Re: Registration open for IETF 114

[Alexa Morris <[e-mail]>]

Hi Ross,

> On May 5, 2022, at 12:43 PM, Ross Finlayson <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
> 
>> On May 5, 2022, at 9:57 AM, IETF Executive Director <[e-mail]> wrote:
>> 
>> The IETF 114 meeting venue is at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown.  As explained in the FAQ, you will need to register before you can reserve a guest room at the venue.
> 
> Strictly speaking, this does not appear to be correct.  The link that I was sent to me (after I registered for the IETF) to reserve a guest room was not specific to my IETF registration.  While it gave me the IETF-discounted room rate, it would have worked for anyone, even if they hadn’t registered for the IETF.
> 
> For other on-site IETF meetings (before Covid), the link to reserve a hotel guest room (at the IETF-discounted room rate) was included in the IETF “Registration open” email.  This allowed people to reserve an IETF-hotel room (often a scarce resource) early, while deferring actually registering for the IETF.
> 
> Not including the hotel room link in the “Registration open” email appears to be an (understandable) ploy to get as many paid IETF registrations as early as possible.

This approach, which we initiated at IETF 113, is typical of many conferences. It's not actually a ploy to get people to register early but rather a strategy to protect the IETF room block for those who genuinely intend to travel to Philadelphia.  

Unfortunately, in past years guest rooms were often snatched up early and hoarded until just prior to the meeting, when there was a rush of  cancellations. This left the IETF with an underutilized room block AND it left many onsite participants stuck at other properties they'd booked when the block was (temporarily) full. 

Alexa


> 	Ross.
>