Re: IETF 104 Registration and Hotel Reservations Openo

[Lou Berger <[e-mail]>]

Hi Alexa,

Thanks for this mail, see below for a couple of responses.


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On December 21, 2018 2:02:06 PM Alexa Morris <[e-mail]> wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> It’s clear that there is some confusion about IETF 104 guest rooms rates 
> and the cancelation policy, so let me attempt to clarify.
>
> The Secretariat performs weekly audits to verify that the IETF has the 
> lowest rate offered to anyone; per the terms of our contract, no other 
> individual or group holding a meeting at the venue during our dates can 
> secure lower rates, even through discount travel websites (e.g., 
> Travelocity, Expedia). Please note that corporate rates are an exception, 
> as large companies may have their own contractual relationships with 
> specific hotel chains.
>
> During this week's audit, we discovered several instances where our room 
> rate guarantee was not being honored. This has since been corrected and we 
> will continue to perform weekly audits.
>

if this is corrected by lowering the right to the ietf, I think this is a 
fantastic thing. If this is corrected by removing that alternate source for 
lower rates, I have no idea why this would be in our interest or why we 
would expend resources trying to enforce that. I really hope it's the 
former not the latter.

> Some of you have also expressed confusion about the Hilton’s cancellation 
> policy for IETF 104. We will work with the Hilton to clarify the language 
> on their reservation site, but it’s not possible to make changes until 
> 2019. In the meantime, the cancellation policy is stated on the IETF 
> website (make sure you select the “In Depth” tab from 
> https://www.ietf.org/how/meetings/104/hotel/) and explained below:
>
> * You may cancel your reservation without penalty up to 21 days prior to 
> arrival date.

I'm a bit surprised to see this 21-day cancellation clause. Of course if 
this allowed us to get a lower rate or some other major concession, it 
seems well worth it.

Also thank you for clarifying the other points below.

Lou

> * All reservations must be accompanied by a valid credit card which shall 
> be charged on the cut-off date (10 March 2019) for three nights room and tax.
> * If you decide to cancel your room reservation less than 14 days prior to 
> your arrival date, the hotel reserves the right to charge you for your full 
> length of stay.
>
> If you have any other questions about your hotel reservation and/or if you 
> discover a rate advertised online that is lower than the IETF guest room 
> rate of Kč 3,850, please send a message to [e-mail] and we 
> will follow up.
>
> Regards,
>
> Alexa Morris
> Managing Director, IETF Secretariat
>
>
>> On Dec 21, 2018, at 8:58 AM, Carsten Bormann <[e-mail]> wrote:
>> 
>> On Dec 21, 2018, at 17:48, John R Levine <[e-mail]> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> "This reservation requires a credit card deposit of 3,850.00 Kč CZK for 3 
>>>> nights which will be charged to your card."
>>> 
>>> It may say that, but there's nothing charged to my card.  Did they charge 
>>> yours?
>> 
>> None of my credit card providers shows me the deposits I have made using 
>> their cards.
>> Does yours?
>> 
>> Grüße, Carsten
>> 
>