Tucked next to the Rock Creek Park, this 834-room behemoth is the closest DC gets to a resort – with gardens and a large outdoor pool. A stroll through the lobby shows it means business though, with photos of King Saud of Saudi Arabia meeting Haile Selassie there and the Beatles taking over an entire wing in 1964. But its power credentials come from the presidential inaugural balls that were first held there in Franklin D. Roosevelt's honour and continued unbroken for 70 years afterwards. Senators can often be found staying over too. Rooms from $400.
See www.omnihotels.com
The Jefferson pulls in big name guests but is zealous about protecting their identities. The most discreet address in town has a fabulous Beaux-Arts look about it, and is riddled with glorious detail – often relating to President Thomas Jefferson. The corridor has framed documents signed by him and his Monticello home is depicted on specially commissioned draperies. The book room is a gorgeous hideaway, and the bar specialises in Jefferson's favourite tipple – Madeira wine. But it's not all about the past – modern technology has been cleverly integrated into the rooms, often built into antique-looking desks. Rooms from $650.
See www.jeffersondc.com
There's an overwhelming elegance to the Hay-Adams – all columns, wood panelling and stucco work downstairs, morphing into quirky individual features of the guest rooms upstairs. Some have four-poster beds, some have ornamental ceilings, some have Juliet balconies, some have (no longer used) fireplaces. All, however, feel charmingly rarefied. Barack Obama used the whole eighth floor as his temporary White House before moving just across the road to the real deal. Ask to go up to the private events space on the top floor for the city's best views of the president's home. Queen rooms from $585.
See www.hayadams.com
Wearing its history more lightly than some of the others, the Loews Madison aims for a contemporary slickness. Plenty of presidents and visiting stars – from Elizabeth Taylor to the Dalai Lama – have stayed there since it was officially opened by JFK in 1963. It was also the first hotel to introduce a minibar and once became a temporary Kremlin for visiting Soviet delegates. Keep an ear open in the bar and restaurant – the Washington Post building is just over the road and it's a handy place for journalists to meet contacts. Rooms from $620.
See www.loewshotels.com/Madison
Charles Dickens used the Willard as his Washington residence, Ulysses S. Grant allegedly coined the term "lobbyist" there due to the people who pestered him while he tried to have a drink in the lobby, and Martin Luther King jnr finished off his "I Have A Dream" speech while staying the night before. There's a mini museum about the hotel's illustrious history tucked away in the sprawling public areas, and it runs through all the presidents that have stayed. But the tiny Round Robin Bar is the place to catch contemporary powerbrokers pow-wowing. Doubles from $650.
See Washington.intercontinental.com
In Washington's most well-to-do neighbourhood, Georgetown, the Four Seasons seems to have a constant stream of black luxury cars pulling up outside. It's the sort of place where foreign leaders are put up, power players wrangle over very expensive breakfasts and suites can sell for over five figures a night. The in-house steak restaurant, Bourbon Steak, is reportedly Barack Obama's favourite steak restaurant. He and Michelle have been spotted having anniversary meals there. Throw in hyper-comfortable beds, spacious rooms and a two-lane lap pool in a three-tier fitness centre, and the Four Seasons' gravitas kinda makes sense. Rooms cost from $950.
See www.fourseasons.com/Washington .
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