Frommer's Review
This charming, 18-room B&B offers clean, comfortable, and cozy lodging; inexpensive rates; a super location; and a personable staff. How's that for a recommendation? Four local couples bought the 100-year-old property in 2000, gutted it, and made the place over. Guests hail from around the globe, a fact which inspired the owners to add an actual globe to the breakfast room; it's common practice for people sitting across the table from each other in the morning to go over to the globe and point out exactly where they live: the Arctic Circle, Brazil, Seattle -- visitors come from all over, says co-owner Courtney Lodico.
Special features of the guesthouse include a wicker-furnished, tree-shaded front porch; exposed, century-old brick walls; beautiful antiques (mostly purchased from Antique Row in Kensington, Maryland; see chapter 8 for information about these shops); and breathtaking original art. (The innkeepers buy works only from artists who have stayed at the guesthouse, so the art is diffuse rather than profuse, and each piece quite different.) Rooms have either one or two twins, one double, or one queen bed, each covered with a pretty chenille spread or quilt. An intimate alternative to the grand 1,200-room Marriott Wardman Park hotel directly across the street, the guesthouse nevertheless benefits from its proximity to the big hotel, because it's able to offer lodgers quick access to airport shuttles and taxis and views of the Wardman Park's beautifully landscaped gardens. Meanwhile, the Woodley Park-Zoo Metro stop is literally catty-cornered to the inn, Connecticut Avenue and its good restaurants 1 block away, and Rock Creek Park and the National Zoo only a few minutes farther than that.
Note: If this inn is booked, ask about the innkeepers' newest location, a spectacular, turn-of-the-20th-century mansion at 2224 R St. NW, along Embassy Row, 3 blocks from the Dupont Circle Metro station. After completely renovating the mansion, the owners opened the Embassy Circle Inn (tel. 877/232-7744 or 202/232-7744; www.embassycircle.com) in spring 2007. Access the website to get a sense of the elegant accommodations, including 10 spacious guest rooms, each with private bathroom, and magnificent common rooms. Rates run $200 to $260.
Facilities:
Laundry and ironing service
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
