Re: RE The really big issue with AGA2K4

[Kathy Olson <kathy@thekrib.com>]

Hi,

I am curious to hear from Erik what the ACA limits their hotel rooms for??  
If he knows??  Not sure he does.

My take...69 for the convention sounds reasonable to hear Amano.  89 for 
the hotel, yeah a little steep, but it is Washington DC and I assume this 
is a Hyatt/Hilton/Marriot etc....Scott what hotel is it??  AND it is close 
to the airport which is really key.

Yes, the hotel in houston may have been 69 a night, but transportation was 
cost since they had not shuttle, easily brought it too 89 a night.  So if 
there is an airport shuttle, I understand the hotel cost.  I am okay with 
it.

I would leave it where it is....people can always get a hotel outside and 
drive in.

Also....what number of room nights do they have to guarantee??  Or how do 
the room charges change.  I haven't seen that much detail on that it.  
That is an important part.  Or are the rooms 1500, and then maybe go away 
if we hit so many room nights...etc.

I think you get my point.

Kathy



On Mon, 5 Jan 2004, Karen Randall wrote:

> 89$ per night is steep for a convention, and our registration has ALWAYS
> been steep.  Could we try something like telling people we'll give a rebate
> of $X if we hit some target of attendees?  Gte them to talk their buddies
> into going too?
> 
> Or what about giving people who register before a certain date a certain
> amount of  "convention bucks" that they can spend at the auction?  I suspect
> it wouldn't cut down the profit from the auction much.  People will spend
> the "real" cash they have available too, but might bid higher for items if
> it felt like "free money".  If people are concerned about the AGA having to
> pay money out to vendors, we could even have the "convention bucks" only
> good on certain pre-designated (probably donated) items.
> 
> Just thinking off the top of my head here, but I think if we could come up
> with some really fun incentive(s), it might help.  I suspect that even at
> $89/$69, the die-hards will come, and there will be enough people to more
> than break even.  We'll probably also have a number of people local enough
> to just come for the day, and not stay in the hotel at all.
> 
> Could they try to negotiate the room rates down for those who stay 3 or more
> nights?  That would make it a lot more attractive for those who are comin
> from a distance.
> 
> Oh, another thing that you should suggest to the committee is that they
> should contact Ray Lucas and Lee Finley ASAP about being vendors.  Both are
> within driving distance (albeit long driving distance<g>) of this one.
> 
> In fact, they could use Lee for a fun focus group too if they wanted.  He
> has a nice talk he put together for us on historical aquatic plant
> literature.
> 
> Karen
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "S. Hieber" <shieber@yahoo.com>
> To: <aga-sc@thekrib.com>
> Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 8:21 PM
> Subject: RE The really big issue with AGA2K4
> 
> 
> > Okay folks,
> >
> > Here's the thing. It looks like the best deal formthe
> > hotels is going to be $89/night. Rick is gong into battle
> > with these folks day after next.
> >
> > Let's suppose the hotel is $89 -- what do you think is a
> > reasonable registration fee?
> >
> > The proposal says $69 and shows a pretty good net return
> > with 100 paid regs. At $69 the breakeven is about 65-70
> > paid regs. At $59, the breakeven is about 70-75. At $49
> > it's about 80-85.
> >
> > $69 is a good number, it seems, like a conservative pricing
> >  -- if we don't have a total disaster -- 10 feet of snow,
> > bombs, etc., we don't need a high number of people to break
> > even. But without disasters, we should be able to draw 100
> > easy with Amano, don't you think?
> >
> > I haven't been to enough of these things to know how
> > sensistive folks are going to be to $89 for a hotel room
> > and a registration fee of $49, $59, $69.
> >
> > Do any of you have a sense about the demand?  It seems to
> > me, if the Hotel is going to cost $89/night, we need a
> > lower reg fee than $69.  Rick is wondering if we have any
> > input to offer re this.
> >
> > Before I crunch these numbers again, I'd be happy to hear
> > any thoughts you folks have about the pricing -- any at
> > all.
> >
> > sh
> >
> > =====
> > S. Hieber
> >
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