Wash,DC Hotel Help
 

Planning an Oct.trip to WDC.Will be spending most time at museums.Grand Hyatt looks good but $$$.L'Enfant much less but I've seen some negative reviews.Opinions?Also considering Crystal City hotel.Will be taking grandmom and we are concerned a remote location may require too much walking.Thanks for any help.

On your other thread I recommended the Dupont Circle or Penn Quarter areas and somebody else recommended the Kimpton hotel chain (http://www.kimptondchotels.com)

The Kimpton properties are nice.

try priceline or hotwire.

There are dozens of threads on this board about DC hotels, and dozens of DC hotels that would be suitable for you.

With outlying areas like Crystal City or Alexandria, you need to figure out how far a specific hotel is from the nearest Metro stop; some are literally on top of Metro stations, while at others you'd need to rely on taxis or iffy hotel shuttle services to get to the station.

It sounds like you are a party of at least 3. One possibility is the Embassy Suites in Chevy Chase, which is literally atop the Friendship Heights Metro station.

I don't know about the quality of L'Enfant Plaza Hotel (or whatever its current name is), but there is not much in that part of town in the evening. If you want to spend the day in museums, go back to the hotel to chill, and then go out to dinner to a cute and not too expensive place, then Dupont or Penn Quarter are ideal as vjplovesitaly notes.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn -- Capitol over Fourth of July weekend. It's about a block from the Air and Space Museum. It's what you'd expect from a Holiday Inn. Reasonably priced and clean, with a couple of restaurants on-site, including one with a breakfast buffet. I'd stay there again.

I agree with vjpblovesitaly - I really liked the Kimpton Hotels.

I stayed at the Hotel Paolomar in Dupont Circle for a steal if you stayed for more than 2 nights - of course it was a special deal - but worth seeing if they are running it again.

try the omni shoreham and put in the code HOLIDAY. They ran a specail a few weeks ago for $109 a night. Not sure if the code is still working.

Beautiful hotel. We live in DC but went last weekend for a little night away from home and it was wonderful.

It's true there isn't mucn right around l'Enfant Plaza Hotel (although it is an easy walk from there to Air and Space, Freer, the museums on Independence. However, for evening dining, I think that is not particularly important, as the metro is literally right under it, and places with restaurants are only a few stops away. It won't take that long or be troublesome to go somewhere for dinner. If you got a good deal, it should be fine. I'd rather stay there than in Crystal City which I don't consider much of a real place. There are some restaurants in Crystal City (although getting around there may not be easy as it is mainly highways), but I am one who likes to be part of a city when I visit it, not just eat at the closest place to fill myself up.

Crystal City is real close to the airport, though, and Pentagon City if you want to go there.

Well, yeah -- definitely L'Enfant Plaza over Crystal City if these are the only two options.

My teenage son and I stayed at L'Enfant Plaza for a week at the end of May. Excellent location as the L'Enfant Plaza Metro is the convergence of four metro lines. Most convenient for getting to all parts of the city. Also, as mentioned above, short walk to Air & Space, Indian Museum - anything on that end of the Mall.

Room was spotless, well appointed, service friendly. Our room looked out onto the Washington Monument. Starbucks with pastries in the lobby or you can go down to the mall underneath for a McDonald's breakfast or Au Bon Pain.

Posters here warned me that there was no "neighborhood" life for this hotel, but we didn't need it. With the metro, we hopped on and traveled to all areas of the city for dining. Would definitely stay there again.

We stayed in the Embassy Suites last month. This is a good hotel for groups or families. Breakfast is a little busy and crowded but overall the standard is quite good and the staff very helpful - the location is also good. It's not luxury or special but it was good value for money.