GABIT attendees thread

[PengYn]

Excellent! *digs out suitcase*

Bev, don't forget to pack that glass stargate of yours so I can - um - look after it for you.

Woo hoo double digits!!

[Skydiver]

They must have done just a handful of rooms for Thursday night, because I reserved *months* ago and it was a terrible price.

I guess they feel like they have us over a barrell. We arrive Friday and risk delays cutting into the weekend or arrive Thursday and either pay up or go into the city proper looking for a better deal==> and shlepping our stuff everywhere.

suse

hotels have a bad habit of doing that.

we've dealt with one here planning a meeting. 2 months before the meeting, sure, they'd take care of everything, we didn't have to worry. as it got closer, well this was going to be a problem and cost more and this was going to cost more and this was going to cost more, oh, and that extension cord was going to cost us $5 a day, etc, etc, etc.

in other words, as things get closer to the event and they know you can't move it elsewhere, hotels have a bad habit of getting less and less accomodating and more and more money grabbing.

This hotel has ticked us off so much that we're looking into moving future meetings to either another hotel in town, or if one can't accomodate the size of our group, another city, just to get away from this 'yes, you have a contract with us so we can mess with you as much as we want, and since we're the ONLY place in town to have meetings...where ARE you going to go huh????' attitude

[SEREN LWCH (MAL)]

*to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"*

When I've clicked upon this thread
Lots of fun posts I have read
Mal's great countdowns, Kliggy's cake
Plans for AT3 we make
But today's posts will all show
We've only 100 Days To Go!

Great poem! Well i'm home!!!!! Tommorw i'll take over the countdown again.

((((((((((((((kliggy)))))))))))) for taking care of it for me.

I went into Burnarby yesterday on the skytrain to try and find the studios. But I could not see it from the skytrain so I did not know were to get off . So I changed trainds and went back to Vancouver.

I dd see the studio from the sleeper train on Saturday morning though, so i'm not to down about it.

Guess what??? We had 4 nearly full days on Vancouver Island and in Vancouver itself and not a single drop of rain!!!

[dipsofjazz]

Bev, don't forget to pack that glass stargate of yours so I can - um - look after it for you.

Um.............nope.

Woo hoo double digits!!

Yay!

[SWMBOTGSG]

Bev, don't forget to pack that glass stargate of yours so I can - um - look after it for you.

If she doesn't fall for it (and a doubt she will) you may be able to buy one of your own from Paul at Legends.

Woo hoo double digits!!

EEEK!

Mumsey

[sofie]

OMG OMG now it really looks like very close, I should order my tickets for the Eurostar soonish I guess...
Sofie??

lol yea we need to book that!!
Happy 99 days everyone, couldn't make it to this thread yesterday. Love the rhyming though

[PengYn]

Um.............nope.

*pouts* I get the feeling I'm not entirely trusted..

If she doesn't fall for it (and a doubt she will) you may be able to buy one of your own from Paul at Legends.

Mumsey

I may have to!! Bev clearly isn't going to let me near hers

[becky_preen]

Suse and I got the same rate.

IIRC, someone in the G4 said they might be able to negotiate the con rate on Thurs for us. Does anyone besides me remember this? Or am I hallucinating again?

I'm starting to feel frazzled about everything that needs to be done before I go. Anticipating is not nearly as much fun now as it was a few months ago.

We did go back to the hotel and try and get the rate reduced for attendees on thursday, but this is a bank holiday weekend in the UK, and they were too busy already to be able to extend the convetion rate. This is a busy Business use hotel and we only ge the rates we do at the weekend becuse it's a time they would otherwise be fairly quiet.

I think a few people managed to get a special rate for thursday, but it still isn't close to the weekend convention rate and was based on being booked in advance spcial offers ...yada yada.

