ADS/LSA hotel rates

[Luanne von Schneidemesser]

At 03:45 PM 9/29/03 -0700, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: ADS/LSA hotel rates
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>On Monday, September 29, 2003, at 03:27 PM, paulzjoh wrote:
>
> > Yes BUT,
> > Shouldn't the sponsoring group negotiate the best price?  And why
> > can't they
> > go back to the hotel and renegotiate on information about prices in
> > nearby
> > hotels.
>
>but the lsa -- at the direction of its members -- searches for a hotel
>that can accommodate *all* of its meetings under one roof.  this
>drastically narrows the pool of available hotels (and available cities,
>for that matter).  and the hotels are chosen years in advance.
>
>arnold

Thanks, Arnold.

The sponsoring group does negotiate the best price it can, for a conference
several years down the road.  Once you have a contract you can't pull out
of it or change it without penalty.  And would the nearby hotels have
enough rooms to accommodate all conference attendees?  Would they still
have meeting rooms available?  At this point the nearby hotels have also
made reservations with other clients so a large block of rooms is very
unlikely to be available, which is why conference planners, especially for
large conferences, must plan several years in advance, and in negotiating
they must give a figure for room nights, based on their experience with
past conferences.  If they don't meet the room night figure, they owe the
hotel.  There is a lot that goes into these negotiations.  This hotel
probably offered the best prices for the group at the time.  I can assure
you that LSA did not just take the first offer they received; they
conferred with these other hotels you are referring to, and probably with
ones in other east coast cities.  LSA probably also talked to similar
organizations to learn about their experiences in holding meetings in the
hotels LSA was considering, in order to give you the best conference
experience for your money.

You can't compare prices for a room or two (which don't include meeting
rooms and other services) with prices for a large block of rooms, which do
include meeting rooms and many other services.

Luanne