Reviewing a hotel contract can be time-consuming, confusing, and frustrating. As a meeting manager, you are seeking a fair agreement that accurately and comprehensively covers your meeting arrangements. Yet the contract you receive from the hotel may be one-sided in favor of the hotel, vague in many places, and missing essential language. The next time a hotel contract lands on your desk, read it twice. First, read what is there and identify the terms that need to be rewritten, changed, or deleted. Then, read it for what is not there and needs to be added. The following checklist will help you determine what to look for and what is missing. (Note: This information is not intended to be “legal advice.” Meeting planners and hotel managers should consult a qualified attorney to review all contract issues.)

General Contract Issues

• Date of contract initiation.

• Accurate and complete legal names of both parties, addresses, and contact information as well as the name of the meeting. Be sure the contracting party is not listed as the name of the meeting they are often not the same.

• Actual dates of the meeting, not the dates of the room block.

• Statement of whether the contract is a first or second option. A first option should specify the date by which the contract must be signed and returned to the hotel, after which date the option will expire and the contract may have to be renegotiated. A second option should include the above as well as the date by which the hotel must reply to you after receiving the signed contract (typically three business days) and notify you of its decision.

Sleeping Room Block

• Table format showing the year, days of the week, and dates of the room block.

• Specific breakdown by type(s) of rooms/suites and number(s) per night.

• Beware of language that locks you into payment for the entire contracted block.

Room Rates

• Year quoted. If rates are quoted for any year other than the current year, that year should be specified.

• Future rates. If rates are not definite yet, indicate the formula to be used and when final rates will be established (usually 12 months out). Use at least two factors in the formula, such as percentage off rack rate, maximum percentage increase per year, or the Consumer Price Index, and state that final rates will be the lesser of the two formulas.

• Breakdown of rates by type of room/suite, single/double, deluxe, and government rate. State the percentage blocked in each rate category.

• Applicable taxes (sales, occupancy), service charges, and gratuities.

• Applicable charges for extra person in room.

• Currency. If the contract was initiated in another country, the rates are usually quoted in that country’s currency.

• Ensure that final rates are not subject to change.

Complimentary and Other Negotiated Concessions

• One complimentary room per 50 revenue-producing rooms actually utilized. Spell out how the comps are calculated (on a cumulative or per-night basis) and whether they can be credited to the master account.

• Additional concessions. Include specifics such as the duration of each concession, i.e., comp rooms are for five nights each.

• If concessions are based on 80 percent of the room pickup, specify what happens if the pickup is less than 80 percent. • State if a concession is complimentary.

Reservations

• Procedure. Is the group, hotel, or a third party handling housing? Will individuals call in, use reservation cards, be identified on a rooming list, or be serviced by a housing bureau? Will you use your own reservation form or the hotel’s?

• Cutoff date. Identify the exact cutoff date — usually 30 days prior to the major arrival day. Indicate whether reservations received after the cutoff date will be honored at the group rate or a rate at the hotel’s discretion.

• Confirmations. Specify if/when they are to be sent by the hotel.

• Check-in/check-out times.

• Dishonored reservations. Spell out what will happen if individuals with guaranteed reservations are turned away or “walked.” Consider reimbursement of replacement accommodations or transportation to and from the new hotel.

Payment

• Rooms. Will individuals or the organization be responsible for payment?

• Deposits. For the group’s master account, how much is due and when? For individuals, a credit card guarantee or one night’s deposit is usually required.

• Early departure charge. Specify the amount (it should be less than one night’s room rate) and that guests will be informed of this potential charge upon check-in.

• Master account. Typically, the credit application is due 90 days prior to arrival. Stipulate items that are to be included on the master account, as well as authorized signatories and payment terms.

Reports/Printouts to Request

• A per-night room pickup report.

• Individual cancellations and no-shows.

• Statistics for food and beverage revenue.

Function Space and Meeting Arrangements

• Agenda. Is it tentative or finalized? What are the due dates for the program?

When will the hotel provide room names?

• Exact days, dates, setups, and functions.

• Specific room names or minimum square feet required start/end times for 24-hour hold on space.

• Ancillary charges. Are there charges for meeting room rental and/or setup? Is there a fee for “extensive” meeting room setups and how is that defined? Is there a charge for using outside suppliers or contractors? If there is no charge for any of these services, be sure to state that.

