From: James Britt <jamesUNDERBARb@...>
Date: 2004-08-20T00:49:11+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby Conference hotel sold out

Austin Ziegler wrote:

> On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 00:06:45 +0900, Lyle Johnson <lyle.johnson@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>>On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 23:45:55 +0900, Tim Hunter <cyclists@nc.rr.com> wrote:
>>
>>>I just tried to make a reservation at the Ruby Conference hotel only to
>>>learn that the conference block - and indeed the entire hotel - is sold
>>>out.
>>
>>Good grief. I have a rough idea of how many people have registered so
>>far, and based on that it's kinda weird that our block of rooms would
>>already be sold out. I wonder how many rooms they were holding for us?
> 
> 
> Frankly, I'm not sure how good the block of rooms was in the first
> place. When I called, they didn't have any $90 rooms (as per the
> conference page) -- only $100 rooms with a king-sized bed. This was
> true when I booked last week, and true when I looked at booking (and
> seeing if I could get free nights) two weeks ago. This may be
> something where the HI didn't do its job properly, but ... I don't
> know what sort of situation that places anything in.


FWIW, I called the hotel about a week ago.  I was put through to central 
reservations; they said the rate was $100.  I told them that was wrong; 
they suggested I call the hotel and ask for in-house reservations.

The guy there said that he knew of no blocked rooms.  He put me through 
to Sales.  The woman there said that the block, and maybe the 
conference, had been canceled.  I told her that wrong; she said she 
would look into it.  She called me back and said all was straightened 
out.  Blocked rooms, $89 a night.

I wonder, though, if they screwed up in holding the blocked rooms.

Anyway, if you have a reservation, make sure it's a *guaranteed* 
reservation.  It's still not a *real* guarantee (I worked in the hotel 
industry for 20 years), but it makes it less likely that your room will 
be given away if you show up late.


James