It is a great weekend to be staying here with us at the Best Western Old Colony Inn. On Saturday, 8/28, Fox News commentator, Glenn Beck, along with Sarah Palin will be hosting a rally, “Restoring Honor.” This event will take place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The date of the event also strikes the 47th year anniversary for Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech,” also given at the Lincoln Memorial.
Other speakers attending the event include representatives from SOWF, Dr. Alveda King and Marcus Luttrell. Country star, Jo DEE Messina will also be performing.
This rally is not political; as it is directed towards honoring America’s heroes and individuals, “who embody our nation’s founding principals of integrity, truth and honor.”
Many guests staying here at the Old Colony Inn plan on attending this event along with an expected 300,000 other people from all over the country.
The time of the event on Saturday is 10:00am-1:00pm. For individuals unable to attend, the rally will be streamed LIVE for free on Facebook. For more information about “Restoring Honor,” please visit: http://www.glennbeck.com/828/.
Come enjoy Alexandria’s first summer Restaurant Week, August 20th-29th. There will be 60 diverse local restaurants, both formal and causal dining, participating in this 10 day event.
The selected restaurants will be offering one of two dinner choices; a $35 prix-fixe three-course meal or a $35 dinner for two. To get a list of all participating restaurants and see what they are offering, visit http://visitalexandriava.com/restaurants-nightlife/restaurants/alexandria-restaurant-week/.
And we can not forget about dessert! Various bakeries, chocolatiers and dessert shops will be offering a sweet treat for only $3.50.
All meals and treats are being specially created for this event so don’t miss out on this wonderful week of food and fun! Come stay with us here at the Best Western Old Colony Inn and make reservations at your favorite restaurants today!
Looking for an exciting yet relaxing way to see D.C.? Come stay with us at the Old Colony Inn and sign up for our Royal Treatment package. This package includes up to 4 free tour passes with Royal Trolleys when you reserve a room for two nights, Friday through Sunday. Both morning and night tour tickets are available.
With the morning tours, 10:00am to 1:00pm, you are able to see how the city starts off the day. On the contrary, to get a feel for the city at night, the night tours start at 7:00pm and lasts approximately 2 to 3 hours. There are between 5 and 6 stops along the tour where you can see multiple monuments and memorials at each stop. Stops include the White House, Washington Monument, and Lincoln Memorial, only to name a few.
The Trolleys have comfortable seating, air conditioning during the summer time, and large windows so you can not miss any of the sites. For more information about our Royal Treatment package, visit http://hotel-alexandria.com/hotel-specials.htm. Also, be sure to check out www.royaltrolleys.com for more information about sightseeing with Royal Trolleys!
Travelling to Alexandria on a budget? Not to worry, Alexandria has plenty to do in town for free! First off and personal favorite is the Torpedo Factory Art Center. Built in 1918, this factory was used for the production of torpedoes. Today, you will find 82 artists’ studios, 6 galleries and 2 workshops. Anyone is welcome to walk through the factory and visit the local artists and admire their unique masterpieces. The artists showcase everything from ceramics, jewelry, photography, painting and much more.
If looking for an easy way to see King Street, hop on the King Street Trolley! To take a break from walking and to visit all the King Street attractions, enjoy a ride on the trolley. The trolley rides between the King Street Metrorail Station and the Potomac River Waterfront with 20 stops along the way. The trolley comes every 20 minutes, seven days a week from 11:30am to 10:00pm.
In addition to the two activities above, other places to visit at no cost are the Alexandria National Cemetery, The Athenaeum, Christ Church, and the Old Presbyterian Meeting House. These spots highlight the most prominent people and time periods in Alexandria’s history.
To get more information about these activities, visit http://visitalexandriava.com/attractions-activites/free-things-to-do/. Stay with us here at the Best Western Old Colony, where you are conveniently located close by to all of these sites!
Mother Nature has made it quite an exciting month for us here in the D.C. area. We have experienced everything from an earthquake, record breaking high temperatures and strong storms.
The earthquake hit July 16th around 5:04am. It was centered in Rockville, MD and was felt by many residents in the city and surrounding suburbs. Compared to other recent earthquakes in the area, this was a rather big one with a 3.6-magnitude.
We have also experienced a nearly two-week heat wave with temperatures consistently being in the high 90s and 100s. Because of the heat and humidity, a few bad storms have hit with heavy rains and gusty winds. The most recent storm happened on Sunday July 25th, causing floods, fallen trees, and many power outages. The only good result from this storm is now the drop in temperatures. It is forecasted that our temperatures will decline and return to our normal numbers for this time of year.
