The Hotels Closest to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, in Minutes on Foot

By Matt Spaulding · November 11, 2026

Photo: APK, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Washington Marriott Marquis is 274 meters from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center's 9th Street side, the shortest walk of any hotel we routed and one of four in Penn Quarter that are 4 minutes away. Events DC's history page, dated October 2020, says an underground pedestrian connector links the Marquis to the center, and a 2022 Events DC release calls it the center's official hotel. No other Events DC page we read mentions the connector, so ask the hotel about the route and its hours before you count on it.

Marriott builds its Destination Fee into the rate it lists at every one of its hotels on this page that charges one. At the Marquis it's $35, with a $20 daily food and beverage credit that isn't good at Starbucks. Fees on this page are what each hotel's booking screen showed for a night in November or December, unless we name another source.

The Westin Washington, DC Downtown, another Marriott hotel, is 310 meters from the Allen Y. Lew Place side, which faces Mount Vernon Square. Its fee is $40. Hilton's screen showed no fee at all at the Hampton Inn Washington-Downtown-Convention Center, 328 meters from the same side, or at four more Hilton hotels further out: the Conrad Washington DC, the Waldorf Astoria Washington DC, the Hilton Washington DC Capitol Hill and the Hilton Garden Inn Washington DC/U.S. Capitol. We couldn't get a fee for the fourth hotel at 4 minutes, The Henley Park Hotel, 335 meters from 9th Street. Its booking engine shows no breakdown before checkout.

5 to 10 minutes on foot

The Conrad is 6 minutes away. The Morrison-Clark Historic Inn & Restaurant is closer, 5 minutes from 9th Street, but we haven't read its booking screen.

At the Grand Hyatt Washington, 9 minutes and 659 meters out, the lobby opens onto Metro Center station's 11th Street exit. Its destination fee is $35 a night per room on Hyatt's screen when we read it on 11 November. A read on 29 October for a November night showed $30. The Kimpton Hotel Monaco Washington DC is also 9 minutes, and IHG adds a $37 Guest Amenities Fee per room per night, $42.90 with its tax. At 10 minutes, the Washington Marriott at Metro Center has the smallest Destination Fee of Penn Quarter's four Marriott hotels, $30.

Penn Quarter and Downtown, 11 minutes and up

Riggs Washington DC, 11 minutes and 826 meters out in Penn Quarter, showed a $40 hotel fee per night plus $6 hotel fee tax on its booking screen. The area's other two hotels are well past it. The JW Marriott Washington, DC takes 18 minutes, and its Destination Fee is $35. The Waldorf Astoria is 19 minutes away.

Hotel Zena Washington DC, 11 minutes away, is the nearest of the twelve in Downtown and the White House. Its booking screen added a $35 Guest Amenities Fee plus $6 tax, $41 a night. The Hamilton Hotel is 12 minutes out. Its $25 Facility Fee plus a 1% Community Impact Fee, both taxed, came to $34.08 for the night we read, and the Facility Fee is waived on the government and military rate.

The other ten are 14 to 20 minutes out. Le Méridien Washington, D.C., The Madison is 14 and the Sofitel Washington DC Lafayette Square 16. The Jefferson, Washington DC, the Capital Hilton, The Darcy, The St. Regis Washington, D.C. and the Willard InterContinental Washington, D.C. are all 17 or 18. Hotel Washington and The Hay-Adams take 19, and The Mayflower Hotel, Autograph Collection 20.

The Jefferson and the Hay-Adams are the two without a hotel fee. The other eight charge one, and five put it inside the price they list. Accor's price at the Sofitel holds a $40 Urban Experience Fee, and Hilton's at the Capital Hilton a $30 mandatory charge. Marriott's fee is $36 at Le Méridien and $40 at the St. Regis. At the Mayflower it's $30. The Darcy's screen showed an Amenity Fee of $30.18 plus $4.81 tax, $34.99 a night, and Hotel Washington's itemized a $42 Destination Fee. The Willard's own site lists a $35 daily amenity fee per room per night, which comes with $50 in credits. Our destination fee guide covers which DC hotels charge one.

