So if you can't find a hotel that meets requirements under $100, the city's out?

I certainly hope that's not the case.

So do I. Because I'm damned if I'd personally be willing to spend airfare and hotel money to stay at an airport motel in East Nowhere, just to save ten bucks a night on lodging.

Word, deb.

A lot of people would rather be at a clean Motel 6 in podunk with a DVD player and a handful of even-less-than-thrilling things to do if it meant that everyone could come. For me, it's not so much the place as the company.

That's not exactly feasable either, though. So lets see what the pimps can do with the compromise of niceish place/decent price.

$100 as a goal, or target, or guideline is fine, but I'm uncomfortable with having it set as a make-or-break ceiling

So do I. Because I'm damned if I'd personally be willing to spend airfare and hotel money to stay at an airport motel in East Nowhere, just to save ten bucks a night on lodging.

Yup, this. I appreciate the diligence to keep costs down, but we also need to be realistic.

A lot of people would rather be at a clean Motel 6 in podunk with a DVD player and a handful of even-less-than-thrilling things to do if it meant that everyone could come. For me, it's not so much the place as the company.

The list of requirements - things that HAVE TO BE THERE - does not stop at a DVD player. It includes internet access in every room, a hospitality suite in situ, and a facility large enough to host up to seventy people, with a dance floor and permission to play loud music.

If a Motel 6 with a DVD player is the minimum allowed, maybe you can get Abi to change the requirements list. In the meantime, however, that isn't the case.

The list of requirements - things that HAVE TO BE THERE - does not stop at a DVD player. It includes internet access in every room, a hospitality suite in situ, and a facility large enough to host up to seventy people, with a dance floor and permission to play loud music.

Hence, the compromising.

Right, okay, whatever.

Abi, talk to me. You're in charge, ma'am. I want clarification.

I'm not arguing with the requirements list; I think it's fine and I think it can be met. However, I don't think it can be met in this area for $100 a night inclusive of tax.

If Trudy is right, and all we need is a DVD player, can you please post that up? Because I've been going with the dictionary definition of requirement, which is pretty damned specific.

And while I'm happy to check some of the outlying areas - as nuts as I think the idea is, because the likelihood of you finding the kind of hotel the requirements list calls for in Gilroy or Pleasanton or Livermore is right up there with the likelihood of Beyonce windsurfing down the side of Annapurna with a pizza on her head - I'm not spending two hours on a train in each direction to view some armpit motel out in the middle of nowhere.

If all we need is a DVD player, no hospitality suite that allows us to keep our own munchies in there, no room for prom? Dude. I'll have a list with 15 motels, here in town, by the end of the week.

Clarify, please.

If Trudy is right, and all we need is a DVD player, can you please post that up? Because I've been going with the dictionary definition of requirement, which is pretty damned specific.

Oh please read my actual post before you commence your rant.

What I said is what PERSONALLY that is all that *I* (and others who see maximum attendance as the one and only priority) would need for a successful F2F.

SOME people would like something very snazzy.

What Abi has presented as parameters is an attempt at a compromise between the two. Lets see what we can get in those parameters and proceed from there.

Lets see what we can get in those parameters and proceed from there.

My impression is that people already have a good idea of what you can get from those intersecting sets -- close to nil in SF and perhaps others.

Then, the question is what gives first? The physical requirements, or the financial one?

It has seemed that the physical requirements are more important than the amount, no matter who'd be happy with no internet connection -- those that would be bereft have been vocal. And the financial requirement hasn't recently been met.

I did read your post. I also checked the dictionary, as follows:

Main Entry: re·quire·ment Pronunciation: -'kwIr-m&nt Function: noun : something required : a : something wanted or needed : NECESSITY b : something essential to the existence or occurrence of something else : CONDITION

I see wanted, needed, essential. It says nothing about compromise. It says nothing about negotiable.

Try reading MY post before you commence your eyeroll; if we're talking loose parameters and not requirements, I've got hotels for miles. But until Abi - who is the lady in charge - tells me differently, I'm assuming those requirements are hard and need to be met.