Group lodging in D.C. area in June

April 30, 2008 4:43 PM

Need group lodging in D.C. area for families with teens and kids in June

I'll be traveling with a group of families (with teens and a few younger kids) to College Park, MD in June and we're trying to find somewhere to stay other than a typical hotel. We will have between 7-9 families. It needs to be less than $100/night per family and we wouldn't mind all sharing a house or cabin of some sort. The kids wouldn't mind bunking together (boys and girls separately!), but the parents would want their own rooms.

posted by caroljean63 to travel & transportation (11 comments total)

I have had very good luck finding nice places through vrbo.com. It stands for Vacation Rental By Owner - you rent directly from the owner or property manager for the specific house that you want. Most of the place will be too small but sometimes there is a property with multiple houses on it that can be rented by part or as a whole.
posted by metahawk at 5:51 PM on April 30

The UMD Off Campus Housing Services website could be helpful. As far as I can tell it is not just for students and "Short Term and/or Furnished" is one of the search options.

Good luck!
posted by puffin at 6:28 PM on April 30

Also, you might have too many people for this, but perhaps a hostel (like this one in DC) could be something to look into since they often offer private rooms as well as dormitories.
posted by puffin at 6:35 PM on April 30

And, two more ideas: William Penn House and GWU Summer Housing (both of these also in DC, but doable to get to CP)

Sorry, I kept thinking of random ideas after each post. Will stop monopolizing the thread now...
posted by puffin at 6:45 PM on April 30

Maybe the National 4-H Youth Conference Center in Chevy Chase.

You'd have to have a car(s) to get to College Park from there, but it's designed for groups and probably would have the space you need for everyone to be together.

I know it's meant to be a space for youth groups and conferences, but if you are 7-9 families with children you're probably a large enough group to make this work. And they have recreation facilities, etc.
posted by mccxxiii at 8:27 AM on May 1

Hello, this is a local answering.

There is Cherry Hill Park which is about two miles north of the UMCP campus. Cabins and Yurts are $85 a night, and trailers are $140. I've never been there and can't vouch for it, but I have never heard bad things about it. I don't know what your transportation situation is, but I know that there is a UM Shuttle bus that goes to the apartments adjacent to the campground. (The route would be 100-Seven Springs Apartments).

I do not recommend the GWU summer housing that puffin suggests above. GW is near Georgetown in DC and metro is not convenient from there and driving through that part of DC during the week is no fun.
posted by frecklefaerie at 9:30 AM on May 1

Thanks for the replies! Checked out the VRBO and found a couple suitable places that were unfortunately already booked. The 4H center was pricey ($160/night), the yurts looked cool, but they only have 1...may be able to do the cabin/yurt combo.

Someone in our group found this place

http://www.a1vacations.com/rental-home/p157956#unitAmenities


Anyone know anything about the neighborhood? The price makes me think it may not be in the best area of town and this sentence makes me a little nervous, "massages or any other services can be set up by us for your convenience." : )
posted by caroljean63 at 11:47 AM on May 1

I live near that area, and am pretty familiar with it. You are, indeed, close to Capitol Hill and Metro, and the 8th street corridor is quite nice these days.

However, the listing says the house is on 8th between Pennsylvania and M. If you look on Google Maps, you'll see that there's a freeway thereabouts, too. South of the freeway is not particularly nice.

What worries me, though, is that the street photos shown on the listing don't look anything like the street I remember. I haven't been south of the freeway in a while, but I don't think it looked like that. Can anyone confirm? I didn't see an exact street address.
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:56 PM on May 1

I can state with absolute authority that that house is not on 8th Street between M and Pennsylvania--I just went and walked the whole stretch. It ain't there. Of course, it could be sloppy cutting-and-pasting between listings, or something. But be wary.
posted by MrMoonPie at 2:09 PM on May 1

Wow! Thanks for the advance PI work Mr. Moon!! That is VERY odd! We've used VRBO before for a vacation rental and had a very good experience. I wonder if some of these other sites are not as reputable?

The $80/night HoJo is not looking too bad right now, although we're still holding out for somewhere that our group could all hang out together.
posted by caroljean63 at 4:44 PM on May 1

OK, the great hunt of 2008 is over. We ended up taking our chances with Hotwire and ended up at the Sheraton in Beltsville for $58 a night. Not bad compared to their regular rate

However, I'm EXTREMELY irritated to have to PAY $10/day for DIAL-UP in the room! That's positively archaic! The HoJo offers it for free as does every other hotel I've stayed in for the past year! You'd think the Sheraton would be a little more with the times. When our family travels, with 2 teens in tow, we have 4 laptops between us. It's going to be a pain in the backside having to fight over the data port, or shuffling back and forth to the lobby. Of course my techie son will have us hooked into something at the university via a passing satellite or meteorite circling the atmosphere...but still.

Oh, and the "complimentary" breakfast is only for the special people in the "club" rooms. The riff-raff from Hotwire apparently have to walk by the breakfast bar every day on their way to Wal Mart.

Thanks for all the leads and ideas (and PI work!)
posted by caroljean63 at 10:07 PM on May 1