Eastercon ...

[tamaranth]

Back in April, when I joined Odyssey, all the single rooms had already gone. I put a note on my booking form saying I'd very much like to be in the con hotel and would pay extra for single occupancy rather than be in the overflow. (Being in the overflow hotel at the last Heathrow convention contributed to my non-enjoyment: being in the overflow at this year's Eastercon was harder work than it needed to be.) Heard nothing. Forgot about it.

Now, quite reasonably, Odyssey would like to know when I'll be there, for programme reasons. Which means I need to sort out accommodation.

Everyone knows it is Bad and Wrong to book direct with the hotel*.

But it is also cheaper (£55 per night Fri-Sun), and there is no problem getting a single room.

As I just enquired in an email: am I missing something?

Edit to add: so, why are there so few single rooms available via the convention? (Where 'so few' is a value judgement based on all the single rooms being booked up a year before the con.)

*Please book your hotel rooms through the convention, and not directly with the hotel. We have negotiated function space based on the number of hotel rooms we will fill, and you only count towards our allocation if you book through us. So, please, book your rooms through the convention, and help the committee sleep at night!

Comments

[uitlander]

It is indeed bad and wrong to book with the hotel. Like you I was too late to get a single room through the Con, and I am very uncomfortable at the idea of sharing a room with a stranger, so I am tempted to do the same as you if single rooms are actually available. I also put a note in with my booking saying I would much rather pay an excess for a single occupancy rather than share.

*sigh*

I guess the moral of the story is that they need more single rooms.

[drplokta]

No modern hotel is going to have single rooms. Doubles take barely more space, and offer much more flexibility. If there aren't enough rooms to provide single occupancy to everyone who wants it, that means they don't have enough rooms, not that they don't have enough single rooms.

[uitlander]

Sorry sunshine, but as a seasoned single traveller I am afraid that is simply incorrect. Modern hotels generally have a number of single rooms, and they are usually smaller, often less desirable (no view, window over the kitchen vents, etc) than their larger double rooms. 20+ years experience as a single traveller gives me ample personal experience of this.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Plenty of modern hotels advertise and sell single rooms. (Other modern hotels accept bookings on a per-room rather than per-person basis.) The hotel certainly does offer rooms they class as 'single' -- which may or may not be the same rooms that they offer as 'double'. The convention doesn't offer these rooms, possibly because they underestimated the demand.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

A quick poke around the Radisson Edwardian site indicates that their single rooms are 15-17 sq. m, while their double/twin rooms are 18-22 sq. m. Depends how many cats you want to swing, I suppose. As the bed size is allegedly the same, I'm not sure what's to stop the singles being doubles, but I Am Not A Hotel Chain.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

single rooms were available Fri-Sun £55 per night as of 6pm this evening. Unless I hear something from the convention this evening, I'll be booking one tomorrow.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Are the rates for twin rooms cheaper as well, or is it just singles?

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

didn't check, I'm afraid -- but a quick Google will do it (though do note that the hotel's rates are exclusive of VAT as well as breakfast!)

[drplokta]

Well, this is why hotel contracts should include at least one of two clauses. One specifying that the hotel won't have a publicly available rate lower than the con rate, and one specifying that convention members who book direct will still count towards the room booking totals. Ideally, you'd have both, but if your function space rates depend on the room bookings, it's pretty much essential to have one or the other.

[madcatwoman.livejournal.com]

Back in 1995, Dave and I tried to get a room through the convention for the Worldcon in Glasgow. We were told that all the rooms were taken - so we booked a package holiday, rail travel included, that got us a double room at the Central, no questions asked. Cheaper, too.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Yeh that same con Christina and I were running the evening fanroom in the Central so were pretty desperate to be based there. we found out there were suites on the top floor, booked completely seperately - got one and made it party central :)

I'm not aware incidentally of having heard *anything& from Odyssey re accom, altho, to their credit, they did notice I had booked twice by mistake (yes that's my current state of mind) and refunded me the difference!

[pds-lit.livejournal.com]

No, not bad. Most of the time it is cheaper to book direct. :)

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

I'm used to the convention negotiating a 'special rate' -- which, okay, I haven't always checked is lower than the standard ...

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

a) If they've run out of non-sharing rooms that's hardly your fault.
b) I get the impression you'd rather not stay overnight at all if you had to share with someone you don't know. Let those who do that sort of awfulness do it.
c) The con is supposed t be enjoyable, isn;t it? Do what will help you enjoy it, and don't do anything that would get in the way. So get the room - or get a fecking SUITE, why the hell not.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

b) heavens, no. The whole point of having a room is to have somewhere to escape to when People get too much. (Even at Constitution, local Cambridge con, I needed a safety valve.)

c) Allegedly, yes, am doing this for Fun! ... Room booked. You are wise.

[anef.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're Bad and Wrong. If you can't get the room you want through the con, why not get it outside? It's the con's problem, not yours.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

You're quite right, and if they're unaware or unconcerned about the problem with insufficiency of single rooms, that's not up to me to fix.

[reverendjim.livejournal.com]

Go for it if you can get the room you want, not to mention cheaper.
If your email from the con was the same as mine I think they could have worded it better; "Your name is listed as being on at least one programme item". How about "We'd like you to be...", as it's certainly the first I've heard of it.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Yes, that was the one (and a rather terse instruction to let them know if my availability changed).

[wishus.livejournal.com]

I think you've absolutely done the right thing to advise the hotel liaison that there are rooms available and that the rate is less... that's now for them to discuss with the hotel as they wish. I wouldn't hesitate to bagsy yourself a room right now, though, as I suspect other people who wanted a single room might now be booking theirs - you don't want to miss out!

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

I've just looked at the hotel's own website and the room availability. They do have rooms for 55 quid, but the ones with breakfast included cost 80 quid. I recall the breakfast being decent, but worth twenty five pounds? I think not!

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Maybe they allow people to go back for seconds.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

See, now I don't need to feel bad about skipping hotel breakfast! (Breakfast these days consists of coffee and protein, which can be taken in the privacy of my room.)

[ms-cataclysm.livejournal.com]

People are booking for Eastercon ? I must get organised ...