One night stay at the historic Phoenix Park Hotel in downtown Washington DC. Value $300

The Phoenix Park Hotel is a Washington DC. icon, and happens to be right next door to the Dubliner Irish Pub, the previous item. So grab both of them for a wonderful night out in our nation's capital!

The Phoenix Park Hotel-originally the Commodore-is one of the very few hotels around Union Station that survive from the days when almost everyone who visited Washington arrived by train. The magnificent railroad terminal, opened in 1907, once served as the primary transportation gateway to the nation's capital, welcoming visitors from far and wide. In the decades after it was built, countless thousands of newcomers disembarked from their trains and wandered outside in search of a place to stay. Strategically located a short block away at North Capitol and F Streets NW, the Phoenix Park/Commodore was an easy choice. A group of Washington investors announced plans to build the hotel in May 1926. They originally planned to call it the "Milestone," projecting that it would contain 140 guestrooms and cost $750,000. The guestrooms were tiny by today's standards, but each included a private bath-a feature that was becoming standard around this time. It was a full-service hostelry with a comfortable lobby, reading room, stores, and restaurant filling the ground floor. The building's accomplished architect, Frank G. Pierson, would go on to design the nearby Bellevue and Stratford hotels, as well as the Library of Congress's Adams Building. For the Commodore, Pierson adopted a Georgian Revival style, accenting the building's functional brick façade with elegant, classically trimmed limestone cladding. (This cladding appeared on the first two floors, along with large ground-floor display windows.) This historic Washington, D.C. hotel continues to stand as a testament to the city's rich architectural and cultural heritage.