mcgouran

Hi there folks, I am travelling with my 3 teenaged daughters to Washington during the last week of August 2010 for 5 days. We have reserved rooms at the Embassy Suites downtown and at the Chevy Chase Pavillion. I know that the downtown location is closer but I have some concerns about recents reviews regarding bed bugs in the downtown location. Both locations have the same amenities but am not sure which is a better spot or safer spot? Any help is greatly appreciated!

yestravel

Chevy Chase is an upscale burb of DC. There is a mall (Chevy Chase Pavillon)attached to the Hotel and another mall, Mazza Galleria across the street with Neiman Marcus and some other high end stores. The other corner also has an outdoor shopping mall with Bloomingdales. New Whole Foods is downstairs. Saks is further dow the street (lots os shopping!) Some decent restaurants, but not alot. Sushi Ko behind the Giant, Indique Heights (Indian Food) above the metro are the 2 best ones. Clydes is also there and has ok food. Metro (red line) right there and about 15 minutes to downtown.

Which downtown location are u looking at? There are a couple. In any case, downtown is a lot more convenient to sightseeing. If u want to do shopping Chevy Chase can't be beat!

MikeT

In terms of convenience: Convention Center, Downtown, Chevy Chase

Newness: Convention Center, Chevy Chase, Downtown

Safety: all of them are safe

Bedbugs: all of them are a possibility

Chevy Chase isn't terribly convenient, although the neigborhood is nice but the same stuff you can see in any upscale suburb in America.

mcgouran

Thanks Mike T and yestravel. I was all set on the Embassy suites downtown (22nd ave) then I found a cheaper price at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill. Not sure how these hotels compare in terms of convenience (metro and sites) and safety. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Am also wondering about whether it is better to buy a smartrip card or just use a daily pass? Any help is greatly appreciated!
Cheers everyone!

obxgirl

That Hyatt is in a very good location for touring the National Mall. Also Union Station, the Postal Museum and one metro stop to the sites near the Gallery Place Metro (Spy Museum, American Art, Portrait Gallery, Building Museum, good restaurants).

That said, I think the Embassy Suites is in a better location, still easy access to the above but more centrally location to the White House, Dupont Circle (shopping and restaurants), Georgetown, and the major monuments. In addition to the subway you can use your metro pass on the DC Circulator, a bus designed to hit all of the major touring spots.

Can't speak to the particulars of either hotel.

Safety concerns for either place are none other than standard precautions you'd use in any large urban city.

longhorn55

The cost of a SmarTrip card is $5 until August 29th when the price goes down to $2.50. So, for four people, the cost of just the cards themselves will be either $20 or $10. It costs 25 cents extra per ride to use paper farecards. So you would have to do more than 20 rides each if you buy a SmarTrip card before August 29 or more than 10 rides each if you buy the card after August 29th in order for you to save any money.

longhorn55

Sorry, I didn't read your questions closely enough. You wanted to know if the One-day Pass or the SmarTrip Card was the better deal.
If you go to the Metro website (www.wmata.com) you can see how much it costs to ride between certain stations. If you know where you are going each day, you can figure out how many rides you'll be taking and how much it will cost. At $9 per day for the One-day pass (which cannot be used during rush hour times), you will probably need to take at least 5 rides per day to make it cost effective.

DancingBearMD

Per longhorn55's posts, note that your choices are not just one-day pass vs. Smartrip card. You can also just buy a regular paper farecard. Trips with the regular farecard will be 25 cents higher per ride than the Smartrip card, so you'd only be better off buying Smartrip cards if you'll be making more than 20 trips on Metro (at least until the Smartrip card price drop coming August 29th).

mcgouran

Hi everyone...thanks for all you good advice and I was all set for Embassy suites downtown but have just found a great deal on Residence Inn DC Capitol ($800 incl taxes) which includes breakfast and a pool -- any advice on whether this spot is a good location/hotel? Any help is great! Cheers!

obxgirl

This hotel is probably in the least interesting location of all the ones you've mentioned. It's within walking distance to the National Mall but is in an area that is primarily federal office buildings. Not much if any in the way of good restaurants or night life. Is the pool going to be a big draw for your 3 teen girls?

It wouldn't be a bad choice but I think the other places are better located.

And sorry to bury the lead, but when I googled tripadvisor to get the specific address of this Residence Inn, the first review screamed bed bugs.