Ron Bell Posted January 13 Report Share Posted January 13 Thanks. That explains it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted January 14 Author Report Share Posted January 14 Ron (and all): You can read Jeff Herne's reply here on the DF ..... he didn't give any EXACT numbers but expressed his extreme frustration at people who put pressure on him and his committee to give them early room reservations at the Hilton specifically. He implied this tied up about 20 rooms or so before reservations ever went "public". He never named names, but implied it was people who claimed they had "essential business" or "official IPMS" reasons/status as to why they should be given the preferential treatment. They may or may not have had legitimate reasons to ask for early reservations. However, Jeff certainly feels he and his committee were INSULTED in the manner in which it was done, and he's stated he will be quitting IPMSUSA after he's done making sure Madison is a success. As I've stated elsewhere on other matters..... HOW something is done IS important, and the end does not justify the means. Gil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Herne Posted January 24 Report Share Posted January 24 I doubt the dust will ever settle on this matter, but here's what I know... We had 150 rooms in the Hilton block. Everyone knew that going in. If you didn't, a simple Google search of the hotel would clearly demonstrate how many rooms were physically in the building. We reserved 20 of those rooms from that block. No one pressured me to do anything (no one ever does). I extended those rooms to the head judges (because they need to be there), a couple of out-of-town staffers, the board President (because we are obligated to, so don't start on me on this topic. It's IPMS SOP), and two people (whom I do not know personally) with medical/mobility issues. These were people I felt needed to be onsite for a variety of reasons. For that, I take full responsibility. At 2am on Saturday night, all of the rooms I had allocated from the block were in place, a total of 18. This means that EVERYONE that was on that list was accounted for. The two rooms that remained were released and returned to the general block. At 2am when I went to bed, we had 132 rooms in the block that were available. I KNEW people were going to be upset (they ALWAYS ARE), but we still had 88% of our rooms. We also had 100% of our Home2Suites rooms and 100% of our Clarion rooms. At 6am CST, I receive a PM from an IPMS member (not the hotel) who tells me, "Rooms are sold out at the Hilton and people are bragging about it on the chat groups". Of course, this person won't name names, but I stumble out of bed, go to my computer and log in, and boom... less than 5 rooms left at 0600. So I sit on my hands waiting for someone who's not a minimum-wage employee to call me back. At 0915, I get a call from the front desk manager. She explains to me... "We had several people who called and said that they were part of the organizers and needed a room before the block opened." They got rooms... Now, you can say, "how could that happen?". Well, first off, the hotel doesn't give two hoots about us, they want to sell rooms. Add to that, someone calling at 4am, getting the overnight desk person, knowing that there is in fact a block, and giving them a song-and-dance to get a room. Happened multiple times according the mgr. Second thing - rack rating. We didn't get ALL of the rooms in the Hilton - we got a block. People as early as July of 2023 were calling up, reserving a room at FULL PRICE, then once the codes hit, called back and applied the codes to their full-price reservations. Illegal? Nope. Unethical? Yup. This, I am told, happened with more than TWO DOZEN reservations, some of which had multiple rooms in their own little blocks. Either way, 125 rooms disappeared between 2am and 6am on Saturday the 6th. Hotel doesn't care, they're happy the block sold out. They'll give me a list of the guests that are in the block, but will not provide with me the timestamps of when those reservations were made, or if they rack-rated their reservations. Can I pursue it? Sure. Should I? What's it going to accomplish? Nothing, because technically, no rules were broken. In fact, there's people out there who are PROUD of the fact that some of us have "gamed the game". Sickening, because the only one who catches Hell for it is me. I will address three other things that have been thrown in my face since the 6th.... #1: I did NOT give these rooms to my IPMS buddies. By and large, I TOLERATE 98% of the membership of IPMS/USA, and I can count on ONE HAND individuals within IPMS that I would actually go out on a limb for and circumvent the rules. None of those people are at the Hilton. Add to that, I don't have ENOUGH FRIENDS IN THE FIRST PLACE to fill 125 rooms, IPMS or not. #2: I stood up in front of the entire membership in San Marcos and assured people that this wouldn't happen. Guess what? It did. I can't control people who decide to cheat. Does anyone honestly think that I would willingly put myself in the crosshairs of a bunch of angry people over an issue such as this? #3: The hotel reservation system is clunky and