• Release of space. What are the terms?

• Security guards. Hotel should “request,” not “require,” security guards.

• No changes to function space assignments or requirements should be allowed without written group consent.

Food and Beverage

• Menu prices. Firm prices should be established no later than six months out.

• Guarantees. Most guarantees should be given 48 or 72 hours prior to the function. Specify how weekends affect this deadline.

• Taxes and gratuities. State whether the service charge is taxable.

• Hotel’s alcohol service policy, adherence to laws, and intoxication policy.

• Food and beverage cancellation or reduction/mitigation clause.

Exhibit Space

• Exact dates. Include beginning and ending times, setup and move-in, tear-down, and move-out.

• Costs. What is the rental fee? Does it include daily maintenance and vacuuming of the aisles? Be sure the charges are by net, not gross, square feet.

• Booths. List type, size, and number.

• Box delivery. What are the charges? When shipping boxes to the hotel prior to the meeting, where and by when should they be shipped?

• Security guards. Are they required?

• Release of space. What are the terms?

• Exhibitor responsibility clause. Make sure it absolves both the hotel and your organization of liability.

Room Block Control and Pickup

• Provisions for attrition and mitigation. (See “Analyzing Attrition Clauses” and “Making Sense of Mitigation” on pages 37 and 40, respectively.)

• Meeting room rental/facilities service fees. Does the rental fee apply per day for a certain number of days (if so, it should apply only to the major days) or is it all-inclusive? The rental scale should be based on sleeping room revenue.

• Include room block review dates and allowed adjustment/attrition.

• If there are no room block performance charges, that should be stated.

• Any nonrefundable individual cancellation or early departure fees that are collected should be applied to any group performance or cancellation charges due.

• Do not allow more than one room block performance charge.

Rights of Termination for Cause

• Force majeure for termination in the event of an emergency over which neither party has control (also known as an “impossibility”) should be mutual and state that termination will be without a cancellation charge.

• Termination should be allowed for construction, change in management company or ownership, bankruptcy, conflicting booking/competitor, and unavailability of convention center or other facility.

• “Without liability” is often missing in these clauses.

Cancellation

• By the group. There should be a sliding scale of charges as well as mitigation.

• By the hotel. The group should be made whole for its losses.

• The same clause should not include both the hotel and the group issues affecting the group and the hotel are too different to have the same charges owed.

• Cancellation clause. Be sure to include one for your group or total revenue could be owed.

• Watch out for cancellation clauses that seek to recoup all revenue that the hotel would have lost damages owed should be in terms of lost room revenue only.

Americans with Disabilities Act

• Hotel should warrant its compliance.

• Specify the group’s obligations.

• State mutual cooperation in identifying needs.

• Each party should indemnify the other for violations by the indemnifying party.

• Beware of vague language and one-sided obligation for the group.

Dispute Resolution

• What method will be used — arbitration, litigation, or other?

• Which side pays attorney fees?

• In the event the hotel sues the group for collection of funds the group owes, and the hotel wants to be reimbursed for its attorney fees, the hotel should be reimbursed only for attorney fees the hotel incurred to collect charges that the group does not dispute that it owes.

• Any dispute resolution should be at a neutral site.

Miscellaneous Issues

• Indemnification should be reciprocal and each party should be responsible for its own negligence.

• Insurance should be a mutual clause.

• The hotel should warrant the condition of the facility. It should be the same or better than at the time of the on-site visit or contract signing.

• The hotel should state its adherence to laws regarding fire, safety, and health codes.

• The hotel will usually ask that the laws of the state where the hotel is located will apply in the event of a dispute, as will venue and jurisdiction, but that may unnecessarily lock the group into traveling if there is litigation.

• The laws of which state govern the contract?

Closing Issues

• Can the contract be assigned to other parties?

• How are notices to be given?

• Itemize all attachments.

• Merger clause. State that this contract constitutes the entire agreement and supersedes previous agreements.

• Changes can be only in writing.

• Severability. Is the contract enforceable if any provision is ruled unenforceable?

• Is a faxed document valid? It should be if the original is received within 72 hours of the receipt of the fax.