If you need to come in earlier, there are some cheaper hotels in the area, but be warned the cheaper ones are cheaper because they have fewer regular customers... if you catch my drift. The exception is probably the travel inn ( now premier inn)/ travel lodge type basic hotels which are usually a decent standard room only but the same standard all over the country.

Sorry we can't be more helpful
Becks
G4

[Feli]

hotels have a bad habit of doing that.

we've dealt with one here planning a meeting. 2 months before the meeting, sure, they'd take care of everything, we didn't have to worry. as it got closer, well this was going to be a problem and cost more and this was going to cost more and this was going to cost more, oh, and that extension cord was going to cost us $5 a day, etc, etc, etc.

in other words, as things get closer to the event and they know you can't move it elsewhere, hotels have a bad habit of getting less and less accomodating and more and more money grabbing.

This hotel has ticked us off so much that we're looking into moving future meetings to either another hotel in town, or if one can't accomodate the size of our group, another city, just to get away from this 'yes, you have a contract with us so we can mess with you as much as we want, and since we're the ONLY place in town to have meetings...where ARE you going to go huh????' attitude

Oh yeah, and it's even worse if you go outside the city (you know, to have a little bit of peace and quiet) because then the hotel knows that you really have no alternative. One time we needed a projector - the rental for two days would have cost as much as a completely new projector...

[Skydiver]

oh yeah

that's one reason my department exists. we support the laptops and projectors and such that our agency owns. Part of my job is to set them up and make sure they work...and when i see hte rental charges from hotels (500 dollars a day to rent a 5 year old projector) i keep thinking that i am soooo in the wrong business.

There was one hotel in KC that i stayed at. I was on dialup (cause you know they stiff you $10 a day if you want internet in your room) and read the book very carefully to see if there was a 'free for 60 minutes then .10 a minute after that' charge. There wasn't.

but when i checked out, y ep, they'd charged me that way. I protested and was told 'well, if someone ripped that page out of the book'

Hotels that pull stuff like that, well word spreads and - since we do set up meetings - we DO make sure that the hotels that screw you in some way get 'outed' as such.

a word in the right ear is sometimes all it'll take to get a multi thousand dollar contract elsewhere.

One time we DID tick the hotel off. they said 'it'll be so and so to rent this piece of equipment' we said 'we can buy it for less'...and we did.

and we re-use it every year.

If they weren't so dang greedy and were more dependable, we'd use them. but the 'you shoudl be grateful that we're gracing you with our presence' attitude is so prevalent that we'll go out of our way to NOT depend on them for anything

....and yeah, won't it be fun in may

[Feli]

....and yeah, won't it be fun in may

Hehe, nice way of getting back on topic...

[starflight]

Woo hoo double digits!!

Note to self....must finalize my flight this weekend!

We did go back to the hotel and try and get the rate reduced for attendees on thursday, but this is a bank holiday weekend in the UK, and they were too busy already to be able to extend the convetion rate. This is a busy Business use hotel and we only ge the rates we do at the weekend becuse it's a time they would otherwise be fairly quiet.

I think a few people managed to get a special rate for thursday, but it still isn't close to the weekend convention rate and was based on being booked in advance spcial offers ...yada yada.

If you need to come in earlier, there are some cheaper hotels in the area, but be warned the cheaper ones are cheaper because they have fewer regular customers... if you catch my drift. The exception is probably the travel inn ( now premier inn)/ travel lodge type basic hotels which are usually a decent standard room only but the same standard all over the country.

Sorry we can't be more helpful
Becks
G4

Becky, Thanks for the update. This helps me with my planning. I'm coming in the weekend before the con to do a little sightseeing in London (my favorite city! ) and was trying to decide when to move from the "sightseeing" hotel to the con hotel. Hmmm, must add finish hotel reservations to that list! lol!

99 days and counting....*happy dance, happy dance*

[SEREN LWCH (MAL)]

98 DAYS TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kliggins]

98 DAYS TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome back Mal.

[Skydiver]

Hehe, nice way of getting back on topic...

i do so try