Uh... for one. And man, that Paintball gun hasn't been fired in 5 years.

I can only assume the paintball thing is fantasy, because it'd suck up an entire day and you'd spend the rest of F2F nursing your aches, bruises, scrapes & twisted ankles. Good times.

I have paintball gear! Well, it is really belongs to my son, but he would totally let me borrow it. Except for the part where he always comes home with aches, bruises, and scrapes. Um, nevermind.

eta which means I'm planning on coming if at all possible, and I think amyth is, too. we've put it on the work calendar.

OMG, I miss you guys. I hardly ever bump into your pixels around here, and I was thinking about that sadly this week.

Well the "paint balls" in 10 Things... bear little resemblance to actual paintball.

The high school exterior is in Tacoma.

Okay, here are the 4 hotels that have best matched our requirements. All of them are accessible for the rooms, the hospitality suite, and the ballroom. Please remember that the room tax rate is 15.6% and there is a sales tax of 9.4% for food & bev.

Map of proposed hotels: [link]

Hotel Nexus - hotelnexusseattle.com
Rooms: $119/night single or double
Hospitality: $179/night kitchen suite
Ballroom: $150 rental fee, $100/hour first 2 hours cash bar, $35/hour after that. Catering will be however much we decide to eat.
Perqs: Free wifi, breakfast buffet, shuttle
Free parking

Crowne Plaza Seattle - cphotelseattle.com
Rooms: $179/night standard rooms - king or 2 beds
Hospitality: $300 per day or they can offer a $199 rate for concierge rooms (floors 31-34) which include continental breakfast and evening hors d'oeuvres on the 32nd floor (that replaces the standard rooms).
Ballroom: rental fee waived with a $2000 food and beverage minimum.
Perqs: wifi available throughout hotel
$32/night parking

Hotel Monaco - monaco-seattle.com
Rooms: $189 double queen, $169 single queen
Hospitality: 2 monte carlos - $219 per or Palace Majestic - $250 (we'd put the 2 monte carlos together)
Ballroom: $150 rental, $33/ per head for food/bev
Perqs: comp wifi, comp starbucks, hosted wine reception, pet goldfish (it is a Kimpton hotel, after all)
$40/night parking

Embassy Suite Sea-Tac - [link]

Rooms: $159/night
Hospitality: $189/night
Ballroom: Hasn't given me a price yet.
Perqs: complimentary evening Manager’s Reception (full open bar) and cooked-to-order breakfast with design your own omelet bar, pancakes, french toast and hash browns every day, free 24hr shuttle service anywhere within a 5 mile radius; including the airport, kitchenettes in every room
$8/night parking

Thoughts, Buffistas?

Oh, I'm so tempted by the Hotel Monaco, because Kimptons are SO NICE. I haven't stayed at the Monaco, but I've stayed at the other one here in Seattle (Vintage...Park? Plaza?) and a couple others (including in Portland) and they're sweet. But it's pretty darn expensive (though RIGHT downtown)

I'd vote against SeaTac...though the open bar sounds nice, it's not near ANYTHING. At least the Nexus is near a few things you can walk to, if you want.

The one thing about the Nexus is it IS kinda sketchy looking from the outside, what with (a) being right next to the highway and (b) the motel-esque doors-to-the-outdoors bit.

I would say strike Sea-Tac from the list right off the bat. It's close to the airport and nothing else. Plus, the area's nast.

Yup, ditto the other first-look responses above; dump the Sea-Tac location. It's a miserable shitty area that serves no purpose except to be right next to the airport.

In a more upbeat response, the other three hotels seem excellent.

Comparing the Monaco & Crowne Plaza's ballroom expenses, I am left wondering how many people attended the LA & SF F2Fs? Anyone? Bueller? $33 per head crosses the $2000 mark with 61 people.

Has anyone set foot in the hotels? I'm wondering what those ballrooms look like. I guess I'll check the hotels' sites...