Openings: Donovan House

The only thing DC has more of than hot air is stodge. And though groovy 21st-century properties like the Hotel Rouge and the Hotel Helix have tried to inject some pizzazz into its staid hospitality scene, it’s still rather a Ritz-Carlton town. But if anyone can get the capital grooving, it’s unquestionably that world leader of fashionable hotel-ing himself, Jason Pomeranc. In a city where few second chances are ever granted, a former Holiday Inn gets the Thompson Hotels magic touch and transmogrifies into the sleek and sexy new Donovan House (opened April 15). A hip lounge and a rooftop pool, as well as a playful but dignified retro-mod aesthetic, should guarantee a steady stream of fabulistas (a restaurant with a marquee chef is also on the way). But it’s the rooms where it all really goes quite stylistically outré, with cocoon spiral showers and leather wraparound beds. Even money to host the next great sex scandal.