Re: Hotel situation

[Bob Hinden <[e-mail]>]

Stepping back from this discussion a bit, I think we also have to note that over the years, we (the community) have added a lot of requirements for meeting venues.  These include:

Preference for meeting in the main hotel (aka single roof meeting)
Intercity locations with lots of restaurants, bars, grocery stores, etc., etc. within walking distances
Direct flights from different continents
Ability to take over the hotel room network
Preference for rooms < $200 / night.
Avoid places like Las Vegas and Macau
Etc., etc.

and my recent favorite, ability to get hotel rewards point :-)

These requirements along with our need for many meeting rooms and a large plenary do restrict the number of choices in venues.  This is like a balloon, if you push it from one side, the other side expands.  That is, the more requirements we add, the fewer venues there are that can accommodate our needs.  Something has to give.

We can’t keep adding requirements and then be surprised that are some side effects like we are seeing now.

Bob

p.s. Note, personally I like single roof venues, intercity locations, etc., and agree with should go back to venues that have worked in the past.