InterContinental Hotels: Priority Club & Inter-Continental Ambassador - Hotels in the Washington area

Hey guys, I was looking for a hotel in the washington area and notice there are 30 some properties. As a Plat member, which would offer the most bang for the points?

Our plan, land around 7pm in DCA view the sights and sounds before our flight at 5pm out of IAD. Perhalps a hotel that offers free parking to plats as we will grab a rental; mostly to keep our luggage safe in the day time. Unless we can get a hotel near the sighs and sounds that offers free shuttle service to dca and iad (or quick/fast public transit) and late check-out (min 2pm)

So any hotels fitting this description? :)

There is a metro bus from downtown DC near the main sites to IAD. http://www.wmata.com/bus/timetables/view.cfm?line=49
There are also metro trains from smiithsonian metro station (train says towards Huntington) to dca. You can take the blue line towards http://www.wmata.com/rail/

The website is useful as is metro's trip planner. http://www.wmata.com/rider_tools/tripplanner/tripplanner_form_solo.cfm

Hey guys, I was looking for a hotel in the washington area and notice there are 30 some properties. As a Plat member, which would offer the most bang for the points?

Our plan, land around 7pm in DCA view the sights and sounds before our flight at 5pm out of IAD. Perhalps a hotel that offers free parking to plats as we will grab a rental; mostly to keep our luggage safe in the day time. Unless we can get a hotel near the sighs and sounds that offers free shuttle service to dca and iad (or quick/fast public transit) and late check-out (min 2pm)

So any hotels fitting this description? :)

I would not ever recomend a car for a quick look at DC, whether or not the hotel parking is free. It's also summer, so plan on anything you put in the trunk getting baked, anything in the pax compartment getting stolen.

If you are using your car for sightseeing, you will pay a fortune over the course of a day. A taxi DCA-DC will run you roughly $20 + tip and out to IAD roughly $70+tip.

Most pleasant is to cab in, spend the night in DC, spend the morning in DC, have a leisurely nice lunch and then head for IAD. You don't list the days of the week, but the trip out to IAD will take 45-90 mins depending on rush hour and you should allow for a good long wait at the checkpoint between 3:30 and 8:00 PM.

Everything you can fit into the brief time you've got can easily be reached by walking or Metro / Bus if you locate yourself at the property closest to the places you want to see. Of the 30 places you could stay, use Google Maps to figure out what is doable.

Early may 2013; but point taken on a car. So I suppose we should try and find a hotel that provides a shuttle at least from DCA, and take the metro out to IAD.

We would land at DCA either Saturday or Sunday night, and leave Sunday or Monday afternoon. Is it advisable to come in sat and leave sunday to miss the rush hour or big security line ups?

We will be flying in UA-J class if this helps with priority lines.

Thanks for the info/insight guys!

Early may 2013; but point taken on a car. So I suppose we should try and find a hotel that provides a shuttle at least from DCA, and take the metro out to IAD.

We would land at DCA either Saturday or Sunday night, and leave Sunday or Monday afternoon. Is it advisable to come in sat and leave sunday to miss the rush hour or big security line ups?

We will be flying in UA-J class if this helps with priority lines.

Thanks for the info/insight guys!

Rather that focusing on shuttle buses to an airport hotel at DCA, since you've on got one night, why no spend it in downtown DC? Have a nice dinner, see the Mall at night and the like. Outbound to IAD, the bus is just that, a city bus. It's a worthwhile backup if all else fails, but if you are paying for a premium experience in the air, why not do the same on the ground? Cabs and car services are plentiful in DC.

Sunday will beat the traffic, but it won't beat the length of the security line because Sunday PM is a heavy departure time. Access to premium security doesn't help much either because they adjust the # of lanes for premium & steerage to the volume. For a 5:00 PM flight, I would be in my taxi no later than 2:30 PM.

Rather that focusing on shuttle buses to an airport hotel at DCA, since you've on got one night, why no spend it in downtown DC? Have a nice dinner, see the Mall at night and the like. Outbound to IAD, the bus is just that, a city bus. It's a worthwhile backup if all else fails, but if you are paying for a premium experience in the air, why not do the same on the ground? Cabs and car services are plentiful in DC.

Sunday will beat the traffic, but it won't beat the length of the security line because Sunday PM is a heavy departure time. Access to premium security doesn't help much either because they adjust the # of lanes for premium & steerage to the volume. For a 5:00 PM flight, I would be in my taxi no later than 2:30 PM.

k, points taking!

Thanks!

I visited DC last month and we stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton Crystal City, just next to the Pentagon. They have a free shuttle service to the Pentagon subway station which takes you into the city in 10/15 mins. Also it's right next to DCA (You can see planes making their approach from your hotel room) and they have an awesome rotating sky lounge ;-)