(Continued in comments!) A little about DC.... Northwest DC is the nicest quadrant, specifically ALL areas west of Rock Creek Park. If you look at a map, you can see Rock Creek and the big green park area. Almost without exception, this is the safest part of the city. It is very liberal, Democrat, whatever- but serious street crime is pretty much nonexistent. There are few motels in NW I would not recommend or consider dangerous. Upper Georgia Ave, 5500 block and up has a few, but it's still safer than much of the rest of the city.
The New York Ave corridor (US Route 50) has a lot of motels but it is sketchy. Lots of people are permanent residents those motels and probably a lot of the drugs and shit we'd all like to avoid.
Also from the DC area originally and having been mugged in the city I have another bit of advice. Stick to main thoroughfares. Don't look at a map and decide you'll take a shortcut and save a few blocks of walking
Agree. Hard to explain from the keyboard, but avoid the blindspots. If you don't know, don't go.
How is the Stanton Park area? Looking at an Airbnb 1 block south of. Thanks