Affordable Hotels in Washington DC | Where our Family Stayed

Looking for a hotel that is family-friendly and close to everything without spending a fortune? Our trip to Washington, DC was planned only about two weeks in advance since it was a challenge to adjust our schedules, so we know that it would be an expensive trip, therefore, we are looking for deals and affordable Hotels in Washington DC to minimize the expenses.

The Greater Washington Metropolitan Area is home to 772 hotels with 112,999 rooms (including those located within DC proper). The average hotel price in Washington for a couple is $181. We were traveling as a family of six needing two rooms for 4 nights, so our goal was to stay in a comfortable but affordable place. Surprisingly, there are cheap hotels around Washington DC. 

Points for Travel. 

To get some returns on this rather overall expensive trip, I aimed to get as many points as possible. I was just approved for a new Chase Ink Business Preferred credit card with a decent sign up bonus, so I charged mostly everything for this trip on the CIBP card, which gives 3x points on travel, among other benefits. Then I went through Rakuten to search for hotel providers with the highest cash back. In Rakuten, I opted to get cash back in terms of AMEX Membership Rewards points instead of cash/check, for future travels.

Searching for Hotels in DC. 

At the time of planning, Priceline has the highest cash back for hotels so I used Priceline to search. Since my parents and family are on this trip, it’s important that the hotel offers ‘free’ breakfast. And since we would be staying for 5 days, we would bring food, instead of eating out or ordering food for lunch and dinner, like in our past trips, so a kitchen would be really great! I found the first affordable Hotels in Washington DC that’s very cheap and booked the rooms. After reading hotel reviews, checking the maps for distances to places we planned on going, and looking at 3d street views, I decided to cancel this hotel without penalty. I then searched for “Suites”. After filtering my price range, I saw the Clarion Hotel Suites Collection in Arlington, VA. I cross checked this hotel on other providers and on Google, and gladly, Priceline is still the best choice. 

Clarion Collection Arlington Court Suites Hotel

Drive time to DC: Their description says 3 minutes. 
Breakfast: Free, with a view. 
Fridge: Full size. 
Kitchen: Complete with dishwasher. 
Shuttle service: No Hotel Shuttle service to/from the airport. 
Cost: Average $171/night. 
Cleanliness: Pretty clean.
Rooms: Spacious and with furniture. 

While it would have been nice if their shuttle runs to the airport, it was fine since my CIBP card offers 5x points with Lyft. 

We stayed for five days and they did have menu variation every day. No complaints on the food. It was decent and satisfactory. The breakfast room is located in the 8th floor and it afforded us a great view of the outside of the building. Breakfast was not busy and runs from 6am to 9am.

The rooms are spacious and it was very welcoming. We slept really good in the hotel which is a treat after long days of sightseeing. We did hear a guest dog barking a few times, but that was it. Our four year old daughter was having fun and very happy with the place.

How our family saved during our trips.

We did buy some groceries on our first day (using Instacart which gives 3x points on my Chase Sapphire Preferred, CSP Card), a little too much since we have left-overs. But what saved us the most were:

1. 1. We brought food to cook with us. Clarion comes with pots and pans and utensils, though we brought our own utensils.
   2. We brought cooked food. I did order outside food via Doordash one night using my CSP card for points.
   3. We brought rice and rice cooker.
   4. We chose a hotel with breakfast.
   5. We only checked one luggage on the plane with the food in it.