Originally Posted by
hearna
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.