Thinking of booking a Hilton. Any recommendations? Embassy Row or Crystal City ($137 or $80)

lili - I'm going to let Flugvergnugen or gvdIAD respond to your question, as they know the area better

Some of the planning crew is busy with site testing the weekend to check out possible venues. We haven't finalized anything, but are getting there and will let you know as soon as we have.

Some Updates
- Saturday - Following Hillwood, we will have the option of heading over to an EU embassy or two in the same general area (I believe its the Austrian and another one up there) before heading back to downtown, so the Hillwood folks can also enjoy some of the EU Embassy Open House Hospitality (these are also usually less crowded options during that very crowded and busy day)
- Sunday (mother's day) - we are hoping to organize a brunch around 11am, so folks headed to U-H Museum for a tour or flights, as applicable, can be on their way by 1:00 or so
- PARKING - DC with their lack of wisdom have changed their parking rules so metered parking is in effect until 9 or 10 every night except Sunday. This is a pain (says someone who interrupted dinner to feed the meter at least once already)

And the best news yet ... Thanks to UNHBuzzard we have a website for this Do. Check out the site and great photos

Very :cool:!

Thanks for setting this up.

The Crystal City Hilton is about 4 blocks from the Crystal City Metro station (Yellow and Blue lines). It's a fairly standard chain hotel (it was originally a Stauffer Hotel, then became a Renaissance, then switched to Hilton). I've been inside a couple of rooms over the years, but nothing specific about the rooms comes to mind. I'd guess that there's a complimentary shuttle to DCA if that's of interest. If you're going to rent a car, there are several garages in Crystal City that are free if you enter after 5:00 pm on Friday, and all day Saturday and Sunday. The Embassy Row Hilton is about one block from the DuPont Circle Metro Station (Red line). I've only been in meeting rooms there, not guest rooms. No free parking and no shuttle to DCA. DuPont is a lot more lively on evenings and weekends than Crystal City and certainly offers more diversions. The venues under discussion are on various Metro lines. You'd probably save a bit of time being on the Red Line in the District, but we're talking only maybe 5 minutes or less, so nothing major.

Though the Embassy Row neighborhood is a a lot more interesting, with the $60ish price difference, I'd probably go with Crystal City.

If there's any other info we can provide, please let us know and we'll do what we can.

new to flyer talk (longtime lurker), but I am very interested, will have to see with exams... definitely want to and can visit the museum / embassies on saturday and the air and space museum sunday
Even having lived a long time in northern virginia I find that I have not "visited" DC that much.

I live in centreville, so I might be able to help out getting to the metro...
Also live near IAD and the Udvar Hazy Air & Space Museum which amazingly I have not visited considering how many times I ve went to the one in DC, darn parking price.

Too Cool :cool:

Love the poll!

I've decided on the following:

Welcome to FT and whatever events you can attend over the weekend. There are also fairly regular monthly gatherings for folks in the area in DC or NoVA - look for the dc 2010 happy hour thread in CommunityBuzz for those.

The Hilton Crystal City is not a good place. It is a very old property, and while they've tried some construction in the last year, it's not helping. If you need Hilton, the Hampton about a block away has less frills but it's not bad. The Doubletree Crystal City isn't much to write home about either.

My work travel to DC has made me a Hyatt enthusiast. If I do make it in, and sadly this is looking less likely, I will be at the Hyatt Crystal City.

Good place.

I've found the CY Crystal City to also be decent, along with the Marriotts.

If you want to stay a bit further out, but still on Metro, the CY Dunn Loring has had some decent rates in the past, and the Fairview Park Marriott provides a shuttle to Metro - Fairview Park is usually pretty empty on weekends - for a while I was staying there on weekends on the Bonus Buck promotion - net cost to me less than $50/night.

[Hillwood Interest, Local, Car] - No (Yes for a later tour with locals - don't want to take out of towners' space), Yes, Yes

- I work in Crystal City, across from DCA. I can pick up folks at DCA on Friday night, show them an incomparable view of DCA/DC skyline from my company's open space on the 8th floor and then bring them to the get together.

- Would love to visit UH on Sunday and can also drive people to Dulles/UH.

- Sadly, I won't be able to attend Saturday night events - going to see Olympia Dukakis in one night only performance at GMU Fairfax.

GoingAway - When and where 10pm DC parking kicked in? ASFAIK, 10pm used to be only in effect on the waterfront in Georgetown, with everything else either 6:30pm-8:00pm.
It is not DC's lack of wisdom to blame, it is their lack of revenue. Got a $35 parking ticket myself despite moving cars (large zone 2 crap). :mad:

fungirl - it's all over DC wherever metered parking is at this point I believe , I think it started with the new year. :( Quite the pain and welcome to the group!

Thanks GoingAway!

For those contemplating EU Embassy visits, we did it a couple of years ago. It is fun if you don't overextend yourself as we did (targeted too many geographically dispersed places to visit). You get to see interiors that you wouldn't normally be allowed to visit and chat with staff.

German Embassy had the best organization/entertainment and "German style" local sausages for purchase. Czech had the "original Pilsner" tasting. Hungarian had various goulashes and other finger food to try.

I would also suggest checking out individual embassy sites closer to the date to see their agenda. Some events were very popular and required a sign-up/early show. If the weather is good, it is a nice way to romp around. :cool:

For those interested in visiting Hillwood, the lunch options, at two separate price points, are as follows --

Light Lunch:

1. Roasted red pepper & curry chicken salad on croissant. Served with oak leaf & frisée salad, champagne vinaigrette. Cookies.

or

2. Croque Madame - grilled ham & gruyère cheese on brioche bread, mornay sauce, fried egg. Served with oak leaf & frisée salad. Cookies.

or

3. Wild Mushroom Salad & Soup. Field lettuce, roasted red pepper, fingerling potatoes, toasted almonds, cumin vinaigrette, crusty baguette slice, and the day’s soup selection. Cookies


4. Classic Lunch (slightly more expensive):

Roasted Chicken & Smoked Bacon Cobb Salad. Roasted chicken breast, applewood smoked bacon, avocado, butternut squash, roasted tomato, egg, Roquefort blue cheese, herb buttermilk dressing. Chocolate Ganache Cake.

You will need to select your lunch option in advance, at the time of prepayment. Should you choose a light lunch, you'll be able to make a change to your selection until two weeks in advance of our Hillwood visit.

Hillwood
 

Please change me to a +3 for Hillwood

Thanks