DocHal2

Hyatt Regency Hotel & Crown Center Exhibit Hall

Don't like to fly, never did. TSA only made it worse. Of the 25 or so Conventions I've attended I drove to almost all of them, including NY to Phoenix solo last time. Don't have to worry about baggage restrictions, crying or kicking kids behind me, too little space to sit comfortably or anything getting lost, stolen or broken. First time I was in Phoenix I shipped my goodies home and UPS lost them.

Both the Marriott and Embassy suites list rooms available at the IPMS rate from Wednesday thru Sunday. I called the Marriott directly (on another matter) and talked to Jason in reservations directly who confirmed rooms are available at the IPMS rate.

I tried to reserve a room (on the 20th) for the Convention from Tuesday to Saturday (5 days) like I do every year. The Marriott only had rooms from Thursday to Saturday at the IPMS rate. The Embassy Suites only had rooms on Wednesday and Saturday at the IPMS rate. I figured I'd try to get something at the Embassy Suites until Wednesday and then go to the Marriott. I went directly to each hotel's site and looked if there were any rooms available at any rate. The Marriott was completely booked with no rooms at all available. The Embassy Suites had rooms available every day at different rates and discounts. Actually, the AAA discount rate was lower than the IPMS rate if I checked in Saturday. Unfortunately, if I changed the check in date to later the rate went up and I couldn't book a room thru Wednesday night at any discount. It seemed I had to book in defined date blocks and none of them included Wednesday, which would leave me without a room on Wednesday unless I paid full price at the Embassy Suites. I called them on Monday to see if I could work something out since rooms were available. It was a waste of time. All I got were excuses of why they couldn't work any kind of deal, even tho rooms were available. I couldn't get the lower AAA rate unless I checked in on Saturday and I couldn't extend it until Wednesday. So I called the Marriott. Completely different story. The first person I talked to said there were no rooms available at all but connected me to Rochelle in Reservations. She found rooms were available at the IPMS rate from Sunday on, even tho the booking link from the Convention site only listed Thursday thru Saturday but couldn't explain why they were not available on line. I successfully booked from Tuesday to Saturday and asked how many more rooms were available. It varies with the day but if you call the hotel directly and ask for reservations you'll be able to get more days than those listed if you try to book on the web. Rooms is otherwise completely unavailable. As a side note, I've never seen rooms not available for the days I want gone on the day reservations open. If reservations open on the 20th why were people able to book their rooms days earlier and lock out people who actually waited until the 20th? Who should I be mad at; the hotel for making the reservations early? IPMS for saying reservations open on the 20th? People who reserved earlier than the posted start date for reservations? Or myself for actually waiting until the 20th?