All of these locations are Metro accessible except for DC Northeast (that is a very broad area; some spots may have Metro service) and Georgetown North.

And, yes, do yourself a favor and leave the car at home and just take Metro to your hotel location.  Pay parking can get expensive.

dupont circle is a favorite area for providers
georgetown is a very happening area, college town.

so yes, there a metro stop just about every few blocks around the areas you mentioned.


consider bwi hotels if you want less parking hassle and more reasonably priced hotels. bwi is a favorite area for many guys actually.

she just kept throwin $1's at me not to stop.lol

It's not on the list, but Bethesda is great.

And bid for 3 stars
Easy for directions
Free parking
Close to shopping mall
Not that expensive
Upscale rooms

On Priceline, I would choose Dupont / Woodly park as it has good Metro stops


my 2 cents for what its worth
PA


Convention Ctr - Capitol Hill area - (Depending on the convention center schedule it could be difficult)

DC Northeast –  (Stay Away all together)

Dupont Circle - Woodley Park –  (best First Choice)

Georgetown - Foggy Bottom –  (Not Bad)

Georgetown North –   (expensive)

White House - Downtown –  (Quite a few hotels in this area have Door and Elevator security that could prove problematic)

Don't leave out the Thomas/Scott circle area as they are close to Metro stops, have plenty of parking garages around and there are many boutique hotels and chains that are hobby friendly as well as great rates. Feel free to PM me but it's an area that is so overlooked but I could name 6 hotels off the top of my head that are all less than 250/n and all 4 Star hotels that are great.

You can go to wmata.com and use their map to find out where hotels are vs metro stops (switch to google mode).  Link below.

Fly into DCA - take a cab to your hotel and back to the airport.  If you want to go out and about - use metro or walk.  No need for a c ar unless you are really into frustration - looking for places to park and paying too much for parking (over and over again).

...... narrow down to the stars you'd like and see what the going winning bid for a 3 star in xxx area or 3.5 in xxx area to get a good idea of what to bid.

I've only tested the waters of Alexandria,  Crystal City (Arlington) or Fairfax VA. Tysons Corner mall area (one....did well enough I'm not against going back).

- Georgetown is not that Metro accessible; the center of it (generally agreed to be M St. & Wisconsin Ave) is about 6 blocks from the Foggy Bottom Metro.  North Georgetown is even farther.  There's a history of the Georgetown folks not wanting Metro in their neighborhood--combination of snooty rich folks not favoring dreaded public transit & business owners not wanting 4 years or so of disruption while it was built.  
- Foggy Bottom itself is quite accessible, GW Univ area--try the River Inn.
- Convention Center is actually quite a ways from Capitol Hill.  Most 'Capitol Hill' hotels are in the New Jersey Ave area, near Union Station.
- Dupont Circle area always has lots of providers staying there.
- White House/Downtown is mostly very Metro accessible.

You might take a look at the Crystal City area in Arlington; Metro station, lots of hotels that are mostly cheaper than downtown (2 Marriotts, Hilton, Sheraton, Hampton, Hyatt; just note that the Crown Plaza has key-controlled elevators), and most of the underground parking is free after 4:00 & all day weekends.  And also right next to DCA airport.  Not sure why more providers don't stay there.

And BTW, we are still in the high tourist season, so hotel bargains are not very common.  By early September you might find more favorable room rates.

Good luck!

I am probably adding confusion to the decision, but stick to Priceline or Hotwire. Also Quikbook.com often has some decent deals and you can pick the hotel.

Stay away from Georgetown, poor metra access.
All the other areas are fine. I recommend White  House - Downtown or Dupont Circle get large commercial impersonal hotels.

Wish I was joining you.

with some more detail.

One thing I would suggest on future DC trips--look at rooms starting about a month out.  The prices for DC hotels is probably more volitile than any other city I know.

In the summer it's tourist season and the mid-rande hotels become hard to get.  But sometimes when Congress is not in session you can get some of the truly 4 & 5 star hotels for less than the 3 stars.

I am in DC a couple days next week.  First night I'm spending almost 300.  Next night, same hotel, 99 & they are including parking and a $25 food voucher.  Yes, swings like that in one day are common in DC.

-- Modified on 8/11/2011 6:33:39 PM

If you have to pick out of that selection, I would go for Woodley park or Dupont Circle and specify that time be added for parking visitors or aim for metro access.  Woodley Park drops off RIGHT in front of one hotel and Dupont has some fun options with great metro access/cab access.  Dupont is a bit closer to the typical stomping grounds for DC workers.  Usually you can find some sort of parking nearby via meters.  Plus, its in a good neighborhood, so you have no worries if you pop out for some fresh air.

Cap Hill could be decent, but parking can be a pain if they can't do metro or cabs.  Convention Center, you can get lucky with parking and there are a ton of over-priced parking garages, but I never had good luck with reasonable pricing.  NE, I usually avoided this for a multitude of reasons, but mostly because driving on the NE side sucks.  Georgetown/Foggy Bottom, usually a bit too pricey for a room, but okay if you can get a good deal - keep in mind that metro access is NOT an option for G-Town.  Really close to the white house usually only worked out well when it was a weekend day since downtown is a ghost town at that time of the week.  

A word of warning for DC hotels - getting there before typical check-in works some of the time, but if there's something going on, you may just have to wait a few hours on check-in day before you can head up to your room.  In NoVa, I never really had issues checking right in.