• What is the authority of the signatories?

• Signature information — name, title, group name, and date.

Robin Roth is Senior Contracts Editor at Conferon Global Services, Inc. in La Quinta, California. Visit us at http://www.conferon.com.

Article Source: http://www.Article-Search.eu/

For meetings to consistently deliver the required performance and hence outputs, it is critical to have a prepared communication process in advance of the meeting. For meetings to consistently deliver the required performance and hence outputs, it is critical to have a prepared communication process in advance of the meeting.

This enables participants to be aware and where appropriate prepare for the meeting in advance.

It also allows for them to circulate any preparatory information and pre-reading before the meeting to minimize any information-giving during valuable meeting time.

This time when all participants are together must be devoted to the interchange that can only happen when people are together.

The agenda format may vary, but it will need to have some components which are common, as follows:-

* Location and time and who

* Preparation required

* Review of previous agreed actions

* Objectives

* Items to be discussed

* Next meeting location and time

* Review of meeting

By having this structure, it becomes possible for the right people to attend and to:-

* Focus completely on outcome and purpose

* Be prepared

* Develop meeting skills

Exercise

1. Review meetings you hold, however informal, without agendas.

- How focused are they?

- How sidetracked do they become?

- What do you notice about behaviors of people who attend?

- Describe how you feel at the end of three different meetings this week – some with and some without an agenda.

2. Plan one meeting this week for which you would normally not have an agenda using the agenda detail provided in the workshop.

3. Discuss the benefits and concerns about using an agenda

- What is better about having an agenda?

- What might be negatives about using an agenda?

- How might you ‘sell’ these in a positive way?

Meetings are hugely valuable contribution to business life, as long as they work well. Preparing people in advance is ‘one giant step for meetings, one giant step for value-creating interactions of like minded people’.

Article Source: http://www.Article-Search.eu/

About the Author

©2006 Martin Haworth is a Management Coach. He has hundreds more at his website, Coaching Businesses to Success - http://www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com.

Meetings are valuable components of organizations. Yet they need process, discipline and leadership/facilitation to work best. Here are some indicators to watch out for to highlight where things may be going wrong. 1. No Agenda

When there is no agenda, there is no opportunity to prepare, no framework for the meeting and no purpose. When this happens a lot, there is a tendency for 5 below.

2. Wrong people there

Ever been to a meeting where there was no logical purpose for you to be there? Meeting time is valuable and it is important for efficiency and effectiveness that as few people attend as purposeful. People should appreciate that non-attendance at a particular meeting is OK and get used to it.

3. Overrun

Those times when you sit in a meeting and watch your life slip away, are those that happened with poor meeting management. There is nothing worse than unkept promises (and meetings are just that – a contract to the participants time) and must be honored. Everyone has a role here.

4. Indiscipline

Many meeting participants do not know how to behave. These are things about them and their ego, lack of self-confidence and poor behaviors (out side the meeting too). Lack of courtesy, understanding and space for others to say their piece is inexcusable and not constructive for the outcome.

5. The Leader Leads

Here the meeting is at the beck and call of the leader or chair who really is holding court for themselves. This sort of meeting is about them showing that they are democratic, but they are nothing of the sort. This is a rubber-stamping meeting and is of little or no value.

6. The Leader Doesn’t Lead

Here there is free-for-all, with no leadership from the chair. Poor behaviors, timekeeping and outcomes riddle this sort of meeting, with and end no-result and frayed-tempered, frustrated people.

7. Environment

Too hot, too cold, no water, no breaks, too big, too small. Have you ever been in one of those meetings? And aren’t they awful, so awful in fact that you can’t do your best. This is a meeting where the organizers do not respect the participants.

8. Nothing Happens

A lovely chat, a few disagreements and ‘see you next month’. This is the nice-to-have meeting which does nothing and goes nowhere. As Peter Drucker said, ‘Meetings are a symptom of bad organization. The fewer meetings the better’.

9. Side-tracked/New Stuff

With an agenda, people know what the meeting will be about – or will they. Even with the best agenda, meeting weak processes tend to leave to new issues, side-tracking and wasted time. This is solvable with effort from the facilitator.

