Rosewood Washington, D.C.

For visitors to Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood, high-end accommodations have long been provided by the usual suspects — namely the Four Seasons, the Ritz-Carlton, and a few other reliable luxury brands. For an experience that’s smaller in scale, but similarly high in standards, there’s a newer option: Rosewood Washington D.C., on the banks of the C&O Canal, whose 55 rooms, 12 suites, and eight townhouses show the influence of modern boutique-hotel hospitality, adapted for a luxury-hotel clientele.

It’s housed in a relatively understated brick building that barely hints at what’s inside. The lobby and public spaces pay subtle tribute to D.C.’s French inspiration, sourcing parquet flooring from a French chateau and furnishing the rooms in opulent wood paneling and gem tones. Meanwhile the rooms are more contemporary, though no less refined, decorated largely in monochrome but with plenty of ornament — right down to the Hermès leather drawer pulls — and the full slate of contemporary high-end comforts.

And the boutique-hotel influence is perhaps most visible in the bars and restaurants — Wolfgang Puck’s CUT and CUT Bar overlook the canal, one of D.C.’s most unique views, while the rooftop CUT Above, alongside the hotel’s indoor-outdoor pool, features a postcard-worthy vista that encompasses the Potomac, the Washington Monument, and Georgetown University.