Marriott Category 5 Hotels Near Washington, DC: Free Night With Marriott Rewards Credit Card
We released an article previously about the Marriott credit card and why you should keep it (article found here), and probably the most convincing reason for keeping the card long term is that you get a free night stay in a category 1-5 hotel every year on your cardmember anniversary. If you are going to stay at a Marriott hotel at ANY TIME, I beg you to sign up for their rewards program so that you can get some points for future stays!
This article is going to focus on where you could stay on a trip to the wonderful city of Washington, D.C.! Most people don’t realize how extensive the subway system is in DC, and you don’t have to stay in the middle of downtown to have access to the entire area. In fact, staying in Arlington gives you access to a whole new group of restaurants and shops, plus the views of the Lincoln and Washington Memorials are better from the Virginia side of the Potomac than anywhere else!
Let’s first get started by reviewing why the Marriott Credit Card from Chase is worth getting and keeping long-term!
The Marriott credit card comes with a 75,000 point sign up bonus after spending $3,000 in the first three months of getting the card. It is not too difficult for an adult to reach this spend, especially if you use the card for your cell phone, cable/internet, water and electricity, and gas.
The 75,000 points is enough for three free nights in the hotels listed below. If you want to make your points go further, wait to redeem them until after your first cardmember anniversary. You then could use your free night for the year plus your 75,000 points for a total of four nights!
Important aspects of the card are listed below:
-Marriott silver status as long as you hold the card (find out more here)
-5x points per dollar spent at Marriott hotels
-2x points per dollar spent on air travel, car rentals, and restaurants
-1x point per dollar everywhere else
-$85 annual fee waived the first year
We have chosen the following hotels to feature because of several important factors. First, they are all category 5 hotels, which means they cost 25,000 points per night and can be used to redeem your annual free night with the Marriott credit card. Secondly, the hotels (minus the last one) are less than a 10-15 minute ride on the subway to get to the middle of the National Mall. Lastly, the hotels below are all good redemption options for your points, meaning they are a good value when you compare the points to the cash rates. If you want to read more on the Marriott Rewards loyalty program, click here.
Without further ado, let’s see which hotel fits you the best on your next trip to DC!
Residence Inn Arlington Rosslyn
The biggest advantage of the Residence Inn Arlington Rosslyn is the location. The Rosslyn metro station is 2 blocks away. From the Rosslyn metro, you are 1 stop from the Foggy Bottom station at Washington square when moving east and are 3 stops from Metro Center. When moving south, you are one stop from Arlington National Cemetery, 2 stops from the Pentagon, and 3 stops from the popular Pentagon City Mall. The hotel is also surrounded by awesome restaurants and places to shop! The location is perfect!
As you should expect with Residence Inn hotels, you will always get a full kitchen, a living area, and if using points you will be getting a large studio suite. Not bad for using points! You also get free breakfast every morning, and Residence Inn hotels have a really good breakfast with a waffle maker that has more flavorings to add than you can imagine.
In addition to the studio room, Residence Inn hotels typically (this one does) have a 2 bedroom suite, where two couples could share a room and split the cost. This room feels more like an apartment, mainly because it has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a shared kitchen and living room.
This particular Residence Inn has a large outdoor fireplace to relax and snack if you wish. The breakfast area here is large, and there is a fireplace and TV in the lobby if you are visiting in the cooler months and need a place to warm up!
Courtyard Arlington Rosslyn
Let’s start with the typical choices in terms of brands. Elizabeth and I are going to choose Residence Inn probably 99% of the time time over a Courtyard. Residence Inn hotels have larger rooms with a kitchen and full-size fridge, they serve breakfast every day, and they typically have a courtyard/outdoor area just like Courtyard hotels do.
So, why did we include this Courtyard in the list? We realize many people are loyal to the Courtyard brand and have stayed at them before, so this could be a comfortable or safe choice. It took awhile to convince my parents to choose Residence Inn over Courtyard! Regardless of your preference, we don’t want you to miss out on a trip to DC, so check out this Courtyard if you are interested.
