Okay, it's all set. I spoke to Marvin, got the final questions answered, and am on the verge of signing the contract and putting down the deposit on the St. Louis Hotel [link] .
To review: we aren't asking for a "ticket" per person cost this year. We are simply going to publish the final costs, open a PayPal donation pool, and once we have enough to cover the general costs, we will have extra for people who would like help with personal room costs etc. ND will explain those details better.
I know a lot of people, myself included, are a bit tapped out for actual cash money right now. I think we'll leave the PayPal gates open for some time, so please
please
don't worry if you wanted to donate but are unable to right now. However, if you are able to donate sooner rather than later that would be great since I'm paying the deposit on my credit card now. For those who won't be able to donate to the general fund, no worries--there are a lot of people who have already said they are going to give extra. The overall costs are not too daunting when tackled as a group.
So, general info:
- Hospitality Suite, Friday afternoon (5/20) through Sunday afternoon (5/22): $220/day = $440. The Suite is a very pleasant room with tables and comfy seating. It is fully ADA accessible, as is the Prom room described below.
- Prom, Saturday night (5/21) 9PM-2AM: Normally they don't allow events go after midnight, but they are giving us
La Louisiane
room, which is gorgeous with big French doors leading out into a faux French Quarter alley...it is also located directly OVER our hospitality suite, so we can party until 2 since we won't be disturbing anyone! It will have a dance floor (we can provide our own music, no problem) plus seating and will be purely private--no sharing with any other group. There is
no room rental fee
if we hit a drink minimum of $1500. That's roughly $25 person. I know many people don't drink, which is fine--there are many of us who will be...ehm...exceeding that $25. If we don't reach that minimum, then we would have to pay the difference as a room rental fee (so, for example, if we only drink $1200 worth, we'd end up owing $300). In the event planning I have done, this is a very standard set-up; it would be difficult to find a hotel that didn't have something similar.
- There will be a cash bar (drink prices linked to in my original post) at the Prom and some
free appetizer and finger foods.
We cannot (overtly, at least) bring our own food/drink (again, typical hotel restriction), but there should be plenty to nibble on. Heather has generously offered to cover the costs of the bartender and cashier, so that is taken care of. Thank you, Heather!
- We have a block of rooms reserved for Thursday (10 rooms), Friday and Saturday (25 rooms), and Sunday (5 rooms) at the reduced rate of $109. There is a 30 day cut-off for this rate. If we don't have enough takers, it will not affect the rest of our deal, so no worries in that sense. If there is a big turn-out early, we might also be able to get more rooms at this rate. The sooner we reserve, the better. The cut-off is April 19th.
- There is an airport shuttle that goes directly to and from this hotel for $26 round trip. Cabs are about $25 each way.
The hotel is also convenient to the French Quarter (trolley line, I believe). [ETA: As explained below, it is IN the French Quarter. My bad!]
- There is free wireless high-speed internet throughout the hotel, and there are also DSL drops in all meeting rooms and hotel rooms.
If this all sounds good to everyone, I'm signing and depositing by tomorrow.
Phew!
The hotel is also convenient to the French Quarter (trolley line, I believe).
Just to clarify, there isn't a streetcar line that goes through the Quarter. It's not far from either the Canal Street or St. Charles streetcar lines, but if you want to browse through the Quarter, you'll be walking. Which isn't really a problem, because the Quarter isn't that big.
Edit: To clarify my clarification, the hotel is very centrally located in the Quarter.
You people rock my world. That is all.
The hotel is also convenient to the French Quarter (trolley line, I believe).
It's actually
in
the French Quarter.
It all sounds good to me. Thanks Kristin.
Actually, -t used the doc to get the quotes. I used it to narrow down hotels to ask. Things look great Kristin!
I so hope I can go this year. Thanks everybody for your hard work.
Kristin, that all looks fantastic. Thank you! And thank you to everyone who has worked to put all this together.
If I am reading your post right, we have until April 19th to book rooms at the reduced rate of $109/night, correct? Is that the same price for singles/doubles/whatever? What will the prices be after the 19th? (I can also look this up myself in a moment, if you don't have the answers handy.)
Kristin/t/Heather/ND, thank you for all the work you've done. This hotel sounds absolutely fantastic.
This sounds fabulous! I have a sneaking feeling I may not be able to go, especially since if I decide to move, it will probably happen in April or May.
That said, I'm very grateful to those who have pushed to get this done so far in advance, since it means that I now have information to work that might let me work my plans around the F2F with a minimum of hassle.
Kristin, my vote is to go for it.
(ETA:) And seconding Jessica's thanks to all who have planned everything so far in advance.
