Tysons is my number one followed by Dulles and then BWI. Crystal City can also great. I've even often thought about hosting in Old Town (Alexandria), but I've never followed through.
All the complaints about parking in DC are true. But there is the Metro and a lot of professionals, young and old, use it everyday. Plus there is Uber, and a fair number of gentleman arrive that way, even at Tysons and Dulles.
It's also true that is seems like most elevators in town do require a key card. However, that's really easy to overcome with a little bit of coordination. Besides, if you've ever toured NYC, I'm sure you're used to it. And even if you haven't, but plan to someday, or a lot of other downtowns - Boston, Chicago, Charlotte, etc, you'll have to figure that out.
As far as where to host, Dupont Circle and the West End have always been good for me. In fact, a couple of times they've been amazing. That said, I don't host in the District often so maybe that's why.
But I've never felt unsafe in either area. Plus there are great restaurants and bars in both. Some really nice hotels too.
For all of it's drawbacks, don't forget the daytime population in DC jumps from 700,000 fullt time residents to over 1 million people. A lot of those 300,000+ "extra" people are well paid professionals and about half of them are men...
That said, I wouldn't spend more than a couple of days in the District as part of any area tour. Not because it doens't work. But because gentlemen in the District are far more likely to come to Northern Virginia than are gentlemen in Norther Virginia to come into DC. However, I know from personal experiece there are a ton of guys, who for a number of reasons just aren't able to make the trip across the Potomac into VA.
-- Modified on 7/18/2025 8:14:37 PM