro is right there to continue to the Mall.

Definately check out the prices at the JW Marriott. It's a very nice property and the locatoion is one of the best in the city - a few short blocks to the Mall and right at Metro Center station. Could be pricey - theirprices vary vary considerably depending onwhat's going on in town.

The Hotel George was featured on the Travel Channel in an episode of "Great Hotels" with Samantha Brown about two years ago.

We stayed at the Washington Hyatt. We were very happy with this hotel.Great location,Nice roomy room,lobby connects to the subway...

Appreciate all the information, believe me it definitely helps. Here's the update so far.....

We've cancelled out the Embassy Suites as we rather be closer to the main attractions. We are still deciding between the JW Marriott and the Hotel George. I'm going to check into the prices at the Washington Hyatt too.

Central reservations won't confirm a non smoking room at the JW Marriott (have to call the hotel directly and confirm and the person wasn't there today). We can't stay in a smoking room as one of our kids has allergies. So any other hotel suggestions? I don't know if I want to stay at the Hotel George as it is kind of pricy. How long will it take to walk that one long block to the Union Station? What if we want to see another attraction that doesn't need for us to take the metro, it seems kind of silly to walk out of our way there to have breakfast. I may be back to "square one", NO HOTEL. HELP.... I'm getting so frustrated and I have to finalize our plans.

JW is a great location for a walking family. It's a nice non-descript hotel heavy on convention traffic. There's plenty of activities and many dining choices nearby -- from high-end to cheap. If the teens are into sports, the ESPNZone is right down the street. It's an easy walk to the Mall and monuments.

Just up the street a couple of blocks from the JW is the Hilton Garden Inn, which is a nice moderate choice.

Just called the Grand Hyatt and it doesn't have a room with 2 dbl beds, so that won't work. Some kind of convention will be there and they're sold out for that type of room. Back to the drawing board.

If the JW doesn't work out and I can't find another hotel in that class (3 or 4 stars) then it looks like we'll have to stay at the Hotel George.

Any other hotel suggestions in the 3 or 4 star classification?

Maybe the Marriott Metro Center?

I don't know what your price range is, but have you considered the Willard?

SGF,
Look also at the Hotel Washington (1 block from the JW Marriot) and the Hotel Sofitel (1 block to White House and 1 block to McPhearson Square Metro). Both are nice, convenient 3/4 star hotels. Call them directly for best info.

Thanks so much for all your help.

Yes, I called the Willard and it's way out of our budget, (around $400.00 a night!) I'm going to try calling the hotels just mentioned but the good news is that I may be able to get something at either the JW Marriott or the Grand Hyatt. Just waiting to hear back from hotel.

One more question since you've all been so helpful... Between the JW Marriott and the Grand Hyatt assuming we can get the accomodations we need plus I can get a good price would you prefer? Consider location, quality of hotel and what restaurants are in the area.

I'll let you all know the outcome once I've gotten a response from the hotels.

Just a few more questions not related to hotels..

1. Should we book the imax tickets and the spy museum on line ahead or just wait until we get to the hotel to know our schedule better?

2.Which hop on/off tour is better, Tourmobile or Trolley? Should we also wait to purchase ticket for that or get them on line since we're going during a busy time? It's just so hard to know what you're going to be doing a head as you don't know how much time to allow for each attraction.

Once again, thank you all so much.

Hi

Sorry to barge in late - but if you're looking to get a more reasonable room then you might try bidding on Priceline. You can do much better there for Washington hotels unless a hotel has a super duper sale.

The JW Marriott is in a good location and so is the Marriott Metro Center and the Holiday Inn downtown (it's closer to the L'Enfant Plaza and Smithsonians. As many will tell you a hotel in the Dupont area is good as its close to many sights and also our Metro.

Metro is about the easily way to get around DC and except for rush hours you'll enjoy it.

Check with Priceline, call your congressman and get some passes for the Capitol and maybe the White House (I don;'t know if it's opened to smaller groups again) but give it a try.

Otherwise come back online with your questions.

I think the Grand Hyatt and the JW Marriott are equivalent options. Smallish rooms, great downtown location. Preferable for business over tourist IMO. I would give the nod to the Hyatt because of the hotel's proximity to the metro (on top of it) and I generally prefer Hyatt over Marriott properties.

If I were you I'd try to reclaim my booking at the Embassy Suites. 22nd Street NW is hardly the hinterlands. The ES is closer to to Georgetown and Dupont Circle and that makes it a more interesting place in the evening than downtown.

Tourmobile over OT Trolley? Don't think there's much of a difference, both are good, although Tourmobile goes into Arlington Cemetery and OT Trolley does not.

Loew's L'Enfant Plaza and the Holiday Inn, Ave. C are directly behind the Smithsonians, an ideal location for walking to all attractions in the mall area. (more than enough for your 5 day trip) Have stayed at both, typical hotels, roof swimming pools. Underground parking and restaurants on site. DC is a walking town; would rather stay close than take the subway or a taxi.

Hi,

We didn't want to do Priceline because I heard that they won't guarantee you a room with 2 doublebeds nor a non smoking room. If this is true then that won't work for us. Do you happen to know how it works when you're 4 people? Do you also have to pay upfront?
We stood at Loew's L'Enfant Plaza years ago the last time we visited (definitely over 15 years ago). Now I'm aging myself!!!!!! It was great at that time and the location was super. I was going to rebook there this time but after reading some of the reviews which state the rooms have seen better days even though the lobby is good we decided to skip it and try another hotel.
The reason we cancelled the Embassy Suites as we usually like to stay at that hotel chain is because we wanted to be closer to the attractions. By staying at either the JW Marriott or the Grand Hyatt won't we be closer to just walk? If we had stayed at the Embassy Suites Washington how long would it have taken us by metro to get to downtown?
We figure by the time the evening rolls around after all the touring during the day and dinner we'll just want to go back to the hotel to shower and relax. We do plan on taking one evening to check out Georgetown. What's at Georgetown and Dupont Cirle to make it a better location to stay?

By the time our trip rolls around I'll be such an expert, thanks to all of you!!

There's not all that much difference between the Grand Hyatt and the JW, but the JW is a better location for getting to the Mall and monuments.

If you want to walk to the Mall -- and have downtown dining options -- the JW is your best choice for a moderate hotel. I'd put the Marriott Metro Center in 2nd place.

I'd recommend the Hilton Garden Inn at Franklin Square again, though. It's only a few years old and the rooms are nicer than the JW's. We use both places for business visitors and many prefer it to the JW.

L'Enfant area hotels are fine for visiting the Mall, but it's deadly boring there at night, while downtown is booming. If it's been 15 years, you won't recognize many of the areas.

The Hotel Washington has a wonderful location and the Sky Terrace for drinks, but most rooms are tiny and it was musty when I've been there.

Can't recommend staying in Georgetown because it will add to your transportation times. Dupont has better hotel and dining options, but you're looking at cabs or metro to the sights.