Re: IETF 97 - Registration and Hotel Reservations Open Now!

[Jari Arkko <[e-mail]>]

John,

For what it is worth, I also consider it troubling that we are constantly in this situation. Now, I don’t actually know yet why we are in this situation this time. It could be about IT or policy issues on hotel’s side (e.g., why the reservations are available but only if you do them in several pieces). It could be about hotel not living up to its promise or us failing to hold them to their promise. It could be us not asking big enough block. Or that we simply can’t get big enough block and satisfy our other requirements. Or some combination thereof — and it is my perception that it is likely a combination. I do know that it is often very difficult for us to get bigger blocks than what we have.

I’ll note that we’ve promised a broader review of how well the IASA system works, and this is one topic among several to look at. We’ve said that the IAOC will get to this review later this year, given other ongoing efforts that are taking a lot of time.

As for the other issue that you mentioned, I can confirm that we should not demand you or any else explain why staying at a particular facility is important. I can imagine several reasons, some of which are true for various subsets of the community. Maybe a better question might be whether we’re having a sufficiently broad and satisfactory selection of official and unofficial alternatives (incl. airbnb) in our selected meeting locations. I don’t believe that IETF can cope with just the main hotel in almost any location.

Jari