thank you for all your helpful input.
We had a good stay this weekend...Saturday and Sunday nights. We had a double room on Gold Passbook floor. it was clean, with very comfortable beds. Front desk personnel were pleasant and accommodating with room loction request. Bellman was fast in retrieving bags we left after checking out.
the metro access in the basement is very handy...as is the central location to the mall, WH, Capitol. A number of restaurants and bars near-by...many more than I anticipated. it seemed safe in the area...although not heavily traveled at night.
All-in-all a good stay and would stay there again.