[Fallfest] hotel situation

[shawn brenneman]

dear committee -

i wanted to raise a concern, which has already been raised by others,
but i've heard from several dancers and think the committee needs to
address the hotel issue.

the fall fest this year is on a home game weekend.  that means nearly
all the hotels are full, and for some reason also means any available
rooms are more expensive.

we no longer set up housing for folks.  yes, they have the camp
holiday trails option, but a lot of folks opt for a hotel.  usually,
one could get a hotel room for around $70.  but my parents paid $126
for a room at the Econolodge.  and i saw gerry berg at the glen echo
dance friday and he begged me to tell the committee to not have the
fall festival on the same weekend as a home football game.  he had
trouble finding a room, and paid way too much for it.

i told gerry that it was very unlikely that the committee would agree
to change the weekend of the fall festival (based on the history of
this issue!).

i'm curious how many dancers decide not to come to the festival if
they cannot find a reasonably priced room.

if the committee plans to have the fest on a home football weekend,
the very least they can do is follow kymberlee's excellent suggestion
of reserving a block of rooms at a hotel for a reasonable price for
fall fest participants.

the red carpet inn offered her a group rate of $68 a night for either
size if I wanted to set up a block. She said that there was no fee,
that I would just need to set up a cut off date (she suggested 9/30).
Each person wanting to reserve rooms could then just call in, mention
they are with us and receive the discounted rate.

the red carpet inn is not in an ideal location, however, it is about
the only place with any rooms available for this year.

next year, we should set up a block of rooms at The Days Inn or the
Holiday Inn since those are the two closest to the dance.