Those are pretty good rates for those hotels (particularly the Monaco), for most days and dates, I would think. Where did the rates come from? And for what dates? I'm always curious (see the other thread below about GWU graduation).

What are you looking for here? Best location? Best hotel of the three? To me, the best location of those three to be in for Smithsonian is probably the Monaco. It's just a couple blocks off the mall and roughly midway between the Capitol and Washington Monument. The George is down by the Capitol end, which is okay, but less stuff going on at night really. The Jefferson is several blocks farther north of the Mall and several west of the Monaco, a few blocks directly north of the White House (which is itself set back off the Mall). That area is also a bit uphill from the Mall, really. The main redeeming thing about being up there is you'd be closer to the Dupont Circle area if you wanted to do stuff there at night. The area around the Monaco would be in-between for nighttime stuff. It's in the MCI Center area and near Chinatown. There would at least be some restaurants and such around, though not as much choice as Dupont.

Of the three I'd pick the Monaco, even at 20 bucks more. It's the best located for your sights and probably just a bit more upscale than the other two. But then I don't care about what's going on in the area in the evening for the most part. As long as there's a restaurant somewhere not in the hotel, I'm good. I won't speak too much to actual feel of the hotels because I haven't stayed in any of them.

If you're not married to one of those three choices, make sure you've checked QuikBook and Captiol Reservations (just add a .com to get to their web sites) for your dates to see if there's anything else interesting at those rates or less. Also, given the variance in locations you're considering, you might want to try Priceline bidding. Cutting that rate another 50 bucks for a 4* level hotel would not be outside the realm of possiblity if your stay is in the winter (which I'm guessing it is given those rates). Try BetterBidding.com for tips.