I'm trying to think of some sort solution to the issue. The only thing, at the moment, is that maybe we have "what is the least it cost to get what we want/need from a hotel that is transit-friendly" and "what is the best we can get for $99" on the City Pimpage sheet.

I think this is a great idea.

I think certain things, like high speed internet access, we may want to reconsider as deal breakers if there is, say, easy-to-access free wireless in close proximity. Or at least list, "Hotel A: 89 a night, no internet access, closest net cafe .25 miles" or something.

I may be talking out my hat here, but I think the hotel tax, at least in SF, is a significant percentage--I don't have a quote, but I think it's in the teens, at least, so it could actually make the difference in whether or not I could afford a half or a quarter of a room.

There is that. Quotes should probably be what we're going to be putting on our credit cards, tax and all.

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.

I understood, from my reading of previous posts (previous to today, I mean), that they weren't parameters/guidelines, as much as deal-breaker requirements. People were pretty insistent on highspeed internet access, for instance.

I'm trying to think of some sort solution to the issue. The only thing, at the moment, is that maybe we have "what is the least it cost to get what we want/need from a hotel that is transit-friendly" and "what is the best we can get for $99" on the City Pimpage sheet.

This seems like the best option.

Though I have to say, if a non-freaky-group-friendly motel with no space for a hospitality suite is $99, and a hotel that's used to handling groups of freaks, with a hospitality suite and prom space, is $110, I don't have a problem with the extra $10.

So what is the dealbreaker? Price? Amenities?

So what is the dealbreaker? Price? Amenities?

Also wondering this. Because the way it looks now, it reads as if the only way to satisfy is to talk to seventeen hotels, even going in knowing that fifteen of them will neither have all of what is required nor be much cheaper than the remaining two, and write up proposals for them.

Which takes me back to my orginal question, of days ago: if I have what is fairly obviously going to be the best bid in this neck of the woods, do I really need to talk to ten other hotels?

I asked an opinion, and got a bunch of resounding "no, don't waste your time" responses, which pretty much synched up with how I was seeing it.

And now, I'm confused again. What is the dealbreaker? At what point do I say, oh, you can't provide us with (insert), thanks anyway" and hang up?

I can't think of any of the non-monetary things that are optional (though I may be only remembering the things I think are critical, and wrong), so, if the money is the thing that needs to give in your city, so be it, though as little as possible.

I think it would be valuable to know what we can get in the area (which, in SF's case would be the Bay Area, I guess) for under $100. However, I don't know if people would find that helpful, or would be doable for the Point People.

Okay. If that's the case, then I guess I was reading it right to start with: those points are requirements, not options, and I don't need to even bother with the "what can we get" deal. So what remains is a balancing act: see how close to the money I can find, but taking the requirements as exactly that: requirements. Cool. There probably won't be too much; I wasn't serious about Pleasanton and whatnot, because we're talking hours away from the city and extremely hot, as well. And hotels in San Jose/Silicon Valley aint notably cheaper than those in SF. Dot-com memories remain.

Bev, yep, the hotel tax last I checked is 14%. We're right up there with NY.

Okay, hang on a sec. What the hell happened here today? We seemed to be moving on pretty smoothly, and suddenly...

But:

Can we please argue about some of this stuff after we get some information and aren't just speaking in generalities? And can we not declare any one single item 100% written in stone? Some of us don't actually care about internet in every single room, for example. Or maybe we do, but other things are also up there. The people doing the research knew what things were important to us. So why not trust them to say "this one doesn't have quite everything, but I know we'd love it" or "this is a bit higher than we planned, but I think it would be delightful" yadda yadda.

I agree with brenda.

brenda, I thought we were moving along smoothly, too. In fact, I'm pretty sure of it.

Recapping for me - and this is where I need to get off and get some work done, so yeah, I'm testy - is the root of my original question.

It's a question of time.

As it stands, I have a list of requirements; I have a price range. If the requirements meet that definition - not negotiable without upsetting a lot of potential attendees - then I carve out the time, call the hotel, get their Events coordinator, spend half an hour on the phone with them, have them email me, send them the IFB. But before I proceed to the next chunk of time spent with that particular hotel, I ask the second question, the one that actually presumably has some leeway attached to it: quanto, combien, how much money?

Now, I've already done that, and eliminated seven hotels from the SF Convention and Visitors Bureau's helpful list. Nothing suitable as a hospitality suite? Thanks, and moving on, because that's obviously not negotiable. Hi, got your name from the SFC&VB, we're looking for (insert stuff) - oh, you don't have the rooms available that weekend? Thanks, and moving on, etc.

So if there's a hard top-line limitation on the hotel cost, as well, I wanted to know that. Because I really don't need to spend an extra ten - no exaggeration, believe me - hours of time talking to dead ends.