My family and I just returned from a week long vacation in Washington DC. We stayed at the Westin City Center located just 4 blocks from the White House. The hotel was beautiful and the staff was fabulous. I had shipped ahead all of our belongings so that we could travel light - even though my children are long out of the baby stage. When we arrived, the man at the front desk told me that I had packages that had arrived and asked if we would like them brought to the room, which we did. Unfortunately, they charged me a small $10 fee on my bill for package handling, but it was still less than the cost to check two bags at the airport and was wonderful to travel without the baggage.
The manager happened to be at the desk when we were checking in and leaned over and told the clerk to upgrade us to a deluxe room. We were so thrilled. We had booked a standard room, and for the same price as the standard (and a large tip) we spent the week in a gorgeous and huge deluxe room. With hotels not booking up these days, I think it is very reasonable to ask staff for an upgrade. In the past, I have even been able to get a honeymoon suite for no additional charge!
My children got a little bit bored with all the walking and looking. An occasional roller coaster ride would have cured that - but there were none to be found close by. Their favorite place ended up being a day trip to Mount Vernon. We did the National Treasure Tour there and they enjoyed seeing places they recognized from the movie and discussions about how the movie was filmed. We even got to go into the basement of the house, which is normally off limits to the public.
The Smithsonian Museums were another great day trip, and we made sure we got in a view of the Ruby Slippers, and the Hope Diamond and other great relics on display there. A ride in the simulator at the Air and Space Museum broke up the monotony a bit.
It was a very luxurious trip, for a reasonable price. We got our airline tickets for $250, a free upgrade on the room, and all the activities we did at little or no cost, we had a pretty economical vacation.
