Willard InterContinental
White House/Downtown
COST: $$$$
This opened-in-1816 hotel remains steeped in Washington history, even though the rooms where Lincoln lived, Coolidge governed, and Martin Luther King Jr. wrote have long since been renovated away. Today's Willard, a bit like the political world it esteems, is grand in public, bland in private: its majestic lobby dazzles with soaring Corinthian columns and a marble mosaic floor, while the 332 guest rooms, while spacious and comfortable, are comparatively spare. Café du Parc sells enticing French pastries to go—a great breakfast and a surprisingly great deal.
Tip: The Willard is admirably green: low-energy lightbulbs, lit by wind-generated power, are standard, and the hotel composts food waste.
Room to Book: Suite 1212 (the Jenny Lind Suite) is all romance, with a white-draped wrought-iron bed tucked into a roof turret, and a double Jacuzzi looking out a giant porthole at the Washington Monument.
As Featured In...
From the T+L 500
Opulent 1901 Beaux Arts icon, a short stroll from the Mall and the White House.
- Stats:
- 332 rooms; 2 restaurants; 1 bar.
- Competitive Edge:
- A grand, historic property with a new sustainability mandate (it's 100 percent wind-powered and uses only compact fluorescent bulbs) that outpaces other D.C. hotels.
- Rooms to Book:
- Deluxes are larger than pricier Premiers.
- Don't Miss:
- The classic French cooking at CafŽ du Parc.
lastArticle = 9/2006 and lastAward = 01/2008
