Hi all,
I received word from Marriott that our room block is not only filled ahead of schedule, but they extended us a few extra rooms at our discount rate as a courtesy. However, at this point, they can't provide any additional rooms at the $99 rate. They are willing to extend a $169 rate, which is discounted from the $229 that I see as a general offer on their site. (Wow, we made out like bandits.)
We have a couple options to proceed:
* A planning team member could locate a nearby hotel that can provide a more comparable rate to our original $99 rate, preferably without a guarantee attached, and with a later deadline, such as Dec. 15 or Jan. 2, and set up a contract for Red Hat to execute for that block (which I would sign for Red Hat).
PROS/CONS: + Encourages more community travel by people who are on their own dime + Extended deadline + No potential loss of funds to pay for guaranteed but unfilled rooms o Requires additional, rapid work by non-Paul person - Splits up the community into multiple places, incl. logistics hassles and $$ for multiple hospitality/hacksuites
* We could engage with Marriott to get more rooms at the higher rate, a sort of "step up" for people who weren't early enough to get the early bird rate. I would be willing to handle this, since I already have points of contact with Marriott and it doesn't seem like it will take much work. I would also contact my original sales handler to see if I could work them down to something like $149, and I would eschew any further guarantee.
PROS/CONS: + Extended deadline + No potential loss of funds to pay for guaranteed but unfilled rooms + Keeps community together in one place for hacking and socializing o Slightly better cost than leaving people to book for themselves; for a 4-night stay, ~$680+tax vs. $800+tax for booking on your own - Significantly more expensive than our original rate (~$400+tax for 4 nights)