Highlander Motor Inn

We had overflow guests in town celebrating my mother’s 100^th birthday. Since we live in the neighborhood they chose the Highlander, mainly for convenience. They all loved it — they reported that the staff was friendly and helpful; the rooms were clean and comfortable with updated baths; and the price was right. Everyone was more than pleased! With its proximity to the Metro, restaurants and shopping, you can’t go wrong with the Highlander.

I stayed here in support of Ron Paul’s 2008 campaign. I remember this place to be clean and affordable and very conveniently located.

Bathrooms are nicely remodeled but the hotel is outdated overall. No deadbolt locks, mattresses are hard, pillows flat, but more importantly the rooms aren’t cleaned well to the point I found condoms in my room — gross! Under beds aren’t cleaned. You get what you pay for not sure I’ll stay again as I was not compensated for the «ew» experience.

This is a working persons motel. It’s an older mom and pop style motel probably built in the 60’s or 70’s.
If that doesn’t bother you then I encourage you to stay there. And yes it is family run. It’s no frills but comfy. The bathrooms have just been remodeled with beautiful tile and glass doors in the shower. The beds are nice and comfortable. Flat screen tv’s also. It’s a great find so close to dinning and pubs within a few blocks. And at least ½ the price of any nearby motels.
If in the area again will definitely consider it.

I was a little nervous about this place based on the pictures of the outside and some of the reviews. We stayed there on MLK/​Inauguration Weekend, though, and I learned yet again not to judge a book by its cover (or by other judgmental reviewers for that matter).
First, the location is excellent. It is a couple blocks from the Virginia Square Metro, which was perfect for us. It is also within walking distance of the Clarendon Metro. That walk allows you to pass by several eating establishments, so we used that Metro stop if we wanted to eat before/​after being in the District. There were several restaurants within a block or two, and they were all decent.
Second, the area felt safe. I don’t know anything for sure, but I wasn’t ever worried to be out after dark. The doors do open to the outside like an old motel, but again, we had no issues with that.
Third, the rooms were nice — especially considering the price. We booked this because the price was one of the lowest we found in the DC area. That’s important to me when I am going someplace where I intend to spend the large bulk of my time NOT in the hotel. The outside of the hotel looks its age, but the inside of our room had been renovated and look fairly new. Beds were nice, as was the shower. There are some cords/​wires that seem to be dangling around, but I think that was just part of keeping an old building up to date. They weren’t dangerous or anything. The rooms also included FREE wifi (try getting that at a newer, more expensive place).
Last, the staff was friendly. We didn’t really need them to do much above and beyond what I would expect of a motel staff, but they were very nice when we checked in, each day as we got breakfast, and when we checked out. They did also allow us to store our luggage there after checkout before we came back that evening to retrieve it.
Overall, we enjoyed our experience here. It was definitely worth the price, and I would recommend it if you’re traveling to DC and want to save some money.
Oh, and the breakfast consisted of some donuts, bagels, fruit, yogurt, and OJ. Not much, but it was free and a good start to our travel days. The donuts were just a store-​bought kind but for some reason, I REALLY liked them — actually, I’m craving one now.

The 4^th star is for location, two blocks from the Virginia Square-​GMU Metro station. A solid budget hotel with spacious rooms, free WiFi, and continental breakfast. Free coffee all day.
One of the best bargains, especially for families as a base for Washington DC exploration.

Great cheap place to stay if you want to see Washington DC on the cheap I just got back April 29^th, 2009 and it only $ 110.00 for two days. The Metro subway is only three or four blocks away and if you take the orange line to the Smithsonian it will put right by the information center and in the middle of all the monuments and FREE museums. The place is older but the rooms are clean, free wifi, coffee, donuts for breakfast. There is a 7 – 11 a block away. A pizza and sub place right next store open 24 hours. and a shopping mall within walking distance

I lived across the street from the Highlander Motor Inn for a year. Anytime I mention the Highlander, someone always makes a joke about «hourly rates» wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean, know what I mean. But the entire time I lived in that neighborhood, I never once saw any trouble or anything overly shady go down. In fact, my housemates and I were probably the ones putting the ass in classy there on Kenmore Street. Memorial Day weekend aside, when the Rolling Thunder dudes come to town, the Highlander is a quiet and safe place. It just suffers from the look of a shabby old 50s motor lodge. They also have a very strong unsecured wireless internet signal. I’m such a leech.