FIRST Championship Housing Available

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by DareDad

If the last couple of years are a guide, the information doesn't make it to the hotel until 2 or so weeks prior to the championships.

Volunteers are in a weird place this year as far as hotels go. It seems they blocked off space in 8 hotels specifically for volunteers but with that they're restricting volunteers to only those 8 hotels. But with that, you can feel fine about having a 2 bed room since it was carved out for volunteer use.

I'd also check back occasionally since some volunteer rolls got mixed up as to what hotels they want you in.

That being said, I've got my hotel booked and I'm all set. Didn't have issues with booking yet. We'll see if they give me any trouble once I'm actually there.

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by jds200

However, does anyone know how this works? I have HHonors Gold. so was somewhat concerned that I didn't see the reservation online in my HHonors account. I called Hilton and they can find nothing by my name as having a room at that hotel. Does Experient only provide the list later to the actual hotels?

It's very hit and miss. Some years I've been able to collect Hilton points for my stays booked through FIRST's system, other years I have not. You'll have to talk to the hotel staff and ask them to add your HHonors number to your stay when you check in. There's a possibility that Experient negotiated their rate with the hotel with the caveat that no HHonors points would be handed out, or that they would collect all the points themselves.

[Alex2614]

Originally Posted by Dave Campbell

Agreed Alex and Caleb. I see your points. There are also awesome presentations at the conference for teams who do not qualify or get a slot via the standby list...My apologies, I'm just frustrated with the process of booking rooms this year - it seemed easier before when we could get rooms with more than 1 bed per room, which seems to be all that is available for now. I'll have to keep checking back.

There lies one of the many side effects of expanding the championship as much as they did.

No need to apologize; we booked several weeks ago before bag day and are stuck out at the airport for now. It's frustrating.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Alex2614

There lies one of the many side effects of expanding the championship as much as they did.

No need to apologize; we booked several weeks ago before bag day and are stuck out at the airport for now. It's frustrating.

If you're stuck out at the airport you can take the metro in to get to the Jones Dome if you don't have transportation so that's not so bad.

[Alex2614]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

If you're stuck out at the airport you can take the metro in to get to the Jones Dome if you don't have transportation so that's not so bad.

No, it's not. We stayed at Union Station our first couple years in STL. But when you have as big of a team as we do, logistics are more challenging when dealing with the metro. For example, there aren't many eating places near our hotel, so we will have to be super careful about meals and gathering everyone before we head back to the hotel.

I mean, it's not the end of the world, really. Just have to come up with new strategies for logistics.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Alex2614

No, it's not. We stayed at Union Station our first couple years in STL. But when you have as big of a team as we do, logistics are more challenging when dealing with the metro. For example, there aren't many eating places near our hotel, so we will have to be super careful about meals and gathering everyone before we head back to the hotel.

I mean, it's not the end of the world, really. Just have to come up with new strategies for logistics.

There are alot more places to eat by the airport than there is by the Dome.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

There are alot more places to eat by the airport than there is by the Dome.

I find that the further you get from the dome, the better the food options in most cases. We stayed 10 miles out last year and the only time it was hard to feed people was during the event.

[Chi Meson]

If you come to St. Louis by bus, you usually need to put up your driver in a room as well. Usually you are paying for that driver for the entire time, so remember you can use that bus for shuttling back and forth each day, including to restaurants that can handle sudden influxes of 20 to 40 people.

Our hotel for Champs (I'd give us a 90% probability right now of qualifying) is an annoying 2.5 miles from the Dome, and 0.9 from the metro. Right on the other side of the line of convenience.

[Alex2614]

Originally Posted by Chi Meson

If you come to St. Louis by bus, you usually need to put up your driver in a room as well. Usually you are paying for that driver for the entire time, so remember you can use that bus for shuttling back and forth each day, including to restaurants that can handle sudden influxes of 20 to 40 people.

Our hotel for Champs (I'd give us a 90% probability right now of qualifying) is an annoying 2.5 miles from the Dome, and 0.9 from the metro. Right on the other side of the line of convenience.

Unfortunately we can't afford a bus, but we spent an hour or so when we picked hotels to make sure what we picked are on the right side of the line, and walkable to eating. Some are not walkable because lack of sidewalks and a freeway dividing them.

Unfortunately many teams are stuck without a bus even if we are staying many many miles away.

[Sean Schuff]

Just checked into housing today and found that there are only 15 hotels available to choose from and all but one offer single bed rooms only. With a crew of about 80 heading to St. Louis in about six weeks, this is quite frustrating.

Based on what I'm reading here, our best bet in the future is to reserve a large block of rooms as early as possible and sit on them hoping to qualify for the championship. If we don't qualify, we drop the rooms (Any penalty to doing that?) and let someone else pick up the pieces. If we qualify, we're all set.

It may seem to be the shrewd thing to do but it doesn't seem very gracious.

[Alex2614]

Originally Posted by Sean Schuff

Just checked into housing today and found that there are only 15 hotels available to choose from and all but one offer single bed rooms only. With a crew of about 80 heading to St. Louis in about six weeks, this is quite frustrating.

Based on what I'm reading here, our best bet in the future is to reserve a large block of rooms as early as possible and sit on them hoping to qualify for the championship. If we don't qualify, we drop the rooms (Any penalty to doing that?) and let someone else pick up the pieces. If we qualify, we're all set.

It may seem to be the shrewd thing to do but it doesn't seem very gracious.

This is exactly what we have done, and we are still out by the airport. There is a $100 penalty I believe for canceling your reservation, which we plan on doing if a closer hotel opens up from someone not qualifying. We booked before bag day.

It is frustrating that they didn't think about this kind of stuff when they decided to double the size of the championship, when there were already problems with hotel availability.

[robochick1319]

Does anyone know if we are required to book rooms through FIRST housing in order to attend the Finale? Any info on when/what the Finale is?

I know they want everyone attending the event to register, regardless of whether or not you are requesting a block of rooms.

[Dale(294engr]]

Originally Posted by DareDad

Hopefully they can improve the process next year.

I'm still trying to get into the Marriott Renaissance as a single volunteer and have been for over a month. Speaking of which it's time for my Monday afternoon call to Experient to remind them I still want a room in that hotel.

PM me I'm a Volunteer (RI) and have a booking there, if you are interested in sharing. ... Dale (at large, with a bunch of fav's)

[Chi Meson]

Originally Posted by Sean Schuff

Just checked into housing today and found that there are only 15 hotels available to choose from and all but one offer single bed rooms only. With a crew of about 80 heading to St. Louis in about six weeks, this is quite frustrating.

Based on what I'm reading here, our best bet in the future is to reserve a large block of rooms as early as possible and sit on them hoping to qualify for the championship. If we don't qualify, we drop the rooms (Any penalty to doing that?) and let someone else pick up the pieces. If we qualify, we're all set.

It may seem to be the shrewd thing to do but it doesn't seem very gracious.

No, that's exactly what you need to do. We reserved a block of 9 rooms, each sleeps 6 (nominally). I think we will only need 4 or 5 of them. The plan is to share a bus with another team from NE, and we can also share the extra hotel rooms (at cost).

[Chi Meson]

Originally Posted by robochick1319

Does anyone know if we are required to book rooms through FIRST housing in order to attend the Finale? Any info on when/what the Finale is?

I know they want everyone attending the event to register, regardless of whether or not you are requesting a block of rooms.

I heard that the final was a fiasco in 2013. How was it last year?