Steele Meetings Reservations-another mess

[JB987]

Another frustrating morning on the computer trying to reserve something desirable from a FIRST provider. System constantly crashing because of high volume and crappy server capacity this time. It took me 35 minutes to finally get in the system and of course every high value hotel (Drury CC, Hampton Inn and Suites, Embassy Suites) booked by then How hard is it for FIRST to pressure its vendor/providors to at least have the capacity to handle the volume they know is needed to be handled?

This is many years in a row of throwing "craps" online (terminology you would expect from a Las Vegas team, right)...our odds are much better here in Vegas...

[Adrienne E.]

I'm right there with you! The internal link they had if you clicked on "Championship" was a bad link (had a comma in it) so even if you managed to get in before the crash, like I did, I couldn't reserve rooms. Like you said, every year this is a complete mess. Why is there not more pressure to fix it?

When I called Steele about the bad link all they could say was "Keep trying it's like Black Friday for us." Come on. Everyone there knows this is coming, do something to make it easier on the company and the teams...

[JB987]

Originally Posted by Adrienne E.

I'm right there with you! The internal link they had if you clicked on "Championship" was a bad link (had a comma in it) so even if you managed to get in before the crash, like I did, I couldn't reserve rooms. Like you said, every year this is a complete mess. Why is there not more pressure to fix it?

When I called Steele about the bad link all they could say was "Keep trying it's like Black Friday for us." Come on. Everyone there knows this is coming, do something to make it easier on the company and the teams...

Agreed!
Where did you wind up? We wound up with Robert Mayfaire a block from southwest end of CC...an ok place we stayed at last year but crappy, small, slow elevators and rooms nothing special.

[Nick Lawrence]

Originally Posted by JB987

Agreed!
Where did you wind up? We wound up with Robert Mayfaire a block from southwest end of CC...an ok place we stayed at last year but crappy, small, slow elevators and rooms nothing special.

While the elevators were less than desirable, I really enjoyed the rooms we had when I stayed there in 2011. Mind you we had suites.

-Nick

[dcarr]

I am curious - how does the reservation process work for teams who qualify for CMP later in the season? Is it difficult to find rooms?

[Adrienne E.]

Originally Posted by JB987

Agreed!
Where did you wind up? We wound up with Robert Mayfaire a block from southwest end of CC...an ok place we stayed at last year but crappy, small, slow elevators and rooms nothing special.

We are at the Crowne Plaza, so at least it is still downtown. I just called them and they seem friendly enough. And said they would get us a bus parking permit for on street parking. Which no one has ever offered to do for me before.

The Robowranglers can't wait for some quality time with you guys :-)

[Adrienne E.]

Originally Posted by dcarr

I am curious - how does the reservation process work for teams who qualify for CMP later in the season? Is it difficult to find rooms?

You would still go through Steele Meetings, but most hotels within walking distance of the convention center do not have many (if any rooms). You should be able to find rooms easily you will just have to figure out how to get to the convention center (Metro, Bus, etc.) which can sometimes be a pain especially with bigger teams.

[Jimmy Nichols]

Originally Posted by Adrienne E.

You would still go through Steele Meetings, but most hotels within walking distance of the convention center do not have many (if any rooms). You should be able to find rooms easily you will just have to figure out how to get to the convention center (Metro, Bus, etc.) which can sometimes be a pain especially with bigger teams.

I'm wondering if, like regional registration, they hold some rooms back? I know last year we booked after Week 1 and there was still room as several hotels within walking distance.

[Adrienne E.]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Nichols

I'm wondering if, like regional registration, they hold some rooms back? I know last year we booked after Week 1 and there was still room as several hotels within walking distance.

They might. I guess I'm speaking from a "big team" mentality we always need 15+ rooms, if you are only looking for a few rooms it may be much easier.

[Jimmy Nichols]

Originally Posted by Adrienne E.

They might. I guess I'm speaking from a "big team" mentality we always need 15+ rooms, if you are only looking for a few rooms it may be much easier.

We booked 15 or so rooms, we traveled to champs with 55 students/mentors/parents.

[Adrienne E.]

Weird, maybe they do hold rooms then because by the time I finally got into Steele Meetings this morning there was only one downtown hotel that had 20 rooms...

[Steven Donow]

They definitely hold rooms, because I was able to get a room at the hotel around the corner from the convention center(don't remember what it was... 341,254,1503 were some of the teams there) with no problem less than two weeks before championship.

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by stevend1994

They definitely hold rooms, because I was able to get a room at the hotel around the corner from the convention center(don't remember what it was... 341,254,1503 were some of the teams there) with no problem less than two weeks before championship.

Ramada Plaza

[Cory]

It would have been awesome if the fact that Steele was opening their system for Champs reservations today had been mentioned in any official FIRST communication to the teams.

One single mention on 11/1 and all it said was see this website for information about regional/championship hotel arrangements, with no date shown.

[Jimmy Nichols]

Originally Posted by Cory

It would have been awesome if the fact that Steele was opening their system for Champs reservations today had been mentioned in any official FIRST communication to the teams.

One single mention on 11/1 and all it said was see this website for information about regional/championship hotel arrangements, with no date shown.

There was an option on Steele's website to receive an email when the site was going to open. But unless you opted-in for this notification you would be in the dark.