not user-friendly. I'm sorry, but I don't design the websites for Hilton Hotels. I also have NO IDEA how technically adept each of you are. Some had no trouble whatsoever, some of you couldn't manage to click a hyperlink. When the phone numbers went live, lines were busy, you couldn't get in. In the interests of being fair to ALL of IPMS, the email was sent to 6000 people, and posted on social media. Some of you got the email early...a few minutes, some got your email late. We factored in ISP delays with a bulk email and decided that 5 minutes lead time was sufficient. In short, we had hundreds, probably a thousand or more, people vying for a limited number of rooms in Phase 1. Try booking Taylor Swift tickets for your grandkids online...300,000 tickets at 9 shows selling out in 5 minutes at an average price of $1600... we're insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I'm putting 40-50 hours a week fixing these issues, on top of doing everything else I have to do like running a company, being a husband, father, and dog-wrangler. I've added new hotel blocks, I'm negotiating with the Embassy Suites for Phase 2, and I'm trying my best to respond to ALL your personal emails, the accusations, the condolences, and the questions from people who need help in finding a place to stay in Madison. If any of these things don't meet with your approval or expectations, well, those of you who know me, will know what I'd LIKE to, and will eventually, say. In the interests of completing the mission and putting together what I hope is a great national convention, I'll keep my mouth shut for now. For those of you who have chosen to make this personal - well, that's not going unnoticed, either. Telling me you're coming by my house in July to "s**t on your lawn" because you didn't get a hotel room is simply not worthy of a reply. To those of you who have messaged and called with words of support and encouragement, I cannot thank you enough. To the two individuals who sent me care packages, you've made your way onto a very short list of people that I will do anything for, and I am beyond words. Thank you. The hardest part of this process (hosting a National convention) is not the physical work involved. I have an AMAZING team of people building the Madison Nats. The hardest part of putting together a national convention is dealing with the people who attend it. The vast majority are wonderful, but the handful of idiots that cause 98% of the problems, well.... I now understand why most chapters don't do more than one convention per generation. In short, I'm not taking s**t from anyone, period. If I screw up and I deserve it, that's another issue altogether and I'll take my lumps. I am not like my predecessors. I wear my heart on my sleeve, I tell it like it is, and I firmly believe that (to quote Spock) "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". In the end, it is my job to make sure that you ALL have a good time, whether I like you or not. Whether YOU like me or not is irrelevant, provided that you understand that I am busting my ass, and my team is busting theirs, to make sure Madison lives up to the hype. IF you have a hotel issue, message me directly via email - info@scalecolors.com or PM me through the IPMS Facebook groups. There is another Mission Brief coming out this week, you will receive a PDF link via Wild Apricot, and it will posted on the IPMS social media outlets as well. It will include the show schedule, list of vendors (to date), seminar list and schedule (to date), and current hotel availability and upcoming blocks that are opening. It will also include pre-registration information - what to expect, tours, banquet, trophy sponsorships, etc. If you choose to email or message me simply to give me a hard time or tell me how "unprofessional" I am, just be aware that those notes get passed on to the E-board for review. Thank you all, the good, the bad, the ugly, and you sci-fi and car guys, too... (I'm joking, I love you guys) for your time. Jeff Herne 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted January 24 Author Report Share Posted January 24 (edited) To begin, I want to extend my thanks to you Jeff AND your staff for your hard work, as well as your outstanding communications for your show that set you and your committee head and shoulders above past shows. As one of the people who followed the rules and got screwed, I appreciate your clarification of what actually happened and why most of us had no honest shot of getting a room even if there were no glitches. As a past Nats host member (1997 Contest Chairman) I can also appreciate the feelings of frustration and even mortification when something you tried to make work blows up in your face, whether it was within your direct control or something unforeseen. I personally appreciate your answering the questions I posed in starting this topic. Perhaps the lesson to be learned from this year, and last year, AND the years before is that the idea of creating a "room reservation date" is a bad one, or at least one that has since become unwieldy and unworkable. Why not just leave it up to the hotels involved to take reservations whenever they want, and as far in advance