The Best New Hotels in DC for 2021

Want to get away without sitting next to a planeful of strangers for an excessive (read: 30-minute-plus) period of time?

It’s rough out there. You’ve seen the videos of passengers taking swings at flight attendants. After a few weeks on the road, we can say with confidence that American travelers’ collective socialization skills are quite possibly at an all-time low. We seem to have left our please-and-thank-yous in March 2020.

So: How to get away without jumping into the scrum?

Happily, D.C. has a slew of new hotel openings, offering a range of in-town escapes with minimal hassle.

We’ll start that list off with an asterisk: While all the hotels below opened within the last 90 days or so, the CitizenM DC Capitol bravely welcomed guests mid-pandemic last fall, and it is fantastic, if your ideal hotel is created for precisely one person, who wants to operate all of the room controls, including the television and window screens, via iPad (#itme).

A CitizenM room — they come in a single size, XL — is the ultimate decompression chamber. Come here so you don’t have to go home after a big night out, or just to be a tourist, with (extremely) easy access to the National Mall and all the museums. Plus, there’s presidential art from Amit Shimoni, creator of Hipstory: Why Be a World Leader When You Could Be a Hipster?

The whole thing is exceptionally cheerful, which we could all use a lot more of.

Our advice: Stay close to home, but make the most of it. And add these new hotels to your to-do list.

Lyle

Opened in April, Lyle is the debut D.C. offering from the Lore Group, responsible for the next-level Pulitzer Amsterdam. While this can’t quite match the glory of that hotel, which carves out myriad captivating nooks ‘n’ crannies in a collection of canal-side, Golden Age houses, it is a lovely, modern, well-designed escape in Dupont Circle, with an excellent restaurant.

The Ven at Embassy Row

On the site of the former Embassy Row Hotel, the Ven — part of Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio — will come alive once the crowds return to its super style-y lobby and the pool-centric Rooftop, with its yoga sessions and “dive-in” movies.

Hotel Madera

Another new offering in Dupont Circle, Hotel Madera has only 81 rooms (both of the above clock in around 200) and some are huge — 460 square feet, with another 60 thanks to a private terrace. If you’re looking for a Mad Men-style happy medium between working from your office and your bed, this could def be it.

The Banneker

Opening just about any minute now, Banneker, from Kimpton, offers White House views down 16th St. NW — bunk here with an out-of-towner instead of offering up your spare couch. We’re keeping a close eye on the debut of Lady Bird, the rooftop bar with “crackling fire pits” and “low-slung lounge chairs” — we do like our lounge chairs as close to horizontal as possible.