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As gimmicks go, Georgetown Suites, in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., has a clever one running November 18 through February 28: Book two nights at the posted rate and upon check-in your second night’s rate will be adjusted to reflect whatever the outside temperature is at that moment.
Upon hearing this, your first instinct might be to wait until D.C. temps hit the low 20s or teens to book your stay. Trust me, as lovely as the District can be in winter, you and your family will be happier walking around town in late fall, when you won't yet see your breath and the deal will still be a pretty good one.
As an exercise, I plugged in a reservation for two adults and three kids (the size of my brood) checking in on November 18th and departing on the 20th. I checked the one-bedroom pricing without entering my deal's promo code in order to get a benchmark (something I always recommend when evaluating a deal) and got a rate of $155 per night. If you're doing the math along with me you know that means that the number the "pay the weather" deal had to beat was $310.
Next, I checked the one-bedroom rate using the deal’s promo code, “cool," which returned a rate of $215 per night, sixty bucks higher than the rack rate. So my next stop, of course, was weather.com, which told me that the average D.C. temperature on November 18 was 57 degrees. So with your combined two-night deal rate of $272, you'd beat the rack rate by $38. Worst case scenario, if you were to check in this November 18 and the D.C. temperature matched the record high for that day of 80 degrees, you'd pay $295 and still save fifteen bucks with the deal.
Numbers aside, the one-bedrooms at Georgetown Suites are well above average. The bedroom has a king-sized bed, the separate living room a queen-sized sofa bed. There’s a full kitchen, two flat screen TVs, and free Wi-Fi. The rate also includes a discounted parking rate of $15 per day for one car as well as continental breakfast in the lobby.
If your family is within a few hours from D.C. by rail, you might also want to consider one of the best ongoing deals around, the Amtrak Passenger Discount for Children that enables a full-fare paying grownup to pay 50 percent of the lowest available adult fare for up to two kids ages 2 to 15. So by way of example, if my family traveled from New York City’s Penn Station to D.C.’s Union Station, the cost per grown-up would be $49 each way and $24.50 each way per child. The half-off deal is not valid on Acela trains, business or first class, or sleeping car rates, and other restrictions may apply.
See our Washington, D.C. Travel Guide for more trip-planning information, then use our Travel Search price comparison tool to find the lowest rates on flights, hotels, packages, and more travel deals.
