Steele Mtgs Championship

[Mark McLeod]

Steele Mtgs opened registration for Championship hotels at noon today.

It was the typical nightmare of unresponsive/timing out server from the overload of everyone trying to register for rooms.

I got it done eventually, and the Steele service reps on the phone were very helpful.

What was your experience if you had to go through this today?

[Meredith Novak]

I just got rooms at the Drury across the street without much delay in the system. Missed the first crush - I'm on the road to Canada and stopped just before the border to get our rooms!

[Mr MOE]

MOE 365 reserved rooms at the Drury Inn also. Did it about 12:05pm yesterday. System was a bit slow, but process kept moving forward. Where is everyone else, who made reservations, staying?

Meredith - be sure to tell your team to pack some lime green!

[Mark McLeod]

We got the Drury Plaza - Hotel at the Arch, a bit further away.
I originally got right in, but stuck for about half an hour while it couldn't complete a search for available hotels.
Just couldn't get a list of availabilities.

When the list finally came up the rest of it proceeded quickly.
Our trip organizer is a teacher/parent, so the noon opening is a problem. I was only substituting while she had a class to teach.

[Mr MOE]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

We got the Drury Plaza - Hotel at the Arch, a bit further away.
I originally got right in, but stuck for about half an hour while it couldn't complete a search for available hotels.
Just couldn't get a list of availabilities.

When the list finally came up the rest of it proceeded quickly.
Our trip organizer is a teacher/parent, so the noon opening is a problem. I was only substituting while she had a class to teach.

Mark:

Registration, both FIRST event and Steele Meetings for Championship Housing, is always an adventure. You never know what you'll get or how long you will wait to get it.

See you guys in St. Louis!

John

[MooreteP]

In making reservations for our teams, we noticed that the rates being charged by Steele Meetings were in excess of the rates advertised prior to Steele Meetings blocking off most of the rooms available in downtown St. Louis.

Their profit amounts to nearly 20% above the going rate. I have included the local taxes.

In addition, a hotel would allow you to cancel a reservation within a reasonable amount of time prior to your arrival date. Steele Meetings does not.

For our team, this amounts to an increased cost of nearly $1400 for 12 rooms for 4 nights.
Multiplied by 200 teams as an estimate of the number of teams making reservations through them, this is a revenue to Steele Meetings of approximately $300,000. I believe that these are conservative estimates. I would assume that Steele Meetings also gains a financial advantage by reserving in bulk.

Does FIRST gain any revenue from this to defray the cost of the Championship event, or are we being taken advantage of by a third party.

Any thoughts from teams traveling to the Championship Event would be appreciated.

[Mike o.]

It has been my experience that the Steele prices have always been cheeper. Not too sure where you are getting your prices from, but I did a quick check of one of the Hotels (Drury Inn & Suites Convention Center) and at the regular web price you are actually saving 24.40 (including taxes) by booking with Steele if you chose the 4 Night package. Also, tickets/wristbands to the finale have also been a part of the package. I honestly can't remember what they did last year, but that also has positive impact on your overall cost savings by going through Steele.