Now that the temperatures are looking better, it is a perfect time to visit Alexandria! Come stay with us at the Best Western Old Colony Inn. Visit our website at www.hotel-alexandria.com or call us at (703) 739-2222 and make your reservation today!
Here at the Best Western Old Colony Inn, we are helping our environment and implementing new “green” initiatives. We have been awarded a 2 Green Eco-Leaf rating by the iStayGreen organization. Currently we are one of 4 “green” hotels here in Alexandria. Additionally, The Old Colony Inn is one of 2 properties that have been through the iStayGreen Audit. The iStayGreen Audit process includes reviewing the properties procedures on energy efficiency, water conservation, recycling, environmental safe cleaning, waste reduction, and much more. We received the 2 Green Leaf rating because we partake in 33 eco-initiatives.
One “green” initiative here at the hotel is a new recycling program starting this week. We are also implementing a program, “Green Touch Housekeeping,” along with all other Lodging Host properties. This is a way our guests can take part in “going green” and choose not to have their linens and towels changed daily.
Stay here at the Old Colony Inn and join us in being green! Visit iStayGreen.org to learn more about their Green Eco-Leaf Ratings.
Come enjoy the beautiful city of Alexandria and support our locals by visiting one of Alexandria’s Farmers’ Markets. At Old Town Farmers’ Market, locals have been selling their products since 1753, making it one of the oldest Farmer’s Markets around. You can buy an array of items, such as fresh produce, plants, baked goods as well as arts and crafts. This market is held every Saturday morning from 5:30am-10:30am year round.
Another market called Del Ray Farmers’ Market is where you will find fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs, fresh pasta and sauces, cheeses, jams and jellies, and much more! Del Ray Farmers’ Market is located on the Corner of East Oxford & Mount Vernon Avenue, also open year round on Saturday mornings, 8am- Noon.
These are just two examples of the wonderful Farmer’s Markets in town. To find out more information about these markets as well as others, visit http://alexandriava.gov/FarmersMarket.
Set a date and book a room today to come support the cities Farmers’ Markets! You will be conveniently located near these markets when staying with us at the Best Western Old Colony Inn. Call (703) 739-2222 or visit our website, www.hotel-alexandria.com.
Back in late 2009 at the semi-annual management meeting for the company, the General Managers of the hotels listened to a presentation by Charisse Hilchey about charity options. Many of the employees of the company have requested that the company pick an appropriate charitable organization for the company to support.
In July Lodging Host Hotel Corp entered into a contract with “Clean the World” for a test property, The Holiday Inn Express in Marshall, TX. Clean the World collects used soap, shampoo and lotion products to be reprocessed and distributed at no cost in third world countries to needy people. The managers liked this charity because it accomplished a number of goals at one time:
- It allowed the employees to reach out to those in need
- It allowed the hotel to be more “Green” as it will take hundreds of pounds, per hotel, of hazardous materials out of landfills
- It was a program that all of the employees in the hotel could participate in
- There was little to no operational cost to the hotel outside of a small amount of time actually used in the recycling effort
Louis C. Christian III, General Manager of the Holiday Inn Express in Marshall, TX, discussed the charity with his employees and volunteered to be the test hotel for the program. The test program will run until Fall of 2010 when the General Managers will be able to, at their Fall meeting, review the results of the test and determine if this is the charitable program company would like to adopt.
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This week in Alexandria, the temperatures have set record high numbers, reaching the low 100’s! Although it does not feel like Christmas here in Alexandria, the city is hosting its First Annual Christmas in July Celebration. Over 15 vendors and organizations will be participating in the weekend event, July 16th through the 18th. The activities will take place on Union Street both inside stores and outside on the street for all ages to enjoy. A few of the activities will include, pictures with Santa, caroling, food and wine tastings, and ornament making. For more information, you can visit http://www.christmasattic.com/.
To come and enjoy the Christmas in July celebration, call the Best Western Old Colony Inn (703) 739-2222 or visit our website http://hotel-alexandria.com to reserve a room for the weekend.
Lodging Host, seven years ago, was one of the first hotel management companies to adapt to on-line access for clients’ records. This technology, while challenging at first to some, quickly became very popular with clients.
Through a secure server, clients are able to access all of their hotels up to date and sometimes up to the minute information. Revenues, deposits, contracts, property tax information, financial reports, franchise reports and inspections are just some of the information available to Lodging Host’s clients and their CPAs. But as with any technology, as it becomes more popular and more flexible, more and more demands are put on it. This requires additional storage space, ever larger programs requiring more memory and greater speeds.
So recently Lodging Host installed a complete new computer server system. Don’t worry though, it all still works the same. Just as easy as before.
But lets not forget to be green! We did not dispose of the old system but reconfigured it to be the back up system for the new one!
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