10. No Review and Growth

Meetings come and go and are always awful. They are unproductive, boring, overrun and people are there who shouldn’t be. If there is no review of just how good or bad the meeting has been, there will be no improvement. The leader/facilitator can add in meeting feedback as the first agenda item and stick to it – tough at first but gets easier.

Just ten things to watch out for - maybe a sign, or maybe something deeper about you, your organization or your people? Were does the responsibility lie for changing that for the better?

Article Source: http://www.Article-Search.eu/

About the Author ©2006 Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He has thousands of hints and tips at his website, Coaching Businesses to Success - http://www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com

MAXjet Celebrates the Cure for the Common Fuel Surcharge with $1000 Roundtrip Fare from New York or Washington D.C. to London Stansted*DULLES, Va. (April 26, 2006) — MAXjet Airways, a luxury all-business-class airline offering revolutionary low fares to transatlantic travelers, announced today a remarkably low fare from New York or Washington, D.C. to London Stansted for just $1,000 round trip inclusive.* Just as fuel prices skyrocket, MAXjet celebrates the cure for the common fuel surcharge by reducing its fares. Roundtrip tickets must be booked and travel completed by Friday, June 2, 2006.

“Other airlines are charging consumers more because of the recent hike in fuel prices, but MAXjet stands firm in its resolution to offer the best possible prices for all-business-class travel,” said Gary Rogliano, MAXjet CEO.

Normal everyday roundtrip fares start at $1500* from New York and $1750* from Washington D.C., including all taxes and fees. MAXjet does not add fuel or security surcharges. Promotional fares are subject to availability.

MAXjet customers traveling to Europe will not only save money but will also enjoy the convenience of Stansted Airport, Europe’s low-fare carrier gateway. At Stansted, customers can connect with ease to more than 150 destinations, including Berlin, Glasgow, Rome, Warsaw and more. For a full list of connecting flights, go to www.stanstedairport.com .

Adding to its existing service from New York JFK, MAXjet launched new service April 3 between Washington Dulles International Airport and London Stansted. The Washington service operates on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, supplementing MAXjet’s service from New York to Stansted, which operates daily except Saturdays.

For additional information about MAXjet including its routes, fares and flight schedules, or to book travel, visit the MAXjet Web site at www.maxjet.com or call the airline’s toll-free number in the US at 1-888-I-FLY-MAX (435-9629) or in the UK at 0800-023-4300.

About MAXjet Airways

Dulles-based MAXjet is a low-fare, all-business-class transatlantic airline dedicated to bringing greater value to the intercontinental market by connecting key business cities with a high-quality, low-fare business-class product. MAXjet operates Boeing 767s configured with just 102 spacious deep-reclining seats. The extra space greatly increases legroom for each passenger who may select either a window or aisle seat since there are no middle seats. The airline offers low fares, even for last-minute passengers. MAXjet offers upscale meal service, private airport lounges and portable on-demand entertainment to its passengers at value-based fares. Service includes business class leather seats and the traditional amenities of the largest carriers, such as pre-departure beverages, multi-course meals, a Chef’s Pantry, premium liquor, boutique wines, travel amenities, duty free and much more.

In February 2006, MAXjet launched its customer appreciation program called MAXflier, a simple customer-friendly loyalty scheme for MAXjet customers who choose to fly regularly with the airline. Customers who have ‘banked’ enough currency will be able to obtain a free flight. There are no blackout dates, no Saturday night stay requirement or any other limitations often attached to other reward travel. Further details can be obtained at www.maxjet.com.

*All fares shown are roundtrip and include all government taxes and fees. Promotional tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable, but may be reissued for a $350 change fee plus any applicable difference in fare. Travel on promotional tickets must be completed by midnight EST June 2, 2006. Non-promotional fares are non-transferable but may be reissued for a $100 change fee plus any applicable difference in fare and are refundable for a $300 fee. Seats are limited, and certain flights and/or days of travel may be unavailable at lowest prices. Fares and schedules are subject to change without notice and other restrictions may apply. Maximum stay in London is 365 days.

