Room block is now filled

[Paul W. Frields]

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)


-- 
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
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