as their systems will let them? Why saddle future hosts with the extra job of trying to control who gets rooms? The real "reservation fight" isn't a brawl among all of our members, it's just generally among those of us who attend regularly and plan to go to as many as we can.... and leave THAT to the hotels and that group. As for myself.... I'm hoping to score a room at the ES when they become available. And don't be surprised when many of those at the outlying hotels book the ES too, and then cancel their first reservations at the outlying hotels. You may run the risk of not meeting your room nights AT THOSE, or it may seem so til closer to the show when others may fill those cancelled rooms. In other words, your frustrations with room reservations probably aren't over yet.... On a side note.... I do hope that between now and the end of the convention, or at least the end of the year you'll reconsider quitting IPMS. I know we disagree on some issues going forward as to the overall direction IPMSUSA should take, but IPMSUSA needs clear thinking and dedicated people like you. We'd be a better Society with your input and membership. Cheers! Gil Edited January 24 by ghodges 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlander Posted February 16 Report Share Posted February 16 (edited) Just today, at high noon, went through a similar stampede with a room block being released by another Hilton property for a different Con. The room block of 100 rooms sold out in less than a minute. Those who did not get rooms experienced a myriad of issues with the website and with getting access to the link provided by the Con ... and, frankly, in believing that they had the leisure to try to get a room at 12:02 or :03 or :04 or later. There was a major difference. Absolutely no rooms in the room block were assigned before the Con organizers personally sent out the reservation link. At exactly high noon. The hotel front desk staff was unable to reserve rooms because the hotel staff did not have access to the room block. From the jillions of posts that are still flying about, a number of folks overtly admitted to trying to weasel their way in early and were peeved because the front desk informed them that they did not have access to the reserved room block. Not that it matters now for our Nats, but Hilton does have the mechanisms to keep room blocks intact before they are released. The issue could well have been the arrangements (i.e., software locks) that were not used for room block control. It interesting to note that claims, valid or not, of disabilities are now appearing. In short, "I'm disabled so you have to put me in the Con hotel". Even, "I'm attending with a disabled person, so you have to put us in the Con hotel." The organizers responded to the first claim of being disabled and announced that they were working to get that person a room at the Con rate. I wonder if they have opened Pandora's Box. Later: And another disability appeal. "I need a room at (the Con hotel)...." By one who admitted to attending without disability in the past. Even later: So now I eat crow. With the other Con, cited above, the Con organizers proclaimed that no room block rooms would be available until the very minute or release. However, folks are now bragging about calling in early on the morning that the Con room were released and getting a block room. And posting about their special need to be in the Con hotel .. like I'm bringing my child and therefore have to be in the Con hotel because it is convenient for us. And then recommending that route to others. For the special people, that is. I wonder how many of the 100 rooms were gone -- thus resulting in the remainder being sold out within a minute. The lesson being taught is to do whatever you can to grab a room in the room black and damn the rules and those that follow them. Ah, modern Americans. And, modern Boomers. Edited March 7 by Highlander 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlander Posted March 7 Report Share Posted March 7 (edited) Even mo' later: In the other Con, cited above, I note that one who got a block room admitted to calling in early ... and recommended others do the same. I responded with a sarcastic - "That's one way to beat the system". The shameless reprobate actually responded with a -- "Thank you." They took it as a compliment! And, in another post, the poster provides information about their medical issues, the associated costs, and the need for a block room because it would save her money. And, in yet another event -- a chess tournament, one complainer states that transport should be provided from his room to the playing venue, in the same facility, because of a mobility issue. I conclude, from the room block chicanery across two Cons and a tournament, that people will do what it takes and demand whatever they can get ... without shame or embarrassment. After all, they got theirs. And want more. I feel a good more sympathy for the Con organizers. Edited March 7 by Highlander 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bell Posted March 7 Report Share Posted March 7 The attitude of a large part of America today. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts