Washington DC has a deep bench of very good hotels and a startlingly thin top tier. For 2026, exactly one hotel in the District holds a Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star rating, and exactly one holds AAA Five Diamond — and it is the same hotel. The Four Seasons in Georgetown stands alone, as it has in AAA terms since 1989.
Below it, the field is both wide and strong: five Forbes Four-Star hotels and sixteen AAA Four Diamond properties, several of which are among the most historically interesting hotels in America.
This guide also corrects a change that has slipped past almost every published list. The Salamander Washington DC no longer exists under that name. It rebranded on 5 August 2026 — details below.
The official lists, 2026
Forbes Travel Guide
- Five-Star (one): Four Seasons Hotel Washington, D.C.
- Four-Star (five): The Hay-Adams; Park Hyatt Washington D.C.; The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown; Rosewood Washington, D.C.; The St. Regis Washington, D.C.
- Recommended: Conrad Washington DC; The Dupont Circle; Fairmont Washington D.C. Georgetown; The Jefferson; Pendry Washington DC – The Wharf; The Ritz-Carlton Washington D.C.; Waldorf Astoria Washington DC; The Watergate Hotel
- Soon to be rated: Hotel Washington; InterContinental Washington D.C. – The Wharf; Willard InterContinental
Two things worth flagging. The Jefferson holds Forbes “Recommended,” not Four-Star — it held Four-Star back in 2016, and plenty of current write-ups still describe it that way. And Riggs, The Line DC and Eaton DC carry no Forbes rating at all.
AAA
Five Diamond, District of Columbia: one. Four Seasons Hotel Washington, D.C., designated 1989.
Four Diamond: sixteen, with the year of current consecutive designation — Conrad (2025), Fairmont Georgetown (1985), InterContinental The Wharf (2019), Park Hyatt (2007), Pendry The Wharf (2023), Riggs (2020), Rosewood (2014), Salamander (2004), The Hay-Adams (1984 — the longest-held in DC), The LINE DC (2020), Ritz-Carlton Georgetown (2019), Ritz-Carlton Washington DC (2019), The St. Regis (2008), The Watergate (2017), Willard InterContinental (1986) and Waldorf Astoria (2017).
The nine worth booking
1. Four Seasons Hotel Washington DC — the only one at the top
Around 212 to 222 rooms and suites at 2800 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, on the Georgetown side of Rock Creek, opened in October 1979. The only Forbes Five-Star and the only AAA Five Diamond hotel in the District.
It has also been steadily reinvesting. The spa and fitness centre reopened in May 2024; a $15 million suite transformation by ForrestPerkins was unveiled on 1 October 2024, covering 63 rooms and suites and adding ten new suites; and in August 2026 the Bourbon Lounge at Bourbon Steak was redesigned — the restaurant’s first major renovation since it opened in 2008.
Bourbon Steak by Michael Mina, an indoor lap pool and a three-storey spa round it out. Neither valet parking nor any destination fee is published on the hotel’s own site.
2. Rosewood Washington, D.C. — the smallest, and the only Two-Key
57 rooms in total: 37 rooms, 12 suites and 8 Georgetown townhouses let as residential-style accommodation, at 1050 31st Street NW on the C&O Canal, opened in 2013. It holds Two MICHELIN Keys, the only DC hotel to do so.
CUT DC by Wolfgang Puck sits downstairs, CUT Above is on the roof, and so is the pool. If you see “49 rooms” quoted elsewhere, it contradicts the hotel’s own published figure.
3. The Hay-Adams — the view, and the bar
145 rooms and 20 suites at 800 16th Street NW, on Lafayette Square directly across from the White House, opened in 1928 as The Hay–Adams House and owned by the B. F. Saul Company since 2006. It has held AAA Four Diamond since 1984, the longest unbroken run in the city.
Select suites look straight at the White House. Off The Record, the basement bar, famously takes no reservations and hosts no private events — which is precisely why it works.
Valet is $68 per night including 18% tax, with in-and-out privileges; $34 short-term; $20 with validation for diners at The Lafayette. No destination fee.
4. The St. Regis Washington, D.C. — two blocks from the White House
182 rooms including 25 suites at 923 16th Street NW, originally opened in 1926 and last renovated in 2016. Beaux-Arts, with Florentine gold ceilings in the lobby, St. Regis Butler Service, the Alhambra restaurant, afternoon tea and membership of Historic Hotels of America.
One warning: valet is $85 per day with 18% tax on top — the most expensive of any hotel verified for this guide. Day parking is $50; oversized vehicles $100. A pet fee of $250 per stay applies.
5. Riggs Washington DC — the best bar in a bank
181 rooms and suites at 900 F Street NW in Penn Quarter, opened February 2020 in the 1891 Riggs National Bank building — the “Bank of Presidents.” Silver Lyan, Ryan Chetiyawardana’s basement bar, is the reason to stay; Café Riggs occupies the former banking hall.
AAA Four Diamond since 2020, no Forbes rating. Riggs is also the only DC luxury hotel where we could confirm both the existence and the amount of a mandatory fee: $40 per night, covering in-room mineral water and Nespresso, WiFi, the gym and a tote bag. Valet is $64 a night, $25 for up to three hours when dining, $50 for a day rate.
6. The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown — a converted incinerator
86 rooms plus 27 premier suites and 5 luxury suites at 3100 South Street NW, opened April 2003 in a converted 1932 municipal incinerator. The 140-foot former smokestack survives and houses an eight-seat private dining room — the best private table in the city. Degrees Bistro and The Living Room complete it.
Valet is $75 overnight plus tax, $45 for day parking. No destination fee.
7. Park Hyatt Washington D.C. — for the Tea Cellar
At 1201 24th Street NW in the West End, bordering Georgetown and Foggy Bottom. AAA Four Diamond since 2007 and Forbes Four-Star.
Blue Duck Tavern is the known quantity, but the Tea Cellar is the genuine oddity: more than thirty rare single-estate teas priced from $8 to $300 per pot. There is a skylit saltwater pool with a separate hot tub, and roughly 12,000 sq ft of event space.
Hyatt publishes neither a room count nor a valet rate for this property, so this guide does not quote either.
8. Pendry Washington DC – The Wharf — and yes, it exists
Worth saying plainly, because it is routinely omitted from DC lists: Pendry Washington DC opened in 2022 and is very much open. 131 rooms at 655 Water Street SW on The Wharf, about a mile from the National Mall and a six-minute walk from Waterfront Metro.
Spa Pendry holds Forbes Four-Star — one of only three Four-Star spas in the District — with five treatment rooms and two eucalyptus steam rooms. Moonraker is the rooftop; there is a heated second-floor terrace pool with five summer cabanas. AAA Four Diamond since 2023.
Valet is $75 per night plus tax. A nightly destination fee applies but the amount is not published — ask at booking.
9. Willard InterContinental — the Round Robin, since 1847
335 rooms and suites including 69 suites at 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, two blocks from the White House. AAA Four Diamond since 1986. The Round Robin Bar has been in operation since 1847 and has been called “the Oval Office of Bars.”
It has been renovated twice recently: an $18 million all-rooms project completed around its 200th birthday in 2018, and in July 2025 a restoration of all 335 accommodations by Parker-Torres Design, which restored the Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington and Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Suites and added six Oval Suites with murals of Eleanor Roosevelt, Julia Ward Howe and Mary McLeod Bethune.
Forbes currently lists it as “Soon to be Rated,” so it holds no Forbes star at present. Valet is $78 per night with unrestricted in-and-out.
Also worth knowing
The Jefferson — 99 rooms including 20 suites at 1200 16th Street NW, built 1922–23 as an apartment building, a hotel since 1955, closed in March 2007 and reopened in August 2009 after a two-year restoration that uncovered the original atrium skylight. A Relais & Châteaux member since 2010. A legitimate luxury choice on reputation, though not on current Forbes or AAA grounds.
The Watergate Hotel — 336 rooms and 35 suites at 2650 Virginia Avenue NW in the Brutalist Moretti building, reopened 2016 after an extensive renovation, AAA Four Diamond since 2017. A further project is renovating all 336 guestrooms and adding a 6,000 sq ft event space called The Vault plus a redesigned Top of the Gate rooftop. Its own Drive & Stay offer values overnight valet at $65 a night.
Eaton DC — 1201 K Street NW, opened September 2018, a design and activism-minded hotel with Allegory and the Wild Days rooftop. No Forbes or AAA luxury rating, so not a luxury pick on credentials — but it advertises free on-site parking, which in this city is almost unheard of and worth verifying by phone.
The rebrand everyone missed: Salamander is now The Potomac Hotel
If you are working from a list compiled before August, this will catch you out.
