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History

Our rich and vibrant History will only be preserved for the next 100 years, through our efforts to become the standard bearer in sustainable luxury hospitality.

Among so many historical notes:

The first group of three Japanese ambassadors to the United States stayed at the Willard with seventy-four other delegates in 1860, where they observed that their hotel room was more luxurious than the U.S. Secretary of State's house. It was the first time an official Japanese delegation traveled to a foreign destination, and many tourists and journalists gathered to see the sword-carrying Japanese.

From February 4 to February 27, 1861, the Peace Congress, featuring delegates from 21 of the 34 states, met at the Willard in a last-ditch attempt to avert the Civil War. A plaque from the Virginia Civil War Commission, located on the Pennsylvania Ave. side of the hotel, commemorates this courageous effort. Later that year, upon hearing a Union regiment singing "John Brown's Body" as they marched beneath her window, Julia Ward Howe wrote the patriotic "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to the same tune.

On February 23, 1861, amid several assassination threats, detective Allan Pinkerton smuggled Abraham Lincoln into the Willard during the weeks before his inauguration; there Lincoln lived until his inauguration on March 4, holding meetings in the lobby and carrying on business from his room.

On March 27, 1874, the Northern and Southern Orders of Chi Phi met at the Willard to unite as the Chi Phi Fraternity.

Many United States presidents have frequented the Willard, and every president since Franklin Pierce, including George W. Bush, has either slept in or attended an event at the hotel at least once; the hotel is hence also known as "the Residence of Presidents".

It was the habit of  President Ulysses S. Grant to drink brandy and smoke a cigar while relaxing in the lobby. It was here where he popularized the term "lobbyist", as Grant was often approached by those seeking favors. This term became synonymous with Washington politics.

Plans for Woodrow Wilson's League of Nations took shape when he held meetings of the League to Enforce Peace in the hotel's lobby in 1916.

Calvin Coolidge ran the country from his guestroom as he lived at the hotel for three weeks in August 1923, while Warren G. Harding's widow vacated the White House.

Several hundred officers, many of them combat veterans of World War I, first gathered with the General of the Armies, John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., on October 2, 1922 formally established Reserve Officers Association (ROA) as an organization.

The first recorded meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research was convened at the Willard on May 7, 1907.

Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in his hotel room at the Willard in 1963 the evening before he made it on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Among the Willard's many other famous historic guests are P. T. Barnum, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, General Tom Thumb, Samuel Morse, the Duke of Windsor, Harry Houdini, Gypsy Rose Lee, Gloria Swanson, Emily Dickinson, Jenny Lind, Charles Dickens, Mae West, Bob Fosse. The Willard continues as a frequent host to many famous luminaries of today, including celebrities, business and political leaders.

The Willard epitomizes world-class hospitality as the hotel of choice for heads of state and leaders of the world's business, cultural, social and political sectors. 

The hotel boasts 332 large, elegant rooms including 40 suites, Willard Room (fine) and Café du Parc (casual) dining, afternoon tea in the Peacock Alley and the luxurious, I Spa at the Willard.  The classic hotel combines heritage and luxury with contemporary comfort and the latest technology

Mission

Why Sustainable Development in the hotel industry?

A Sustainable Development strategy is not an opportunity but a responsibility of the hotel industry as hotels create a lot of waste and consume a lot of energy, wherever they are located ie. in the center of a city or on a remote island.

General Manager: a “citizen hotelier”

Until the late 1970s General Managers were “innkeepers”, their best sales and marketing tools being the quality of their teams and the service delivered to their customers. In the 80s they became “businessmen/women” as they had to be more creative and sales oriented to develop the revenue lines as well as being focused on expenses so as to deliver better profits. Since the 90s they are “asset managers”, ensuring that every square inch of their property delivers revenue and profit on behalf of owners focused on better Returns On Investment (ROI). At the beginning of the 21st century they must add two other bottom lines to the economic bottom line: Social Responsibility and Environmental Protection, thus creating the fourth generation of General Managers: “the citizen hoteliers”.

The Willard InterContinental hotel has an obligation to live up to its legacy and remain a leader in hospitality. It must go one step further and sustain a much larger responsibility as one of the key institutions on the capital city. In much the same way as a President gives direction to a nation and a CEO to a corporation, the Willard InterContinental has a responsibility to show the way to the future. This hotel will give direction in the area of SD to the industry, to the city, to the nation and to the world. Our world, our Earth, our peoples will be facing major issues in the future as the planet becomes smaller, the natural resources become scarce and the needs of all become larger. Governments, businesses and private individuals have a shared responsibility for the future of our descendants. Let us face this responsibility and be the leader in developing a long term strategy, not for the next five years, but for the next one hundred years. That strategy is based on Sustainable Development.

Sustainable Development Mission Statement

The Willard InterContinental Hotel will further distinguish itself as the premier hotel in Washington DC by making Sustainability a part of the Willard experience. Guests, employees, shareholders, our local community and our environment will all benefit from our strategy which considers the social, environmental and economic impacts of all we do.