Cheap hotel in DC in May

February 1, 2009 10:22 AM

Any recommendations for inexpensive hotels near Georgetown Law School? Will be there for commencement weekend, May 15-17. Using sites like hotels.com and orbitz it seems like all the cheap hotels are already filled (only found rooms for ~300/night) and I don't know anything about DC.
posted by nooneyouknow to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

Look around Vienna, VA (22180) and use Metro, Rosslyn (across the bridge from G-town)... Anything across the river will be somewhat less expensive.
posted by JayRwv at 10:46 AM on February 1

Are you only looking in the vicinity of the school? It's over right by Union Station, on the metro Red Line..

You could get a room in a hotel somewhere in the DC area that was on a metro line, and it wouldn't be too hard to get there, if you looked for a major chain hotel downtown near Chinatown or Metro Center metro, or Dupont Circle, or Woodley Park, Cleveland Park - these are all along the Red Line so it's one trip. If you don't know anything about DC maybe not a good idea to drive around too much, traffic here is a nightmare. The metro closes at midnight on weekdays but 3am on Friday/Saturday.

Avoid the hotels on New York Avenue I think, that's kind of a pain and you'd have to drive a ways, and parking around the Law Center is also a big headache, there's hardly any and it's also right by Capitol Hill so a lot of the spaces are just official government parking. Alternately you might try hotels in Northern Virgina, ie King St in Alexandria, Crystal City near the airport, Rosslyn - it's going to involve switching metro trains to get there, but not too much of a headache. Or you could take a cab of course.

The Law Center also gives some recommendations and of course, it being Georgetown, they're a little disorganized and say "coming soon" for info on the hotels who have discounted rooms if you mention it's for Georgetown Law commencement. Hahah. IMHO it wouldn't hurt to call a few and try mentioning it anyway and see if they have the discounted rooms - the Law Center (WARNING this is a PDF file) reunion weekend info from 2007 lists the hotels that are right in the neighborhood and used to give discounts, I'd start there.
posted by citron at 10:51 AM on February 1

The Intown Uptown Inn is a friendly and affordable B&B very near (but not IN) the downtown D.C. area. The Inn, which was converted from a Victorian mansion, is located in a residential area about a 15 minute busride downtown (bus stop is right next door to the premises). We had a nice stay here in 2007, and enjoyed the Inn's personable owner, Sandra. (Breakfasts were good, too) We stayed in one of the Inn's more expensive rooms which was, IIRC, ~$150/night.
posted by applemeat at 10:52 AM on February 1

I've had great luck in DC with hotwire.com. I just plugged in your dates and saw a 4-star hotel in nearby Dupont Circle for $113/night. I don't think you'll find anything nice hotel that's much cheaper.
posted by eisenkr at 10:54 AM on February 1

Yeah, agreed w/ JayRwv. There just aren't really any "cheap" hotels near the law school. You're at the heart of DC there and proximity to the centers of power greatly inflates prices. DC has a great subway system - clean, safe, maybe a bit pricey - with a stop at the law school, so there's no reason to pay 2-3 times as much to be right there.

You might also want to look at some places further up in Maryland, like Silver Spring or Greenbelt, which are loaded with businesses and hotels in a less dense setting. (Hotels might not be near the Metro at a place like Greenbelt, but hotel shuttles are likely.)
posted by el_lupino at 10:57 AM on February 1

Not exactly a hotel recommendation, but I've actually had good luck with Priceline's "Name your own price" feature. You can usually pick a part of the city the star rating of the hotel. Basically the hotels have cheaper prices that can't be advertised and you just keep low balling the price until you get something you like.

You can't actually pick the hotel but that really hasn't been a problem for me.

Just looking at it Georgetown/Foggy Bottom is one of the areas covered, 4-star hotels in that area are going for 180-350, I'd go in looking for a 4 star hotel for $100 and see if anything hits.
posted by bitdamaged at 11:06 AM on February 1

Just so we're all clear, there's Georgetown, which is near Foggy Bottom and Rosslyn, and Georgetown LAW, which is near Judiciary Sq.

To the OP - if you want cheap, get thee to the burbs. There's plenty of hotels around most metro stops. Find something out in Maryland along the green or red lines, and then train in. That's probably your best bet.
posted by SNWidget at 11:23 AM on February 1

The Harrington is DC's quintessential cheap hotel. Downtown near Metro Center -- take the Red Line to GU Law and get off at Judiciary Square or Union Station (one might be closer than the other).
posted by jgirl at 1:35 PM on February 1

Try the Adams Inn. (http://www.adamsinn.com/) It's a B&B that my whole family stayed in when I graduated from GULC, and they enjoyed it. It's just a few block walk from the Columbia Heights Metro, or a short bus ride to Dupont (the 42 bus). Also, it's in Adam's Morgan, so cabs are plentiful. From my own experience, our law school commencement happened on main campus, not on the law campus, so you may want to make sure where the graduation is going to be before getting a hotel in Capitol Hill and having to shlep to Georgetown.
posted by batcrazy at 2:28 PM on February 1