The 373-room hotel at 1330 Maryland Avenue SW, overlooking the Tidal Basin, has changed names twice in four years. It opened on 16 May 2004 as the Mandarin Oriental Washington D.C. Mandarin Oriental sold it for $139 million on 8 September 2022 to Henderson Park, and it was renamed Salamander Washington DC on 13 September 2022. Then on 5 August 2026 it relaunched as The Potomac Hotel, Autograph Collection, within Marriott.
Henderson Park remains the owner, Pyramid Global Hospitality manages, and Sheila Johnson stays on as a minority partner. Dōgon by Kwame Onwuachi, which opened in September 2024, continues under the new brand, alongside a dual-level spa, heated indoor pool and 38,000 sq ft of event space. Stays now earn Marriott Bonvoy points.
One caveat: it appears on neither the 2026 Forbes list nor the 2026 AAA list under its new name — its AAA Four Diamond status is recorded under “Salamander” — so treat its current rating as unconfirmed.
Waldorf Astoria Washington DC — the facts, plainly
The hotel at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW occupies the Old Post Office, an 1899 Romanesque Revival building with a clock tower. It opened in 2016 under a different brand on a federal lease, and reopened as a Waldorf Astoria in 2022 after the lease changed hands. It has changed ownership more than once since, through a foreclosure process, after which BDT & MSD Partners became the leaseholder.
In June 2026 the General Services Administration sold the building and land to BDT & MSD Partners, its then-leaseholder; GSA did not disclose the price, though the Wall Street Journal reported $80 million. The same reporting indicated the owner was in discussions to sell for as much as $400 million, so ownership may change again.
Hilton has described operations as business as usual. The hotel has 263 rooms including 43 suites, holds AAA Four Diamond and Forbes “Recommended,” and its spa holds Forbes Four-Star. Bazaar Meat and Sushi Nakazawa are on site.
Taxes, parking and what it actually costs
DC lodging tax: 15.95%
DC’s transient lodging tax is 15.95%, raised from 14.95% effective 1 April 2023 under the Tourism Recovery Tax Emergency Amendment Act, with the proceeds funding destination marketing. The increase was framed as temporary and has been extended; the tax office’s October 2025 notice runs it through 30 September 2027, while the original 2023 notice gave an expiry of 30 March 2027.
Do not rely on the 14.95% figure, which still circulates on travel sites that have not been updated since 2020. The general sales tax change of 1 October 2026 does not affect the lodging rate.
Valet parking, verified
| Hotel | Overnight valet |
|---|---|
| Eaton DC | Free on-site parking |
| Riggs Washington DC | $64/night |
| The Watergate | $65/night (hotel’s stated value) |
| The Hay-Adams | $68/night, tax included |
| The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown | $75/night + tax |
| Pendry Washington DC | $75/night + tax |
| Willard InterContinental | $78/night |
| The St. Regis | $85/day + 18% tax |
Expect roughly $64–$85 per night before tax, with 18% typically on top. Four Seasons, Rosewood, Park Hyatt, Conrad, Waldorf Astoria, The Potomac, The Line and The Jefferson do not publish valet rates.
Destination fees: mostly absent
Here is some good news. DC luxury hotels are, with one confirmed exception, largely free of the resort-fee practice that dominates Miami and Las Vegas. Riggs charges $40 a night and states it clearly. Pendry confirms a nightly destination fee exists but does not publish the amount. The Hay-Adams, St. Regis, Ritz-Carlton Georgetown, Willard, Watergate, Conrad and Eaton list none on their own pages.
Seasonality: use the federal per diem
The government sets a monthly lodging cap for DC that tracks the market’s own seasonality closely, and it is a far better planning tool than vague advice about spring. For fiscal year 2027, currently in force:
| Month | FY2027 lodging per diem | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| March–June | $295 | Peak — cherry blossoms, school trips, graduations |
| September–October | $287 | Second peak — conference season |
| November–February | $203 | The value window, holidays excepted |
| July–August | $192 | Deepest low — humidity and congressional recess |
Rates are up year on year across the board: the equal-weight annual average rose from $233.67 to $245.83, a 5.2% increase, with spring rising most at about $19 a night.
Book April 2027 now
This is the single most actionable thing in this guide.
Two things stack in April 2027, in what is already the peak $295 per diem month. The National Cherry Blossom Festival runs 20 March to 11 April 2027, with the parade on 10 April. And the 2027 NFL Draft will be held in Washington DC, on the National Mall, in April 2027 — Mayor Bowser has predicted a million visitors, which is a mayoral projection rather than a forecast, but the event is confirmed. The exact Draft dates had not been announced at the time of writing.
