We have visited Washington, D.C. nearly every year in the fall or winter for the past 10 years. During that time, we have stayed in a variety of hotels from Arlington to Georgetown, and while we usually stay at Marriotts because they are plentiful in the city, this was the first time we tried an IHG hotel.

Recently we stayed at an IHG property at the Wharf (at the recommendation of a family member) and we had an exceptional experience. This hotel was opened in 2017, and it still feels fresh and clean.

The lobby at the InterContinental Washington DC

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Where exactly is The Wharf?

The Wharf is less than 1 mile from the Air and Space Museum and many of the other free Smithsonian museums and major monuments.

One side of the Wharf blends in with the rest of DC, but when you pop behind the hotels, shops, and restaurants, you have a view of the Washington channel, and planes landing and taking off at Ronald Reagan International Airport. The hotel is convenient to the highways, include 395 and 695.

While you could walk to the Wharf from the main tourist attractions, if you are traveling with family, and already have your car, you would probably want to consider driving the mile to mile and a half and just paying for parking to avoid wearing your kids out before their visits even begin.

The view from the top of the Intercontinental Washington DC- The Wharf

Family-friendly features of the InterContinental Washington DC

The rooftop pool is open all day (weather permitting).
Valet parking or multiple garages underneath ($65 or $60 per night).
Stuffed animal upon arrival: Our daughter was greeted by a lovely man with a wagon who offered her a choice of stuffed animal.
Outside of the hotel is a car free zone, and you can walk along the water at night.
Once you park your car, you can walk to multiple restaurants; there’s everything from a French bistro to a Shake Shack.
From the Wharf, you can take a boat cruise or a water taxi to other parts of the city.
Breakfast at the hotel includes reduced prices for children’s meals.
Our $30 amenity fee allowed us to raid the snacks in our room, so we did not have to hide them from our daughter.
Benefits for IHG members
- Because we have status with IHG, we were offered two drink vouchers for the bar. While this might not seem to be family friendly, being able to have one drink at our hotel for free while our daughter went swimming, was pretty great!
- With our IHG status, we were also offered breakfast; we could spend up to $80 and have it covered by the card.

The rooftop pool on an unseasonably warm October night; notice the Washington Memorial in the background.

Enjoying chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast

How much does the InterContinental at The Wharf cost?

Prices in Washington, DC are known to fluctuate greatly. If you’re booking a top hotel in the city, you could easily spend $400/night. We never visit during Cherry Blossom season in the spring, but I imagine that prices would increase dramatically during that time.

We’ve stayed in Arlington for $95 per night. When we visited The Wharf in October, we paid $350 for our room with two queen beds, and then paid a $30 hotel fee upon arrival. (However, since we had a Capital One $300 credit to use, we really only paid $80 total for our weekend getaway.)

Cost of InterContinental Washington DC at The Wharf (November, 2024)

How to book the InterContinental with points:

All of the links below include referrals to credit cards that we use when we travel with points and miles.

Capital One Venture X: Annual Travel Credit or points

The annual fee on the Venture X is $350- but it comes with a $300 travel credit. We needed to use our credit before it expired, so we book our trip through the Capital One portal and only had to pay $50 for the room. In the past, we have used this benefits from this card to stay at the Fairmont in Quebec City. You could also use points to cover the cost of the trip; however, we generally do not find that this gives you the best redemption.

Booking the InterContinental through Capital One Travel Portal

IHG: Points or free room reward using a co-branded credit card

If you have a Chase IHG Premier Credit Card, then you could use your points to book this room. (I would NOT recommend paying the cash rate for this hotel.). I feel like IHG is not a popular program among points and miles enthusiasts, but we have gotten an incredible value from this credit card over the past few years.

Booking the InterContinental Hotel with IHG points

Room review

The rooms were clean and comfortable. We’ve stayed in city rooms that felt very cramped, but this was spacious enough for the three of us and our suitcases.

We were given a high room away from an elevator (which is usually our preference in cities so that we are away from the noise). We had two beds, a desk to sit at (which we used for eating our take-out dinner), and a view of the sunset from our room.

Room at the Intercontinental Washington DC the Wharf — Exploring our queen room for the first time

Bathroom: The bathroom was spacious. In addition to the traditional shower and sink area and the there a vanity area with a seat.

Customer Service

Upon arrival at the hotel, we received a text message from the manager welcoming us and letting us know to ask if we needed anything. We had positive experiences with all staff members during our stay. Even though we used our Capital One credit card to book, they made sure to give us all the benefits associated with our IHG status. When we checked out, we had an issue with the bill (breakfast was on there, even though we were told it would be covered). When I emailed a few days later, I got a reply and a full credit for our breakfast. Honestly- I cannot think of a better experience with customer service that we have had at a hotel. Billing issues can happen, and it’s never been that easy to resolve one before.

We visited this hotel in the fall of 2024; to read about our previous adventures, choose another location.

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