Advantages of this Courtyard are:
-4 blocks from the Rosslyn subway
-1 subway stop from the Foggy Bottom station
-1 stop from Arlington National Cemetery
-Rooms are modern with an oversized chair to relax
-Lobby has many food offerings (including Starbucks) as well as a large space to unwind
-The courtyard area is designed well considering it is in a large city (see below)
-Next to restaurants and shopping
Residence Inn Arlington Courthouse
As you can see in the picture above, the Residence Inn Arlington Courthouse has some modern rooms with views! It also is only four blocks from the Arlington Courthouse Metro. From this metro location, you are 2 stops from Foggy Bottom when traveling east, and you are 2 stops from Arlington National Cemetery when traveling southeast.
Without a doubt, if I am staying for a few nights on the Arlington, Virginia side of Washington, DC, I want to be in this location. Some really cool restaurants are here, everything is packed in tightly so that you don’t feel like you’re walking far, and there are tons of shopping options.
As you should expect with Residence Inn hotels, you will always get a full kitchen, a living area, and if using points you will be getting a large studio suite. Not bad for using points! You also get free breakfast every morning, and Residence Inn hotels have a really good breakfast with a waffle maker that has more flavorings to add than you can imagine.
In addition to the studio room, Residence Inn hotels typically (this one does) have a 2 bedroom suite, where two couples could share a room and split the cost. This room feels more like an apartment, mainly because it has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a shared kitchen and living room.
This particular Residence Inn has an indoor pool. The courtyard is modern and is larger than you would expect considering it is in the middle of the city. The thing that sets the hotel apart, however, is the lobby. The stone fireplace is beautiful and is a great place to rest your feet after a long day of walking through DC.
AC Hotel National Harbor
Let’s go ahead and just start with why this hotel is not at the very top! I decided to include this hotel even though there isn’t a way to get to downtown DC by way of the subway. I realize that could be a deal breaker if you fly to DC and want cheap public transportation.
That being said, if you drive to DC, or if you are willing to use programs like Lyft or Uber, then this hotel and this location should be the first place to gather your full attention!
If you are still reading about the AC Hotel National Harbor, then you must think there is something that sets it apart considering the transportation options are not as good as the hotels above. Well, the HUGE advantage of staying here is that it is literally located on the National Harbor/Potomac River with views of the Carousel, and you can get River front rooms!
If you haven’t been, National Harbor is like a small, compact city unto itself as a suburb of a larger city. There are chain restaurants, a marina, shopping malls, and best of all, seafood restaurants on the Potomac! The Gaylord Marriott National Harbor is a must visit hotel as it is huge definitely needs to be checked out once in your life. If you are a teacher, find discounts at the Gaylord Marriott National Harbor here. The one disadvantage of staying here is that you may actually spend less time in actual DC because the area is so cool itself! Actually, is that really a disadvantage?
As you can see from the pictures, the hotel is modern and European-style. We have only stayed in one AC Hotel in the past, and our experience was awesome. I will say this with absolute certainty—Marriott re-categorizes hotels every year. I would not expect this hotel to be a category 5 option for long. So if you are thinking of visiting DC, be sure to give this hotel a long look!
There even more hotel options that are category 5 around DC than the ones I listed above. Marriott makes it fairly simple to search for hotels by category using the filter option on the app or on their website, so please don’t just take my word for it, search for yourself, too!
The hotels listed in this article are known to be in safe areas and near food and shopping. I would feel completely comfortable telling some former high school students that are wanting to take a trip to DC to stay in these hotels because of their quality, safety, price, and overall location. I actually just had this conversation yesterday with a former student and recommended the AC Hotel to him!
As always, please let us know if you have questions about anything in the articles or about traveling on a budget. Please share this article so that everyone can benefit, and don’t forget to seriously consider signing up for the Marriott Rewards Credit Card!