All in all, considering cost, location, and comfort, I give Ethel a 10/10! Ethel was very welcoming and definitely had our comfort in mind. Ethel's home is in a great (and safe) location, the train station was about a 5 minute walk away and from there we were able to get to Smithsonian and other stations in under 15 minutes, which was great. We were able to park on the street for free which saved us a lot of money and hassle.

I did feel that some of the pictures on the site were misleading, but none of this affected our stay; the living room wasn't as well lit and the place generally did not seem as clean as the images suggest, but like I said, none of this really mattered to us. The shower had great water pressure and the bathroom and bedroom were very warm, which I am always thankful for as I get cold easily.

The bedroom is located right above the living room where Ethel and her family would watch TV and talk but we did not find either of these things too noisy. (If you're travelling the right way, you should be tired enough to sleep through anything!)

I approached every aspect of our stay by comparing it to our stay at the Hotel Harrington in Downtown D.C. last year. We spent close to $400 for a two night stay and parking in the city. This reservation cost us under $200 including parking and subway fare and honestly the room was larger than our room in the hotel. So any aspect of our stay that wasn't ideal just seemed part of the trade off for such large savings.

I am happy we stayed with Ethel and look forward to doing it again in the Spring!