- May ‘Hot List’ Issue Is the Magazine’s Annual Guide to the Hottest New Hotels, Restaurants, Spas, and Clubs Around the Globe - more

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Washington, DC’s performing arts scene is active and vibrant from season to season. New exhibitions are opening on a regular basis, plans are in the works for future showcases, and venue calendars are full. Late spring and early summer will prove to be no exception.The Smithsonian American Art Museum has jump-started a spectacular spring by playing host to one of the nation’s best-known paintings. “American Gothic” recently returned to Washington, DC after a 40-year absence, taking its place at the museum’s Renwick Gallery as part of the larger exhibition, Grant Wood’s Studio: Birthplace of “American Gothic.” On view through July 16, the exhibition pairs the classic American portrait with the artist’s decorative art and design work.

At The Phillips Collection, America’s first museum of modern art, a visual exploration of the fond connection between America and Swedish artist Paul Klee opens June 17. Klee and America, on view through Sep. 10, is a collection of roughly 80 works, among them works collected and owned by three prominent American artistic figures: writer Ernest Hemingway, playwright Clifford Odets and modern architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The Phillips Collection recently completed a series of renovations and expansions that resulted in an additional 30,000 square feet of space, making room for a state-of-the-art technology and art laboratory and a 180-seat auditorium.

Just in time for Independence Day, works displayed at two major city museums will headline Washington, DC Celebrates American Originals, a summer cultural tourism promotion. At the National Portrait Gallery, classic blends with contemporary in a series of works ranging from the Landsdowne portrait of George Washington to a showcase of portraits displayed as part of the National Portrait Gallery’s first national competition. Other exhibits will pay tribute to noted American poets, composers, musicians and athletes. At the American Art Museum July 1 through October, William Wegman—Funney/Strange will feature new works by American artist William Wegman alongside his beloved photographs of weimaraner dogs. And William H. Johnson’s World on Paper, on view July 1 through Jan. 2007, will feature a collection of watercolor prints by noted African-American artist William H. Johnson.

Starting in mid-June, the National Gallery of Art will unveil an exhibition showcasing 16th-century Venetian art. Though several international exhibitions have focused on art from this period—known as the Golden Age—Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Paintingdiffers from other collections, exploring the relationships between the artists while focusing on paintings from the century’s first three decades. It will be comprised of more than 60 paintings representing the ideas and values of the time, including music, pastoral landscapes, female nudes and romantic portraits. The exhibition will be on view June 18 through Sep. 17.

American Originals: Eye Witness, on view at the National Archives June 23 through Jan. 1, 2007, will feature rarely-seen letters, diaries, photographs and audio and film recordings recounting pivotal moments in American history—including Thomas Jefferson’s eyewitness report of events during the French Revolution and an excerpt from Lady Bird Johnson’s audio diary on Nov. 22, 1963, the day of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

While other performing arts venues are busy this summer preparing for their fall seasons, the Kennedy Center will be busy with a major Broadway production. Little Women, the Broadway Musical runs June 27 through July 23 and stars renowned actress Maureen McGovern. And May 27 through July 2, Jerry Herman’s Mame stars Emmy Award® winner and two-time Tony Award® winner Christine Baranski in the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater.

· Places Rated Almanac (2000) ranks DC the second-best overall place to live in the U.S. behind Salt Lake City. · Gallaudet University began the tradition of the football huddle in the 1890s, in order to conceal their signed plays from the opposing team.

· More than 100 nations have embassies in Washington, DC.

· Washington, DC is home to 4,000 psychiatrists.

· The Washington Monument is 555 feet, 5 1/8 inches tall.

· 55 percent of Americans believe that DC residents have a vote in Congress.

· Men’s Fitness magazine rates DC the fourth fittest city in the U.S.

· Washington, DC’s U Street neighborhood was once known as “Black Broadway” and was where Duke Ellington grew up.

· FamilyFun magazine voted DC the best city destination for family travel in the United States.

· The Temperance Fountain (located at 7th and Pennsylvania Ave., NW) was built to provide an alternative to alcohol by a prohibitionist dentist in 1880.

· Washington, DC residents consume more wine per capita than residents of any U.S. state.

· The National Gallery of Art is home to the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in North America.

· Past presidential pets have included: macaws (Dolley Madison, Teddy Roosevelt), a raccoon (Grace Coolidge), and a dairy cow named Pauline (Taft).

· The first official White House Christmas Tree was decorated by Benjamin Harrison and family, defying Puritan traditions.

