Date: Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:48:35 -0400
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Gaylaxicon gets a hotel
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

> omni at omniphile.com 10/05/07 3:40 PM >>>
>At 10/5/2007 02:18 PM, Michael Walsh wrote:
>> > kfl at KeithLynch.net 10/04/07 10:35 PM >>>
>>
>> >The bad news is that their room rates start at $169 per night.
>Yes,
>> >that's the con rate, not the rack rate.  I suspect few members
will
>>be
>> >staying in the con hotel.
>>
>>Ah, but what's the rack rate?
>>
>>This could be one of those "A really great deal, but I still can't
>>afford it" situations.
>
>Yeah, like getting a free Hummer if you sign up for the Shell Master
>Card...

"White elephant" is the phrase to use.

>What's with all the urban locations?  Used to be that the majority of

>con attendees were from out of town...that's how you got 1000-2000
>people at a Disclave.  Out of town people don't care about
>Metro...they want a short ride to an airport or proximity to an
>interstate highway.  With Brave new Con in '84 we hit our expected
>attendance despite having an ice storm (it was in January), and the
>Sheraton out near Dulles was happy to have *anyone* staying in the
>hotel that weekend...they even had to open a wing they normally
>closed in the winter to accommodate us.

I think Capclave has been doing a decent job of juggling the various
buzzing chainsaws: location, cost, date.  Perhaps it's sort of like:
"better, faster, cheapr: pick two".

One thing to remember, quite often one can find rates better than the
con rate at the con hotel.  Once the Hyatt Bethesda has the October
rates online - probably in November - one might very well find a better
rate.

mjw