Conventions represent a number of potential things to a hotel:
1. Revenue from catering and liquor sales at convention functions
2. Revenue from rental of hotel rooms.
3. Revenue from rental of function space.
4. Revenue from the hotelÕs restaurant(s) and bar(s).
SF conventions are unlike most other conventions that hotels handle. Aside from the weirdos in costume, the main reason is that we are NOT a work-related activity for the majority of our attendees who donÕt have expense accounts or tax write-offs to cover their costs. Also, our membership rates are VERY low and do not include such frills as meals. (Most professional conventions charge their members $75-200 per day for memberships.) Some fans do have money to spend but many have very little.
The first bone of contention with a hotel is that they will try to sell you banquets and catering. V-Con doesnÕt want any. Simply put, the fans who can afford to spend $20 or $25 for rubber chicken are not going to because it isnÕt a mandatory part of the program (as it is at many professional conventions) and because Vancouver has thousands of restaurants serving much better food for less money. Many out-of-town fans come to V-Con for the restaurants and stores.
Hotels do not like to sell you function space without catering, but they will (grudgingly) do it. The only thing you really have to offer them is people to fill their hotel rooms for the night. Usually if a convention can fill enough hotel rooms the hotel will reduce or eliminate function space costs. However, this is not universally true, especially in Vancouver, where tourism is hot and hotels are doing well. The Hotel can be expected to shove catering as hard as they can - not surprisingly the booking manager that you will talk to is the catering manager.
WHICH HOTEL?
Some considerations include:
amount /size/cost of available function space
cost of hotel rooms
size of hotel relative to size of convention (it must be big enough that we fit and small enough that weÕre the biggest customer in their hotel that weekend)
number of hotel room nights we can book (the more the better)
Location (public transit, parking, nearby alternative cheap eateries, liquor stores, etc.)
how upscale is the hotel? (will fans fit in? will costume upset them?)
hotel amenities (coffee shop, bar, snacks, etc. - hours, prices, size, usual type of customers)
GETTING SCREWED
The biggest single hotel problem is that all pre-conference planning is handled by the sale and catering staff, but the people you will deal with on site are the managers, assistant managers, night managers, etc.--the sales staff goes home Friday at 5:00 and they have seldom told the rest of the staff what to expect.
Hotels also have a big staff turnover. ItÕs not unusual for the person you so carefully made arrangements with to quit or be fired, or for the hotel management to change suddenly, leaving conventions in a mess. Beware of pinning your reliance on any one person. If you find yourself suddenly faced with a hostile management, think seriously about moving the convention, even if time is short. A hostile management can make your weekend hell, or even throw the convention out of their hotel altogether.
Some hotels make it a practice to raise their prices suddenly a month or two before an event--sometimes even if there is a signed contract saying otherwise. (The Sheraton chain used to be notorious for this.) There can be a number of reasons for this (such as a new manager who doesnÕt like you), but generally they get away with it because small organizations and clubs do not have the financial or personnel resources to successfully take a hotel to court. (The Norwescon/Red Lion dispute dragged on for years.) Also, government-funded groups will frequently pay the higher bills without a major fuss.
AVOIDING PROBLEMS
To avoid problems with the hotel: check out their reputation as thoroughly as you can ahead of time. Find out what groups have held events there recently, call them, and get their assessment of the hotelÕs performance.
Do not sign the hotelÕs standard contract without serious study and negotiation. Make sure all the hotelÕs promises are on paper and signed by them. This may be very difficult, but you need a signed contract in place well before the convention. The hotel will often weasel around trying to avoid getting the contract signed--youÕll have to be firm.
Go into the hotel on a weekend and meet the staff. Find out who does what. Tell them about the convention. Find out who does security. Show them photos of a convention and assure them that weÕre weird, but harmless.
BLOCK BOOKING
ŅBlock bookingÓ in the hotel business means that the hotel will reserve a certain number of rooms on a certain date for a certain length of time. The term does NOT refer to contiguous bookings (i.e. all rooms on one floor)--that is strictly a fan usage. From our point of view, we like to all stay in the same area so that we donÕt end up with parties next to airline pilots. This is understandable, but bear in mind that itÕs DIFFICULT for hotels to restrict certain areas to certain groups, especially if the hotel is anywhere near full. The rest of their guests have many different arrival and departure dates, and the booking computers often arenÕt set up for that type of service anyway.
The only way to ensure that a party floor will be booked entirely by convention members is for the con to do it ourselves. We can put a hold on a certain area, then phone up all the groups or individuals we know are likely to want to hold parties and fill the rooms. When the booking deadline comes along, we can give the hotel all the registrations in one batch. This must be done several months ahead.
COURTESY
A reminder that the hotel staff should be treated with courtesy at all times, from the most exalted suit to the lowliest maid. Tell the hotel that anybody with an official hotel nametag (or uniform) is welcome to attend any part of our convention. Few of them take up the offer, but they usually appreciate the gesture very much. (And donÕt rely on the managers to tell the minions--make sure you tell them directly.) The concom should also budget for tips, since fans are terrible tippers and many of them create godawful messes in their rooms. Make sure that the maids are tipped, bellmen, etc.
MISCELLANEOUS POINTS
Check hotel policy on late check-outs on Sunday--see if they can stretch it a bit for fans.
Warn the hotel that fans get up late. If there are a lot of fans in one part of the hotel it significantly disturbs maid service because the maids have to wait around to get into rooms and theyÕre late finishing their shifts.
Check the hours of the coffee shop. Do they run breakfast all day or at least late? (especially Sunday) Do they have enough staff on during peak periods?
Some Names for the List
>Sheraton Plaza500 - 12th & Cambie, Vancouver
(+) Well-supplied with function space; many restaurants, shops nearby; close to major public transit. (-) Downtown, busy, expensive, previous bad experience.
> Royal Towers - New Westminster
(+) small enough that we could take it over. (-) location; limited function space.
>Metro Centre Hotel - MetroTown, Burnaby
(+)ŅEconomicalÓ meeting facilities; many restaurants, shops nearby. (-) location
>Villa Hotel (formerly Sheraton Villa) - Burnaby; Hwy at Willingdon
UBC or not to UBC - some thoughts (+) and (-)