· Abraham Lincoln is related through his mother to Tom Hanks and Mrs. Bill Cosby and through his father to Elvis Presley.

· The National Museum of Health and Medicine displays the bullet that killed Lincoln. The museum at Ford’s Theater has the gun. The hat that Lincoln was wearing is on display at the National Museum of American History.

· Across from Ford’s Theater, outside the Petersen House (where Lincoln died), stands the “gum tree”-decorated with wads of gum deposited by kids who aren’t allowed to chew inside the building.

· Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy who warned him to cancel his evening at the theater; Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln who encouraged him to skip his trip to Dallas.

· The word “lobbyist” originates from President Grant’s disdain for the interest groups who loitered in the Willard Hotel’s lavish lobby.

· The National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception’s Chapel of Our Lady of Hope is endowed by Bob Hope.

· The original name of Washington, DC was “Federal City.”

· The Pentagon has 17 1/2 miles of corridors.

· There is no “J” Street in Washington, DC.

· Helen Keller and President Woodrow Wilson are buried at Washington National Cathedral.

· Movies such as A Few Good Men, An American President, Forrest Gump, Contact, Wag the Dog, and Thirteen Days all filmed in Washington, DC.

· Origin of Name: The district is named after Christopher Columbus

· In 1790, a survey of the land for the District of Columbia was undertaken by Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker. Forty stones, laid at one-mile intervals, established the boundaries.

· The Potomac River was known to Native Americans as the “Co-hon-ho-roo-ta.” The first English explorers called it “Elizabeth.”

· The Residence Bill of July 16, 1790, established a site along the Potomac to be the capital. This federal district was first called the Territory of Columbia and the federal city the City of Washington. The name changed to the District of Columbia in 1793.

· The most popular museum in DC-and on the planet-is the National Air and Space Museum, which had 219 million visitors in its first 25 years.

· Of adults 25 and older in DC, 42% have at least a bachelor’s degree. Washington, DC, is second only to the Silicon Valley, CA region in educational attainment.

· Compared to the 50 states, DC has the smallest differential between male and female pay in the country.

· The Hotel Washington opened at the corner of 15th Street and the Pennsylvania Avenue in 1918. Still in business, it is the Avenue’s oldest continuously operated hotel.

· When Washington was created in 1791, there were already two towns within its boundaries: Alexandria, Virginia, with about 5,000 people, and Georgetown, with about 3,000. (The District gave Alexandria back to Virginia in 1846.)

· Before there was a subway or buses or even electric streetcars in DC, horse-drawn streetcars provided public transportation. During the late 1800s, horses pulled trolley cars that rode on rails embedded in the street.

· During World War II, Washington’s Union Station was one of the busiest railway stations in the country, with as many as 100,000 passengers passing through each day.

Museums, theatres, attractions, restaurants and hotels in the Capital Region will join together for a summer 2006 cultural promotion, Washington, DC Celebrates American Originals. Headlining the promotion, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery’s re-opening celebration will take place July 1, just in time for the Independence Day holiday. Other summer highlights include:• Reopening exhibitions at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery: William Wegman- Funney/ Strange, William H. Johnson Prints, presidential portraits and more.
• Capital Fringe Festival: Washington, DC’s first-ever celebration of experimental and innovative performing arts, taking place July 20-30.
• Honky-Tonk: Country Music Photographs by Harry Horenstein at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, featuring photos of country’s greatest performers, past and present.
• Duke Ellington’s DC, a walking tour that follows the footsteps of one of the jazz legend and DC native.
• Charles Sheeler: Across Media at the National Gallery of Art, presenting the works of the celebrated American photographer.
• American Gargoyles at the Washington National Cathedral, showing off the Cathedral’s uniquely American interpretation of grotesque adornments.
• Wilson 150: The Exhibition, an exhibition celebrating Woodrow Wilson’s 150th birthday at the Woodrow Wilson House Museum.
• Billy Wilder: American Original, a free weekly film screening of one of America’s best-loved actors’ legendary works at the National Theatre.
• American Originals- EYEWITNESS, a collection of first-hand testimonials and photographs from witnesses of major historic events, displayed at the National Archives.
• Mame, the Broadway classic comes to the Kennedy Center with Christine Baranski singing the title role.