Capitol Hill and Dupont Circle, 17 to 21 minutes

Nine of the twelve Capitol Hill hotels are 17 to 21 minutes away, and the other three are 24 minutes or more. The nearest, The Royal Sonesta Washington DC Capitol Hill, lists a $35 destination fee per day plus applicable taxes on its own site, and government-rate guests skip it. The Hilton Washington DC Capitol Hill is 18.

The Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill and the Hyatt Place Washington DC/US Capitol are both 19 minutes out, and Hyatt's screen split them: a $35 nightly destination fee per room at the Regency, none at the Place. The Phoenix Park Hotel, also 19, says on its own site that its $32 mandatory facility fee includes tax.

At 20 minutes, the Kimpton George Hotel charges the same Guest Amenities Fee as the Monaco, and Hilton's rate for YOTEL Washington DC already holds a $30.18 mandatory charge. The Hilton Garden Inn and citizenM Washington DC NoMa are 21 minutes out, and Marriott's screen showed no fee at citizenM either. citizenM has no parking of any kind.

Around Dupont Circle, the Kimpton Banneker Hotel is the closest at 18 minutes. Its $30 Guest Amenities Fee comes to $34.79 a night with tax. The Tabard Inn and the Courtyard Washington, DC Dupont Circle are 21. A one-night quote at the Tabard added only the DC hotel tax, and the Courtyard's screen had no fee line either.

The station underneath

Events DC says the center sits on top of Mt. Vernon Square/7th Street-Convention Center station, a Green and Yellow line stop that WMATA's site calls "Mt Vernon Sq", and puts Gallery Place-Chinatown, where the Red Line meets the Green and Yellow, about 5 minutes away. From the hotels past 12 minutes you can take the train instead, though we didn't time the rides. Hilton puts NoMa-Gallaudet U station 0.10 mile from the Hilton Garden Inn.

Parking

The center has no public parking, and Events DC counts more than 3,000 spaces within three blocks. At the Westin, valet and self-parking both cost $80 a day, and self-parking is also $11 an hour. Valet is $75 a day at the Marquis. The Hampton Inn's only parking is valet, $59 a night, and the Conrad's is covered valet at $80 a night with in-and-out. The Grand Hyatt's attached 10th Street garage is $48 for 10 to 24 hours, with no in-and-out, and it can't be charged to your room. Our DC hotel parking guide covers the rest.

Which side of the building

The times on this page stop at the building line on the nearer of two sides: Allen Y. Lew Place NW on the south, facing Mount Vernon Square, or 9th Street NW on the west. We mapped each walk with a foot-routing tool on 29 October, from each hotel's map point, on normal street routes with no event closures. Events DC's accessibility page (October 2020) lists automatic doors at Mt. Vernon Place, L Street north, L Street south and the Metro entrances, and none on 9th Street, so a 9th Street walk can run longer. Allen Y. Lew Place is the new name for Mount Vernon Place, and the address is 801 Allen Y. Lew Place NW, though Events DC's own pages disagree on which name is current. Events DC's exhibitor page puts the dock entrances for Halls A to C at 7th and M and for Halls D and E at 9th and M. Those are for trucks, not visitors.

What else is booked in the building

Events DC's venue page listed five events when we read it on 11 November 2026, and none of them fell in December. The TRB Annual Meeting runs 10 to 14 January 2027, per the National Academies' event page. Our TRB hotel guide has which hotels sold Sunday 10 January as a single night when we checked on 29 October.

The Washington Auto Show runs 22 to 31 January 2027 at the convention center, per washingtonautoshow.com. Events DC lists the Krewe of Pyros 11th Annual Mardi Gras Ball on 23 January and Apex 2027 on 27 and 28 January.