[FRC Blog] FIRST Championship Housing Registration

[Hallry]

Posted on the FRC Blog, 12/12//16: http://www.firstinspires.org/robotic...g-registration

FIRST Championship Housing Registration

Written by Frank Merrick, 2016 DEC 12.


Registration for housing for FIRST Championship opens this Thursday, 12/15, at 1PM Eastern Time. Teams registering for Championship housing early will have easier access to the most desirable rooms, so we encourage you to think about your options soon.



There are two registration links, one for the Houston location and one for the St. Louis location. As we noted in this blog, you will only be able to register in advance for housing at your home Championship location, so you should only use the link for that location (the other link will not function for you). If you are unsure of your home Championship location, please refer to this map. If you register for housing at your home location, then later are allowed to switch your Championship attendance to your non-home location, Experient will work with you to make new reservations.

Login information from Experient's site last year was not carried forward, so all teams will need to create a new login.

New (and exciting!) this year - the registration system will show room inventory levels dynamically. No more waiting a few days to see if you got the rooms you wanted, you will know right away what's available and whether or not you got what you wanted. You may notice a few other positive changes in the registration system as well.



Also, just as we did last year, pre-qualified teams, those teams who have already been invited to the 2017 FIRST Championship because of something they did in earlier seasons, will be able to register for housing a few days before non-pre-qualified teams. These teams did something extraordinary to deserve being first in line. You can see the list of pre-qualified teams here.

Remember, you won't be able to start registering until 1PM Eastern Time on Thursday!

Happy housing!

Frank

[Michael Corsetto]

I was inspired to look into pre-qualified teams after reading this post. For those interested, Houston 1/2 Champs has 10 pre-qualified teams registered, while St. Louis 1/2 Champs has 21 pre-qualified teams registered. It also appears that 12 of 20 HoF teams will be attending St. Louis.

But, you know, I'm sure teams going to Houston will get the same quality CMP experience

-Mike

[Nate Laverdure]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

It also appears that 15 of 20 HoF teams will be attending St. Louis.

Dude

Exception: Hall of Fame teams have committed to FIRST that they will be a solid presence at both Championships. They
are selecting their Championship location by working out how best to split their attendance among themselves, with
FIRST HQ input.

[Lil' Lavery]

I think Mike's concern is that it would now require HoF teams to switch registrations to attend the other Championship. We already see 120, 175 and 365 in Houston, but the remainder of the St. Louis-area HoF teams and some of the Houston-area HoF teams* are registered for St. Louis.


*254, 359, 597

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by Nate Laverdure

Dude

Seemed to be worth pointing out To be fair, a majority of HoF teams have St. Louis as their home event. I was just surprised that "split" meant 12-6.

-Mike

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

It also appears that 15 of 20 HoF teams will be attending St. Louis.

FWIW, I counted 6 HOF teams in Houston:

16, 120, 175, 365, 987, 1538

And 12 in St. Louis:
27, 51, 67, 103, 111, 191, 236, 254, 341, 359, 597, 1114

A large number of the extra teams in St. Louis are Original and Sustaining, which makes sense geographically.

Still not very balanced, but not as bad as 3/4 vs 1/4...

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by Nuttyman54

FWIW, I counted 6 HOF teams in Houston:

16, 120, 175, 365, 987, 1538

And 12 in St. Louis:
27, 51, 67, 103, 111, 191, 236, 254, 341, 359, 597, 1114

A large number of the extra teams in St. Louis are Original and Sustaining, which makes sense geographically.

Still not very balanced, but not as bad as 3/4 vs 1/4...

Ah, I cannot count. I will edit my post. Thanks Evan, I was doing quick glances.

[Andrew_L]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

I think Mike's concern is that it would now require HoF teams to switch registrations to attend the other Championship. We already see 175 and 365 in Houston, but the remainder of the St. Louis-area HoF teams and some of the Houston-area HoF teams* are registered for St. Louis.


*254, 359, 597

That, alongside the idea that HoF teams are our shining examples of teams who "get it" and stand out as inspirations to the rest of us, and now those at the Houston event will have less HoF role models to be inspired by (and oddly enough, some of our big name west-coast HoF teams are going to St. Louis [which they have every right to do], but what message does that give to the world about the Houston event?).

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Andrew_L

That, alongside the idea that HoF teams are our shining examples of teams who "get it" and stand out as inspirations to the rest of us, and now those at the Houston event will have less HoF role models to be inspired by (and oddly enough, some of our big name west-coast HoF teams are going to St. Louis [which they have every right to do], but what message does that give to the world about the Houston event?).

It has been an "even trade" so far (3 STL teams heading to Houston and vice-versa), so perhaps the HoF teams have to find willing partners to swap with? Can any HoF teams clarify?

[Rangel(kf7fdb)]

We will be registering for Houston provided we do well this season* so you can probably add one more to the Houston count.


*We started turning down the pre qualification last year and will probably do it all the time now. Just seems to make the team and students more motivated during the season.

[Tyler Olds]

I'm most excited about the dynamic room inventory levels. I have had nothing but bad experiences with Experient and I hope that Wave has a better experience trying to book this year and this looks to be a positive change.

[SenorZ]

Big question is, will the system work? Last year, the housing site thought I was trying to register an FLL team 4276, without showing an FRC team with that number.
And the company was very slow in responding to emails.

[JB987]

Gee, I wonder if some of the overload of HOF teams in St. Louis might have something to do with the timing of the Vex Worlds event? Those of us 'staying home' at Houston will do our best to make the event as competitive as we can

[Monochron]

Does anyone know what amount your card is charged when creating the Block through Experient? It really seems like it is going to charge for either the first night all rooms, or the whole booking. It really doens't seem clear on the site, and I really don't want to pay thousands of dollars without knowing if we are going or not...

Edit: "Summary of charges" at the very last page seemed to indicate a charge of $0.

[RoboTigers1796]

Well those rooms disappeared even faster than the regionals during first event registrations. Got our second choice, not quite enough rooms but it'll do I suppose. Hope everyone got at least a few rooms blocked that they needed.

Went smoothly besides rooms disappearing and having to go through what felt like endless forms before blocking rooms. Even with autofill it took a few minutes to get through to the actual booking. Hopefully next year they let us register in advance and then go for the blocks right at 1pm.
..or get rid of this ridiculous system all together; but I won't get into that.