Washington, DC hotels will create patriotic packages to complement the cultural programming. The Churchill Hotel invites guests to enjoy breakfast for two and two all-day Metro passes, with rates starting at $139 per night. The historic Omni Shoreham Hotel’s American Originals package includes full breakfast for two and complimentary parking, starting at $229 per night. At The Madison, a featured summer package includes dinner for two in Palette, the acclaimed adjoining restaurant, and complimentary valet parking, starting at $359 per night. The city’s restaurants will join in the promotion by featuring beloved American recipes and inventive recipes made with fresh, local ingredients. Packages are available exclusively at www.americanoriginalsdc.org or by calling 1-800-422-8644 ext. 449.

Washington, D.C. is the capital city of the United States of America. “D.C.” stands for the “District of Columbia”, the federal district containing the city of Washington. The city is named after George Washington, military leader of the American Revolution and the first President of the United States. The District of Columbia and the city of Washington are governed by a single municipal government. Historically, it was called the Federal City or Washington City.The city was officially named “Washington” on 9 September1791.The population of the District of Columbia, as of 2003 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, is 563,384. The Greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area includes the District of Columbia and parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, with a population surpassing 4.7 million. If Washington, D.C., were considered a state, it would rank last in area behind Rhode Island, 50th in population ahead of Wyoming, and 36th in Gross State Product, ahead of 15 states, and its GSP per capita would be #1 by far compared to other states.

Washington, D.C. is first and foremost a company town, with the primary company being, of course, the federal government. As of 2002, the federal government accounts for 27% of Washington, D.C.’s jobs. Also, the presence of many major government agencies, including the Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, or the Food and Drug Administration, has led to a significant amount of business development both in the District itself as well as in the suburbs of northern Virginia and Maryland. The gross state product of the District in 2004 was $75.264 billion, ranking it #36 when compared with the fifty states

The city is run by an elected mayor (currently Anthony A. Williams) and a city council. The city council is composed of 13 members — a representative elected from each of the eight wards and five members, including the chairman, elected at large. The council conducts its work through standing committees and special committees established as needed

The city also is home to several universities, colleges, and other institutes of higher education, both public and private. The University of the District of Columbia is the city’s public university. Among private institutions, Georgetown University is older than the District itself and is well known for the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service. The George Washington University, founded by an act of Congress in 1821, is the largest institution of higher education in the nation’s capital.

Washington D.C. is a thriving international city filled with cultural offerings on par with the finest in the world. While the city’s biggest draws may be its museums and marbled monuments, a richer visit to D.C. includes time spent away from the tourist-saturated landmarks of Capitol Hill.

Political Washington is a whirlwind of endless press conferences and power lunches, potent memorials and presidential intrigues. Lobbyists and journalists hover around senators, creating the masterful mix of rhetoric, policy, and spin that keeps the country running smoothly. And the hallways of Capitol Hill are always abuzz with congressional strategizing and hand-shaking.

D.C. grows extremely hot and humid between June and August. Try avoiding making Washington your destination at precisely this time. D.C. is pleasant in the fall and spring—particularly during March and April when gorgeous cherry blossoms cover the city. Although winter is relatively mild, even the slightest snowstorms regularly incapacitate the city—leading to unplowed streets, shop closings, and general dismay.

D.C. is ripe for exploration. The must-see places include the Capitol building, the US Botanic gardens, the leafy Constitution Gardens and the monuments. The monuments include the Washington Monument and its famous Reflecting Pool, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. Then there is the national gallery of art with its sculpture garden and the National Museum of Natural History or the National Museum of American History. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden or the National Air and Space Museum shouldn’t be missed. There are smaller sites worth a visit, such as the Renwick Gallery, St. John’s Church, the American Red Cross, the Corcoran Gallery, or the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall. The National Archives, the FBI, and Ford’s Theater can also be visited.

While planning to visit Washington D.C., make sure you have the following relevant information- Important Phone numbers that include US country code 011, Emergency 911, and the number for traveler’s id society- 202 371 1937.

Washington, D.C contains an incredible array of attractions that aren’t found elsewhere in the United States of America. All these a fond and lasting memory of any visit to Washington DC.