Torn between old world luxury of The Willard or trying one of the comtempory boutiques like the Topaz or Hotel Rouge or the Monaco or falling back on the Ritz or Four Seasons - any suggestions? Don't limit it to the ones I've suggested. Not worried about location because D.C. so easy to navigate.

Don't have much advice, but another possibility (esp. since you say you are flexible on location) might be to try the brand new luxury hotel, the Mandarin. There's a Wash. Post article on the opening here (reg. required)--

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2004Mar21.html

What stuck with me in the Post article on the Mandarin was "The Mandarin is convenient to downtown and Capitol Hill by car but is surrounded by train tracks and freeways that may make guests disinclined to go for an evening stroll." Ugh! If you want to try something new, by all means go for a boutique hotel. The three you named are all good. Even better, IMO, is the Hotel George: http://www.hotelgeorge.com/
If you stay there (or if you don't), be sure not to miss their restaurant - one of DC's best- Bistro Bis: http://vidaliadc.com/bistro/index.asp

Also in the boutique category is the Hotel Monaco in the Penn Quarter, which is the hot up and coming neighborhood in DC. It's near my office, so business visitors stay there, and they all rave about it.

If you are going to fall back on a Ritz it may as well be its new 85 room boutique hotel in Georgetown.

I would check out Hotel monaco..it is a combination of old world decorating and trendy..very cool feel and wonderful decorating..it is close to everything (even though that is not a must) but it has a great restaurant as well.