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Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC
Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, United States · Four Seasons · Grand Luxury
Opened in 1979 at 2800 Pennsylvania Avenue NW as the first hotel Four Seasons launched under its own brand name in the United States, David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill shaped the Georgetown brick facade. It has held Washington's only Forbes Five-Star rating for more than twenty consecutive years; in September 2015 King Salman of Saudi Arabia rented every room for a visit with President Obama.
- 212 rooms
- Opened 1979
- Neighborhood: Georgetown
- Rooms from 385 sq ft (36 m²)
- Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
About Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC
- Four Seasons Washington was the first U.S. hotel the company opened under its own brand name, marking Isadore Sharp's direct American flagship entry in 1979.
- David Childs of SOM shaped the brick massing to echo Georgetown's Federal residential streets.
- AAA awarded Five Diamonds in 1989; Forbes has kept it as Washington's sole Five-Star hotel for more than twenty consecutive years.
- King Salman rented every room for his September 2015 entourage, prompting gold-gilded furniture and red carpet in every hallway.
- A 2004 renovation expanded typical rooms from about 325 to 525 square feet by combining every third room with its neighbors.
History
Georgetown was chartered as a Maryland tobacco port in 1751, a generation before the District of Columbia was surveyed around it, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the Washington metropolitan area. When the Federal City was laid out by Pierre Charles L'Enfant beginning in 1791, Georgetown was already a functioning port town with its own street grid and mercantile economy. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, completed in stages between 1828 and 1850, ran through Georgetown's waterfront on its way to Cumberland, Maryland — and it still does, preserved as a National Historical Park, its towpath running directly beside the back terrace of the Four Seasons Hotel.
The hotel was designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill — the same architect who would later oversee the Freedom Tower in New York — and opened in 1979 at 2800 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, at the boundary between Georgetown and Foggy Bottom. Childs designed the brick facade to harmonize with Georgetown's Federal-style residential architecture rather than announce itself as a corporate intrusion, a compositional restraint that The Washington Post's architecture critic praised at the time of opening. The hotel cost $21.7 million to build. It was the first hotel that Four Seasons opened under its own brand name in the United States — previous American properties had operated under management contracts — marking the company's formal entry into the American luxury market under founder Isadore Sharp's direct brand identity.
For more than four decades the hotel has operated as Washington's most discreet address for diplomacy, power, and celebrity. The AAA Five Diamond rating arrived in 1989 and has been maintained without interruption; the Forbes Five-Star designation has been held for more than twenty consecutive years. In September 2015, King Salman of Saudi Arabia rented every room in the hotel to accommodate his entourage during a meeting with President Barack Obama — an event that required installation of gold-gilded furniture and red carpet throughout every corridor. A $20 million renovation completed in 2004 expanded room sizes substantially, and a further $13 million renovation in 2015-2016 redesigned the guest rooms with motifs drawn from Georgetown's cherry blossoms, the C&O Canal, and the Potomac River. Michael Mina's Bourbon Steak has anchored the dining program as the city's flagship steakhouse, and the Seasons restaurant's power-breakfast tradition has made it as integral to Washington's dealmaking culture as any room in the capital.
The setting
Four Seasons Hotel Washington, DC stands at 2800 Pennsylvania Avenue NW at the gateway to Georgetown, where the avenue meets Rock Creek and the Potomac Parkway. Opened in 1979 as the first Four Seasons in the United States and the capital's only Forbes Five-Star hotel, it sits beside the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal with M Street's boutique retail a short walk north and Blues Alley and Fiola Mare among the dining options that cement Georgetown's reputation as Washington's most refined neighborhood. The White House is eleven transit minutes away and the National Mall eighteen, anchoring a luxury enclave where presidents, diplomats, and cultural figures have long converged.
Restaurants and bars
- Bourbon Steak — Restaurant · Steakhouse · Chef Michael Mina
- Seasons — Restaurant · Chef Sajish Kumar Das
Experiences
- Political Detox — Signature 50-minute spa treatment.
- Spa with saltwater lap pool and steam room — 3,500 sq ft spa with 9 treatment rooms, eucalyptus steam room, dry heat sauna and two-lane saline lap pool.
- Exercise paths along the Canal and Potomac River — Exercise paths along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and Potomac River, listed as a fitness recreation feature.
- Off-site golf, tennis, running, paddle boarding, biking and horseback riding — Off-site activities listed by the hotel: golf, tennis, running, paddle boarding, biking and horseback riding.
Amenities
- 2-lane indoor lap pool
- Yoga studio
- Steam rooms and saunas
- 24-hour fitness center
- Tesla charging stations
- John Lobb shoe care service
- Only Forbes Five-Star hotel in Washington DC
- Spa
- Hot tub
- Pet-friendly
Awards
- AAA Five Diamond (2026)
- Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star (2026)
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