[AGA SC] update re Sheraton -- or - How many hotels does it take to set up a conference call?

["S. Hieber" <shieber@yahoo.com>]

No news really but this is what has happened. The Sheraton
ws supposed to place a conference call to Rick, Larry and
me. For some reason they couldn't do that (a hotel can't
set u a conference call?) so we had Larry take the call.
Larry and I spoke for about an hor before the call to
discuss what we needed to insist on. Our main tack was to
say that we'd accept a sliding scale on the meeting rooms
(sliding scale based on room nights) but not guaranteeing
any rooms. This way, whatever they want to cover their risk
will be in one figure for one item, i.e., the meeting
rooms. IF that number is acceptable to us, then we can
negotiate, if not, then we'll carry on with other hotels an
stop wasting time.

How the call went. Larry explained our position and the
hotel rep seemed very amenable, same as last time, but of
course she can't actually agree to anything onthe holtel's
behalf, so we'll see what they come back with to know if
there's any point in continuing negotiations with them. And
that's basically how Larry put it to them -- the basic
structure of the deal they are offering is flat out
unacceptable.

Point: we won't guarantee anything that we have no control
over, such as, for example, the number of roomnights that
get sold. 

Point: We want to be able to bring in food and beverage to
a private room for a hospitality room. She said that might
be okay if the items are sealed packages -- there's no
health code issues there if the food is commerically
packaged. Health code compliance was their "reason" in the
last proposal for why we couldn't bring in our own food and
beverage. Larry did not say we would be willing to buy the
stuff from the hotel (although we would if the price was
reasonable) because to do so would have been to essentially
admit we'd give in on bringing in our own stuff and we're
not ready to give that up. 


Point: We also said we had to have a better schedule on the
cancellation terms. He explained that AGA is non profit and
a big rich corporation. I know that most folks think
cancellation is not likely or impossible, stuff happens --
what if Amano is sick, blah blah. The potential liability
has to be less than would bankrupt both organizations, AGA
and GWAPA. Also, requiring payments 9 months before the
event was unreasonable.

He also asked what she knew about AGA and he explained that
we're not rich, that we make no profit.

Point: Force Majeure -- this has to be a two way street.

She's supposed to get back to us with another proposal --
he asked her to have it typed up in MS Word so that we
could track changes.

That's about it.

I think Larry is also going to try to talk to his contact
at the Dallas Marriot to see if they can talk to the people
at the Crystal Gateway Marriot.

Btw, Rick expects proposals or draft contracts from the
Marriot Crystal Gateway and two other hotels that he's been
talking to and that Ghazanfar and he have visited.

sh

=====
S. Hieber

-  -   -   -   -   -   -   -
Amano Returns
to the AGA Annual Convention
Nov 2004 -- Baltimore

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