If your trip can fall in April 2027, book it now. If it can’t, note that November through February is roughly $92 a night cheaper on the federal benchmark.
One statistical warning for anyone comparing DC rates year on year: in the week ending 4 July 2026, Washington led all top-25 US markets in RevPAR growth, up 57.3% with ADR up 34.8% to $209.40, lifted by the America 250 celebrations. Any 2027-versus-2026 comparison against that week will look like a collapse. It isn’t.
Which neighbourhood
- Georgetown — the highest concentration of the city’s best hotels: the Four Seasons, Rosewood, Ritz-Carlton Georgetown and Fairmont. Cobblestones, the C&O Canal, the best shopping. The trade-off is real: Georgetown has no Metro station, the nearest being Foggy Bottom–GWU.
- Downtown / Penn Quarter — the densest cluster and the most walkable to the White House, the Mall and the Smithsonians, with the best Metro access. The Hay-Adams, St. Regis, Willard, Riggs, Conrad, Waldorf Astoria. Quiet on weekends in the office blocks.
- Dupont Circle — Embassy Row, townhouses, the best neighbourhood restaurant scene. The Dupont Circle, The Jefferson nearby.
- Foggy Bottom / West End — the Kennedy Center and the Potomac, and the practical bridge between Georgetown’s charm and downtown’s connectivity, with the Metro access Georgetown lacks. Park Hyatt, The Watergate.
- The Wharf — the newest hotel district, waterfront dining and music venues, about a mile from the Mall. Pendry, InterContinental, The Potomac. It holds two of DC’s three Forbes Four-Star spas.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best hotel in Washington DC?
By independent rating, the Four Seasons Hotel Washington, D.C. in Georgetown — the only hotel in the District holding both Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five Diamond, the latter since 1989. Rosewood Washington, D.C. is the only DC hotel with Two MICHELIN Keys.
How many five-star hotels does Washington DC have?
One. Four Seasons Washington DC is the sole Forbes Five-Star hotel and the sole AAA Five Diamond property in the District. Five more hold Forbes Four-Star and sixteen hold AAA Four Diamond.
What happened to the Salamander Washington DC?
It rebranded to The Potomac Hotel, Autograph Collection on 5 August 2026, joining Marriott. Henderson Park remains the owner and Sheila Johnson stays on as a minority partner. The property — formerly the Mandarin Oriental until 2022 — is open with 373 rooms, and Dōgon by Kwame Onwuachi continues.
What is the hotel tax in Washington DC?
15.95%, raised from 14.95% on 1 April 2023 and currently extended through at least March 2027, with the tax office’s October 2025 notice running it to 30 September 2027. Older sources quoting 14.95% are out of date.
Do Washington DC hotels charge resort fees?
Mostly not, which sets DC apart from Miami and Las Vegas. Riggs charges a confirmed $40 nightly hotel fee and Pendry confirms a destination fee without publishing the amount. The Hay-Adams, St. Regis, Ritz-Carlton Georgetown, Willard, Watergate, Conrad and Eaton list none.
When is the cheapest time to visit Washington DC?
July and August, when the federal lodging per diem falls to $192 — DC is humid and Congress is in recess. November through February at $203 is the better value window for most travellers, holidays excepted.
When is the 2027 Cherry Blossom Festival?
20 March to 11 April 2027, with the parade on 10 April. Peak bloom is generally expected between late March and early April, though in some years it has fallen at the start or the end of the festival window rather than the middle.
Should I book early for April 2027?
Yes. The NFL Draft comes to the National Mall in April 2027 and overlaps the tail of the Cherry Blossom Festival, in a month that already carries DC’s highest lodging per diem at $295.
Ratings are from the official 2026 Forbes Travel Guide and AAA lists. Fees, parking rates and tax rates were verified against hotel and District government sources in October 2026. This guide does not publish nightly rates: DC booking engines price dynamically and no entry-level rate could be independently verified for stated dates, so the federal per diem is used as the seasonality benchmark instead.
Image: the Hay-Adams hotel on Lafayette Square, by Ajay Suresh, licensed CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
More from LUXGetaway: A Stay at the Four Seasons Washington DC · Best Luxury Hotels in New York City · The Most Luxurious Hotels in the World
