Serve and Save at Hotels in DC

Grand Double Double with Sleep Sofa suite at Carlyle Suites Hotel

Great hotels are all about service: Can we fluff your pillow? Turndown your bed? Book you some theater tickets? But a few hotels in DC are redefining service and asking guests to pitch in.

The Serve America and Stay in DC Package, offered at the Carlyle Suites Hotel and Savoy Suites Hotel, introduces two new twists to voluntourism: in the first option, the hotels, located in Dupont Circle and Georgetown respectively, will take 50% off one night’s room rate for every five hours of community service completed. (So for a discount each night for three nights, you’d have to complete fifteen hours of community service.) Alternatively, the second option lets you can pay the full rate, knowing 50% of that bill will be donated to a community service organization of your choice.

If you like this bargain with a cause, the package, offered through Sept. 7, comes with a few rules: the reservations cannot be refunded or canceled, and must be made 72 hours before you check in. It also requires a minimum stay of two nights.

For the first option, after you pay the full rate upfront, you’ll have from 90 days before to 90 days after your stay to complete your service hours. To receive the refund, you’ll also have to mail in a verification letter from your organization along with its 501 (c) 3 certificate to the hotel within the same timeframe. For more details, visit the hotels websites.

If you choose the second option, all you need to do is either give the hotel the name and URL of your choice organization when you book your rooms or and fill out the “My Choice For Service” form (available on their websites) to the hotel, also 72 hours before your arrival.

The beauty of this package, other than saving money and doing a good deed, is that you can support whichever cause you hold near and dear to your heart – as long as the organization has a valid 501 (c) 3 certificate. If you don’t have a particular community service organization already in mind, the hotels suggest searching on VolunteerMatch, an online nonprofit that aims to promote community involvement by connecting volunteers and organizations. It lists 57,482 active opportunities and includes 67,450 participating organizations. Still stumped? Don’t forget that the National Geographic Society is a non-profit (NGS Tax ID #53-0193519) so you can have your donation help support our research.

So what will it be? The choice to have fun and do good is yours.

[Carlyle Suites Hotel; Savoy Suites Hotel; L.A. Times Travel & Deal Blog]

Photos courtesy of Yelp and Gearshift blog