Re: timing for venue contracting

[Petr Špaček <[e-mail]>]

On 04. 08. 26 11:26, Vittorio Bertola wrote:
>> Il 04/08/2026 08:43 CEST Petr Špaček <[e-mail]> ha scritto:
>>
>> FOSDEM has ~ 10 k people on site and they spread among all Brussels city
>> accommodation capacities.
>> Chaos Communication Congress with 16 k ppl on site last year in Hamburg
>> also does not provide accommodation at all.
>>
>> These are just two examples where organizers do not provide
>> accommodation at all and participants still can figure it out. In fact
>> every year more people go to these events, so apparently this is not a
>> deterrent.
> 
> However, these are conferences with a much higher share of younger, non-corporate-backed participants, who care a lot about the price of accommodation but do not care about taking metros and buses for 30-60 minutes to reach the conference venue every day.

In principle, sure. Just note this is not binary choice.

Between the two extremes as:
- Capacity for everyone on site is one.
- Zero 'official' accommodation capacity at all is another.
... many shades exist in between, and in fact the accommodation market 
already provides all these shades.

Your 30-60 minute commune by public transit example is a rather extreme 
(unless there's a severe meeting planning failure like the recent RIPE 
in Rome.)

Specifically in Vienna it took me less than 10 minute walk the get to a 
private flat rented for about 1/3 of the official IETF rate.

 > I think that a substantial share of the IETF participants does not 
care that much about the hotel price but wants to stay in a place where 
you can go back and forth from your room to the conference in less than 
three minutes by foot (or lift, if congestion allows).>
> (Speaking as someone who goes to FOSDEM every year and to CCC every now and then, and that almost never stays at the IETF venue as I find it crazy to spend $300/night for a nondescript hotel room.)

It is possible. We are back to question what the community wants. If 
most (current!!) participants don't care about cost then BCP 226 change 
is not possible and we can close this thread right away.

-- 
Petr Špaček