Midrange
Aaron Shipman House
A charming, small Victorian B&B by Logan Circle, with a beautiful back porch and gardens for warmer months. There's also an apartment-suite with a full kitchen on the top floor for $220+/night.
The Embassy Inn
A small hotel converted from an apartment in 1919 in a quiet spot just between Dupont Circle and the U St Corridor.
Hotel Rouge
Boutique hotel with large rooms located just east of Dupont Circle, with a red theme throughout the hotel. Bar/restaurant located on the premises. 24-hour fitness center. Happy hour of red wine, red beer, and red juice served M-F. Five-ten min walk from Dupont Circle metro stop.
Top end
Doubletree Hotel
A large upscale hotel that caters particularly to business travelers and lobbyists, as it is a few blocks from K Street and a couple more from the White House.
Hotel Helix
This boutique hotel has sort of a Hollywood-retro-pop art thing going on and very international clientèleâa fashionable small hotel in a fashionable location. You'll probably want to dress fashionably to fit in at the lounge. Not a typical "Washingtonian" experience, but D.C. really has little to do with that stereotype anyway.
Most options are towards Scott Circle in the southwest of Shaw to obtain that much sought-after advertising blurb, "close to the White House and downtown." But anywhere in that area really is a good place to be, since you'll be near metro stops, principal D.C. restaurant/nightlife scenes in Dupont and U St, and yes, the White House. It's also a pretty neighborhood with a lot of Victorian architectureâthere are some very good small hotel/B&B options here.
District Hotel
Fairly bare-bones, they still find their color TV to be tout-worthy, and the breakfast gets hate mail, but the price for the location is absolutely fantastic. A very solid option for travelers on a budget who want to be both within walking distance of the Mall and in a neighborhood where locals actually hang out.