the Liberty Forum rant

[Fluff and Stuff]

So you only want people willing to pay money to see your speakers?

I think she means people who actually enter the event areas, like the rooms with speakers and such. The rest of the hotel is open to the public and people can decide for themselves whether to require badges to enter their parties and such. There's nothing wrong with people coming and just socializing, partying, etc. if they don't try to sneak into the restricted areas and get free content.

I like it when people come to the Liberty Forum for the parties, the vendor room, to hang out with FTL, and go to the Alt Expo, even if they don't pay to go to the actual event.  As Friday said, there are many volunteer opportunities and we are always looking for more volunteers.  In fact, it's great that a lot of people who do pay still helped with the LF here and there.  Please come, even if you cannot pay.

Porcfest on the other hand, even if you are not spending the night, charges are very reasonable entrance fee.

[AntonLee]

I had a fine time visiting the Alt Expo, vendor room, and got myself a cool flag and felt weed pouch with a cool porcupine on it.   I feel that while I didn't go to the sessions or whatnot, myself and Jaime had a good time.  I walked away with the wish to actually go to the forum next year and stay in the hotel.

[Russell Kanning]

me too

[Kat Kanning]

Same here.

[Keyser Soce]

The hotel screwed up the Alt E rooms. They rented out two of the three reserved rooms and had to move the event at the last minute. Due to their screw up, the hotel manager gave consent to the posting of the signs although it is generally against their policy.

[AntonLee]

you have to wonder how hotels overbook. . . when I worked at a low level hotel we had multiple alerts that would make it so difficult to overbook that you had to actually make a huge effort to do so.  I only worked at a 104 room hotel however.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Reservations:

[Mike Barskey]

As for the free-loaders. I know that at least one person hasn't paid but stood outside the door and chatted there.

[Russell Kanning]

hotels, airlines, car rental places have a totally different idea about reservations than the rest of us

I thought the liberty forum went pretty well.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

you have to wonder how hotels overbook. . . when I worked at a low level hotel we had multiple alerts that would make it so difficult to overbook that you had to actually make a huge effort to do so.  I only worked at a 104 room hotel however.

Two reasons. Some hotels actually intentionally overbook, knowing that some people will leave early or never arrive at all. Airlines frequently do the same. Hotels, however, have different refund policies. Some will NOT overbook and then charge the full rate if you don't show. Others will allow flexibility so that if for whatever reason you cancel, you only loose your deposit. Those are the ones that overbook.

The second reason, especially for chains, is that they don't all actually know what they're booking. Someone calling the chain's main office might get their room reserved, but not actually have the hotel's (which is usually run independently) computer reserve any specific room.

[AntonLee]

definitely dealt with the second at my hotel. . . central would book rooms from their offices wherever and we'd be booking the same rooms at the same time at the hotel.  Only once was it a problem with overbooking and the central hub called them and handled the problem.  Usually you're the customer service rep and you'd deal with it.  It was a Nascar weekend. . . don't want to overbook Nascar people.  That's all I have to say.

[jaqeboy]

The hotel screwed up the Alt E rooms. They rented out two of the three reserved rooms and had to move the event at the last minute. Due to their screw up, the hotel manager gave consent to the posting of the signs although it is generally against their policy.

Thanks for posting this Keyse' - Yes, after a couple of hours on the phone and in the lobby and looking to see if it was Porcs in the rooms we did book, the manager on duty, Rick (or Rich), offered us the sweet suite we got with the warning that the heating system didn't really keep up on the coldest days, but the weather looked warm enough. The room turned out great, even though it was a hike to get to it. The first night we had a party in the rooms, the signs he allowed directed people to a bangin' party that overflowed out into the hall. I didn't even leave the room the next day (organizer duty) and didn't know that someone had zealously taken down the signs. Our 2nd night's party (Saturday) was limp compared to Friday's party - maybe the sign-stealing explains that. We still came out in the black, but it they hadn't been klepped, we mighta been further ahead. Ah, life... we've got to live amongst the dark forces whilst we create light...