Million Mile Secrets

I strongly recommend staying at the Willard. It is a very beautiful historic hotel (Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. stayed here) and well-located hotel. You are literally 2 blocks from The White House and a 7 minute walk to The National Mall where most of the National Monuments and Smithsonian museums are located.

You definitely don't want to drive in DC. However, we rented a car since the cost of the rental + gas + parking a block from the hotel was ~$100 or much less than the cost of a cab to and from IAD.

I've posted a detailed trip report on The Willard with 34 pictures on my blog from my trip 2 weeks ago.

Have a look at the pictures and perhaps you'll want to stay at the Willard

xenole

Nice report. Will play around with prices and see what i can do. Must admit the surrounding area seems a little different to what I imagined - expected something like a Times Square location but there'a lot of greenery there.


Only about 3000 points off Gold now after my last stay. Will take a look at Platinum though.

Yes I am doing the MCM. Like to have my accomodation booked well in advance as sometimes prices go up or availabilty lessens and it's good to know something is done already.

What are the general differences, other than maybe 125sq feet, between say a Willard room and a King with a view?

drdanielmacdonald

UK bloke, Planning a 1-nighter from NYC to Washington and wanted peoples thoughts on the best use of my 25000 points in terms of tourist stuff..which HI do people reckon on in terms of being in the tourist thing...either


Holiday Inn : Washington-Capitol
550 C Street Sw
Washington, DC , United States

or


Holiday Inn : Washington-Central/White House
1501 Rhode Island Ave Nw
Washington, DC , United States

Any help would be great!

tgsh2006

I'm from the UK and stayed at HI Washington Capitol last week. The hotel was well situated for the Metro (L'Enfant Plaza) and has a very pro-active GM running things. Rooms were a little dated, but if you have status, an upgrade to King Executive is provided. These are large well appointed, and very comfortable rooms! Internet was free and quite fast. I had no problems using it for Skype for example.

The breakfast and other food offerings were decent and there is a general store and McDonald's within a few metres as well as an onsite Starbucks.

The hotel is within walking distance of Capitol Hill and/or The National Mall.

tom_MN

Consider using points + cash and spreading your 25,000 points over two nights. It's hardly worth the trip from NYC for 1 night.

PurpleDog

The HI Capitol is in an ideal location. The Mall and Air and Space Museum is a 10 minute walk away. There is a StarBucks coffee in the lobby, and a Walgreens 2 doors down for incidentals, snacks, and water. The proximity to the LaEnfant Metro stop can not be understated. It's only a hundred yards away. My wife and I (both middle 50's) walk and use Metro for all of our travel in DC. I can't remember the last time we used a taxi !

ElmhurstNick

I've stayed at both, although it's been a while. Definitely the Capitol one, much better location for sightseeing, closer to Metro for the evenings. The RI Avenue location can be a little iffy at night, although it's better than 10 years ago.

But really, 25k is probably too much for either one. I'd seriously consider making the reservation, but then bidding on Priceline's Name Your Own Price for a 3.5* property once you get a few days out.

krausolany

Take the HI Westbury-Long Island .. it's only 5K points until May 31

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?

jdtravel

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

Often1

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.

hearna

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!

Often1

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.

hearna

k, points taking!

Thanks!

Mart81

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 ;-)