Venue Data for Upcoming Meetings was Re: Hotel situation

[Ray Pelletier <[e-mail]>]

All;

Below is data for our upcoming meetings regarding guest room rates,
rooms contracted for on Peak nights and number of rooms total in the
Hotel.

Our target has been to get 600 rooms on peak nights in the so-called
headquarters hotel, and total, with Overflow hotels, to contract 780
rooms on peak night.  We do not attempt to contract rooms for 1,200
attendees.

There are often tradeoffs required in selecting the venue.  We might
be able to get 600 rooms in a hotel but the hotel is remote, not
surrounded by other hotels, restaurants, etc.  It’s not uncommon for
us to check availability for 10 or more venues for a particular
meeting in a particular region to identify ones that are available
and meet the criteria.  See the Venue Selection Criteria below.  
And, no, “pick locations to maximize meeting fee income” is not
among the criteria.  

For Buenos Aires we have contracted with 10 hotels, of which the
last 4 will come online in the next 24 hours or so.  Hotels are
smaller in Buenos Aires.  

Currently we are working on the overflow hotels in Seoul, trying to
get as many rooms at reasonable prices as close to the venue as
possible.  We expect to contract with 3 additional hotels there.  

Ray
IAD



			Price w/o Tax  Peak  Total
Buenos Aires				1230  2923
 Hilton			$209 	300    417
 Sheraton ConvCtr	$179 	140    742
 Holiday Inn		$150 	30      116
 NH City Hotel		$143        190    369
 NH Florida		$120 	85      162
 NH Lancaster		$132 	40	  115
 NH 9th of July	$120 	85	  175
 Sheraton Liberator $179 	70	  200
 InterCon			$200 	150	  309
 Plaza			$131 	140	  318

Berlin					730
 InterCon			$140 	480	  558
 Pullman			$129 	250	  383

Seoul
 Conrad		$197/$214	400	  434
 Overflow	TBD
 Overflow	TBD
 Overflow	TBD

Chicago					800
 Swissotel		$169 	450	  660
 Fairmont			$169 	350	  687

Prague
 Hilton			$149 	600	  791

+++++++++++++++
Venue Selection Objectives & Criteria:

The following are the objectives desired in the selection of an 
IETF meeting venue:

  1. Advancing standards development
  2. Facilitating participation by active contributors
  3. Encouraging new contributors
  4. Sharing the travel pain; balancing travel time and expense 
	across the regions from 	where IETF participants are based.

The is the list of the criteria that is evaluated when selecting a
venue.  This is not in any priority order.

1.  An Optimal Facility for an IETF meeting is held under "One
Roof", that is, qualified meeting space and guest rooms are
available in the same facility.

2.  The Meeting Space must be adequate in size and layout to
accommodate meeting and participant networking where possible.

3.  The Technology must be capable of supporting meeting network
requirements.

4.  The Guest Rooms at the headquarters hotel must be sufficient in
number, have an adequate network, or the Hotel will accept the IETF
network, and within close proximity to venue.

5.  The Venue Surroundings must be surrounded by other hotels,
restaurants and bars, and within walking distance; not isolated

6.  The Cost of guest rooms, meeting space, food and beverage must
be affordable.

7.  The meeting should be Hostable and Sponsorable, that is, the
Meeting is in a location and at a price that it is possible and
probable to find a host and sponsors.  Host costs typically include
the cost of the meeting space, network operation and circuits.

8.  Overflow Hotels are hotels under contract typically within
walking distance of the venue and have a variety of guest room
rates.  They do not include the IETF network, but typically have
free Internet.

9.  Travel is a consideration, ease of access and number of hops. 
Travel to the venue should be reasonably 	acceptable based on
cost, time, and burden for participants traveling from multiple
regions.   Also, are there other travel barriers to entry, e.g.,
visas?

10.  Can the venue and hotels be put under contract?

11.  Risk - Review risks associated with this venue over selected
dates.

12.  Are there safety/health concerns for the participants at this
venue?

13.  Are there health concerns for the participants at this venue?






> On Jan 5, 2016, at 11:52 AM, Jared Mauch <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
> I know for NANOG the Bay Area is a big attendance draw but costs are also much higher compared to other venues. 
> 
> Jared Mauch
> 
>> On Jan 5, 2016, at 11:19 AM, Ole Jacobsen <[e-mail]> wrote:
>> 
>> Speaking as the chair of said committee, no "maximizing meeting fee 
>> income" is not and (at least in my opinion) should not be the primary 
>> reason for selecting a venue. There *is* obviously some predictable 
>> correlation between location and attendance number, for example if we 
>> have a meeting in San Jose or San Francisco we would expect a larger 
>> than average number of "locals" to attend because there are many of 
>> them in that area. But it's not clear that such a peak in numbers 
>> would benefit the IETF in the long run, in other words, it isn't clear 
>> that such extra attendees would become regular contributors.
>