How to Make Room Reservation at the Conference Hotel

WASA'2006 will be held at Mercure hotel on Renmin Square, which is a 4-star hotel at 319 Dong Xin Street, Xi’an 710004, Shananxi Province, P. R. China. The hotel is at walking distance from the city centre shopping and entertainment area and at proximity from a vast array of tourist attractions, such as the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower, Great Mosque, Shaanxi History Museum, Forest Stele Museum, South Gate, etc. (How to get to the hotel, together with some useful information, will be explained later in details in Local Arrangements and Some Tips for Attending WASA’2006)

The local organizer of WASA’2006 has reserved some guest rooms of single bed (see the attached picture of guest room below). Each room costs 320RMB/night (approximately 40US$), which includes service/tax charges and breakfast for one person. Every room can provide the broadband service (but you need to bring your own laptops), which costs 50RMB/day.

For room reservation at the conference hotel, please send the following information to Dr. X.-D. Hu at xdhu@amss.ac.cn before July 20, which is 25 days before WASA’2006 (after that there is no guarantee for the low price, or even rooms).

• Name:

• Nationality:

• Paper No.:

• Check-in Date (and time if after 20:00):

• Check-out Date:        

Notice that:

(1) Upon receiving the room reservation request, Dr. Hu will send a confirmation email within 48 hours notifying that the request is received.

(2) For the convenience of participants of WASA’2006, the local organizers do not require any deposit when room reservation is made; They request, however, that the information provided should be accurate. Any change in room reservations should be notified to the local organizers as early as possible (since otherwise the local organizers have to compensate the hotel for possible loss).

(3) Room charges should be paid directly to the hotel while you check in and check out. Cash and credit cards of major currencies are both acceptable in the hotel.

Some pictures are attached for your references.

Classic Room at Mercure hotel on Renmin Square

Overview of Remin Square; Conference hotel is building No. 5.

Local Arrangements and Some Tips for Attending WASA’2006

(3.1) An one-day tour of Aug. 17 includes Emper Qin's Terra-cotta Museum and Hua Qin Pond. It is highly recommended that you should read some books about these two famous historic sites before you visit them.

(3.2) All participants must summon outside the hotel at 08:30. We will return the hotel around 17:00 and have supper around 18:00 (we will have a lunch at a restaurant near the museum).

(3.3) Fare for one-day tour is included in the registration fee. Tickets are needed for attending the tour.

(4) Taking Meals

(4.1) All breakfasts, lunches and reception/supper will be served at the 4^th floor. Banquet in the evening of Aug. 15 will be served at the convention center ((Bld No. 3 in the enclosed map).

(4.2) Fares for breakfasts (of one people) are included at the room charges, while fares for organized lunches, reception/supper and banquet are included in the registration fee. There will be no organized supper in the evening of Aug. 16 (you are encouraged to try typical Xi’an foods yourself).

(5) Arriving at the Conference Hotel

(5.1) WASA2006 will be held at the Mercure hotel on Renmin Square, which is a 4-star hotel at 319 Dong Xin Street, Xi’an 710004, Shananxi Province, P. R. China.

(5.2) All participants must go to the conference hotel themselves. Hence for those who do not speak Chinese may write down the Chinese name of the hotel in the following ways before they leave for Xi’an: (a) ask a Chinese colleague/student/friend to help you, or (b) print out and cut the Chinese direction provided at the next page.

(5.3) It is strongly recommended that you should take a taxi waiting in a line. Tell the taxi driver that you want to go to the Mercure hotel on Renmin Square (Bld No. 5 in the enclosed map). You should ask the driver to switch on the meter when you get on a taxi and give you the receipt after you arrive the destination. (However, it is said that many drivers do not want to charge you by meters in order to earn some more money.)

(5.4) If you go to Xi’an by air, then you may get to the hotel by taxi, which costs about 50 minutes and 120 RMB. You may also take the shuttle bus from the airport to the center, which costs only 25 RMB, and then get to the hotel by taxi, which costs 6 RMB (the minimum charge). If you go to Xi’an by train, then you can get to the hotel by taxi, which costs 6 RMB (the minimum charge).

(6) Preparing Trip to Xi’an

The summer at Xi’an is very hot (about 35-38C) and it may rain in Aug. (so it is a good idea to take an umbrella).

(7) Taking Money and Giving Tips

(7.1) It is strongly recommended that you should take some cash of Chinese Yuan or major currencies (such as USD, Euro, Japanese Yen, HKD) along with major credit cards. It is NOT convenient to use traveler check in mainland China.

(7.2) You may exchange some cash of Chinese Yuan at some major airports in China including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Xi’an. Of course, you may also exchange Chinese Yuan at some local offices/branches of Bank of China (or some other major China Banks). But that is quite difficult, especially if you could not understand Chinese, and time-consuming.

(7.3) You can pay all expenses at the conference hotel by both cash of Chinese Yuan (or major currencies) and credit cards.

(7.4) Giving tips is far from popular in mainland China, even when you take a taxi or have meal at a restaurant. At the conference hotel, which is rated 4 star, you are also not expected to give a tip to someone who has provided you with a service but he/she may receive it if you are willing to give. In short, it is up to you (NOT custom in mainland China) to give tips or not.

(8) Asking for Help

(8.1) Before Aug. 14, please send your inquiries about local arrangement at xdhu@amss.ac.cn.

(8.2) After Aug. 14, please phone the conference hotel: (86-29) 8792-8888

(8.3) Emergency/Police Call in mainland China is 110 (just like 911 in US).

The following directions written in Chinese could be used when you tell taxi drivers (or anyone) who may help you to get to the conference hotel. A map of the conference hotel is also enclosed for your reference.

Name of the Hotel:  Mercure hotel on Renmin Square

酒店名称：陕西省西安市雅高美居人民大厦

Location of the Hotel: 319 Dong Xin Street, Xi’an 710004, Shanxi Province

酒店地点：陕西省西安市东新街319号

Phone of the Hotel: 0086-29-87928888

酒店电话：  0086-29-87928888

Fax of the hotel: 0086-29-87928999

酒店传真：0086-29-87928999