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Grex > Travel > #73: Hellllllp! finding hotel room in Washington, DC | |
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jep
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Hellllllp! finding hotel room in Washington, DC
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May 29 19:06 UTC 2007 |
I'm taking the family to Washington DC at the end of next month (June).
There's my wife and I, and 4 kids (age/gender: 16g, 14b, 11g, 11b).
We'd like to find a room for 3-4 days with a kitchenette, pool, and if
possible, free breakfast. We haven't got a whole lot of money. If I
can avoid taking everyone out to eat for a lot of our meals, we can
squeeze our budget a lot and maybe not have to walk to get there.
When you try to put in 2 adults, 4 kids for most of the hotel finding
sites, they snicker and chortle and say "that's a lot of people". If
they return anything, there's the option to look through 600 WWW sites,
490 of which don't have any rooms available of any kind (and which are
for 20 different locations with 24.3 WWW sites each), 87 of which have
rooms for 1-2 people and most of which are located further away from
Washington DC than where I live, and 19 of which have kitchenettes and
such but cost $490 per night. I am getting pretty worn out, trying to
find a place to stay. I'm going to NEED this vacation by the time I get
to take it.
I should perhaps just buy a house there. Or my own hotel chain.
But instead, I thought I'd ask my wise and noble friends on Grex for
suggestions. Do I just not know how to use the travel WWW sites or
something? Is there no way to put into a travel WWW site what my
requirements are, so I don't have to explore a lot of individual pages
in hopes of stumbling across one that offers what I need?
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| 126 responses total. |
edina
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response 1 of 126:
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May 29 19:10 UTC 2007 |
Hmmmm...look on Craig's list and see if there are any vacation rentals
for a week? That might lead to something.
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edina
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response 2 of 126:
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May 29 19:17 UTC 2007 |
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/vac/340347401.html
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mcnally
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response 3 of 126:
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May 29 19:23 UTC 2007 |
Print yourself credentials claiming to be from the Department of Homeland
Security, then find a home you like in the area and explain to the owner
that you are commandeering their property to quarter troops. If they
seem reluctant to cooperate, ask in a grave tone: "You DO support the
troops, don't you?" If they continue to be obstinate, or give you any
guff about the Bill of Rights or the Constitution, tell them that you are
empowered to suspend their right to habeas corpus and that will shut them
up. Do not attempt this with anyone who already works for the Department
of Homeland Security. Bonus points if the person you evict works for the
Justice Department.
:-p
Seriously, though, ask someone who's knowledgable about the area to
recommend an outer suburb that's safe but not too pricey and has decent
connections to the capitol-area public transportation system.
The Craig's List suggestion is not a bad one if you're willing to take a
risk and don't mind compromising on your "free breakfast" preference..
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marcvh
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response 4 of 126:
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May 29 19:39 UTC 2007 |
As you've found, most hotels don't have rooms that can handle 6 people
(even if they allowed it, it sounds more like torture than a vacation.)
The classic technique for a normal hotel would be to get 2 rooms,
possibly adjoining ones. Presumably only one of the two rooms would
need a kitchen.
A vacation rental is probably a good option to explore. Unfortunately
June is kind of a popular time for people to take vacations (and not
very long from now.) Not sure if you're looking for something right in
town only minutes from the museums, or if you'd be OK with someplace out
in the exurbs. There look to be some good vacation rentals in DC, but
most of what I'm seeing runs at least $1500/wk (not sure how much you
wanted to spend) and are also already booked solid for June.
Housing swap might also be worth checking out if you don't mind the idea
of somebody living in your house while you live in theirs, but the
chances of finding what you need on short notice seems uncertain at best.
Failing that, the standard inexpensive lodging solution for a large
family is camping. Unfortunately a large city like DC isn't like to
have it particularly close by. The best approach for close-in camping
would be to find some relatives who live in DC and see if they'll let
you pitch a tent in their yard.
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slynne
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response 5 of 126:
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May 29 19:52 UTC 2007 |
I know of a web site that is all houses/apartments available for rent
by the week. It is:
http://www.homeaway.com/
One of the nice things about their site is that they have availabilty
calenders. I did a quick search though and there was only one
affordable house that was available in June. Craigslist might be the
better choice.
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krj
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response 6 of 126:
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May 29 19:54 UTC 2007 |
I used to live near Washington DC, but that was decades ago.
My understanding is that tourists are now being guided to hotels near
outlying Metro (subway) stops in Maryland and Virginia.
I don't have any more detailed suggestions. The last time I was riding
it, about five years ago, the Metro was a fine way to get around.
It shouldn't be hard to find a map of the DC Metro system.
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marcvh
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response 7 of 126:
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May 29 20:03 UTC 2007 |
One thing that's surprising is that even in suites, hotels generally
do not seem to like having 6 people. Even the Presidential Suite at
the DC Four Seasons only allows 2 adults, 1 child, and maybe also 1 baby
as maximum occupancy, even though it's bigger (1,924 sq ft) than any
house I've ever lived in. Besides, it's $6,500 per night (not including
breakfast), and it's already booked.
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slynne
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response 8 of 126:
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May 29 20:04 UTC 2007 |
Another good site for looking for hotel rooms is
http://hotwire.com
There are some hotels in the DC area there that are available for a
week in late June for as low as $89 a night. That works out to around
$1250 for a week for two hotel rooms.
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