24 Hours of Bleh, and an AC/DC Update

[bjarvis]

You know your day is bleh with the highlight is getting your car washed. It hasn't been a bad 24 hours, just a somewhat boring 24 hours. Still, it beats the hell out of a day of stress and tumult.

The only unusual piece of stimulation was some angst related to next weekend's AC/DC, a square dance event here in Washington DC hosted by the DC Lambda Squares. Our host hotel is trying to effectively rewrite our contracted --signed in June of last year-- so they can apply a tonne of additional charges. It's as though the Crowne Plaza woke up one morning, decided their profit margins weren't high enough and are hoping we're too illiterate to realize we collectively signed a contract which delineates clearly what funds are owed to them for services rendered. Fortunately, while I'm on the AC/DC committee, I'm not involved directly with the hotel negotiations.

On the flip side, this is the third time in recent years that a downtown DC hotel has attempted to screw us in some fashion. The Crowne Plaza is causing heartburn currently, the Wyndham arbitrarily scrapped our contract for the 2006 event months beforehand forcing us to scramble for a replacement hotel and dared us to sue them (we didn't), and the Washington Plaza won't even talk to us anymore. Most of the other hotels won't sign contracts more than six months ahead of an event date anymore as room rates are skyrocking so no one wants to get locked to a predictable price. Personally, I'm inclined to think it's time to look outside of downtown DC to perhaps Bethesda, Arlington or such.

While we don't have a hotel booked for 2008 yet, we at least have tentative bookings for callers. I can't list them here until we have signed contracts in hand but the availability of two of them was contingent on moving the 2008 AC/DC from the presidents' day weekend to the prior weekend. Update your calendars today: February 8-10, 2008.

Comments

[allanh.livejournal.com]

I've been telling fly-in and convention organizers for years that if you stage a good event at a reasonably pleasant venue, it doesn't have to be downtown in the host city.

One of the more satisfying West Coast A&C fly-ins I've attended was held a few years ago in a comparatively low-key and quiet area of Phoenix, in essentially a really nice motel with a conference center. It was cheap. Everything we needed was right there. It went quite well.

Vancouver held its A&C in Metrotown, in a far-from-downtown distant neighborhood served by SkyTrain. It was a big hit.

Pick someplace near a rail transit line and/or convenient to an airport, and I suspect you'll find much more reasonable rates than the downtown properties you're working with now.

[zipperbear]

Yes, but let's not have a repeat of the aftermath of that Phoenix A&C fly-in (the weekend before the 9/11 attacks, which stranded a few people who stayed a couple of extra days).

But it's great news about 2008! I'll finally be able to make it to another IBR!

[sfbearhoney.livejournal.com]

I like the date change, Presidents weekend always makes me decide between other non square dancing events. I love ACDC and would have gone this year, but the flights also that weekend just never were reasonable in price.

[musicbearmn.livejournal.com]

Personally, and having been in the biz as a tour operator, I would move out to the suburbs. They would welcome your group and probably treat you a lot better.