a historically significant hotels in America — the Willard InterContinental, one block from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, which has hosted every U.S. president since Franklin Pierce (1853), a hotel closely associated with the popular lore around the word 'lobbyist', where Martin Luther King Jr. wrote final revisions of his 'I Have a Dream' speech, and where the Round Robin Bar has been Condé Nast Traveler's 'Oval Office of Bars' since 1847.
Why We Chose It
The Willard's history reads as fiction: every president since Pierce (1853) has visited. The term 'lobbyist' entered American vocabulary because Grant came to the Willard's lobby nightly for cigars, and petitioners who cornered him there became his shorthand for the influence industry. Martin Luther King Jr. stayed here the night before the March on Washington in 1963, finishing 'I Have a Dream' at the Willard. The Beaux-Arts building (1901) has 335 rooms and 69 suites. The Round Robin Bar is among the most historically atmospheric in the world. Café du Parc serves excellent French brasserie cuisine. For visitors wanting their hotel to be part of the American history they came to DC to experience, there is no competition.
What Stands Out
- Every U.S. president since Franklin Pierce (1853) has visited or stayed — the most presidential guest list of any hotel on earth
- Ulysses S. Grant coined 'lobbyist' here — the word that defines Washington's political economy was born in this lobby
- Martin Luther King Jr. finalized 'I Have a Dream' at the Willard the night before the March on Washington, August 27, 1963
- Round Robin Bar (est. 1847): Condé Nast Traveler's 'Oval Office of Bars' — the most historically atmospheric hotel bar in America
- One block from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue: the most politically symbolic hotel address in the country