The Merchants of Deva and Norwescon 31
The Merchants of Deva regretfully announce that they will not be holding a party at this year's Norwescon.
As you may know, there are several new policies and restrictions the hotel has put on room parties this year. Many of these are based on existing regulations that the hotel has only just this year begun to enforce.
You can find the complete list of room party rules here:
http://www.norwescon.org/documents/nwc31socialevents.pdf
We looked at the new guidelines from every angle, considering every possibility to determine how we could best meet these rules and still bring you the kind of party you've come to expect from us. In the end, there was no way we saw that we could.
We're sorry about the short notice on this, but we were hoping right up until the last minute we'd be able to find a way to make it work. We know you've told us time and again that our party and others like it are a big part of the reason you attend Norwescon, so we apologize to anyone whose travel plans or accommodation arrangements were even slightly based on the expectation of seeing us there.
Initially it looked like there was a strong possibility that we could use the Maxi's Restaurant space for our party, but the final terms from the hotel would have required us to use hotel bartenders and banquet staff instead of our own volunteers. The hotel told us this was due to union requirements, but we have not been able to independently verify this.
This meant we wouldn't really be throwing our own party any more. More importantly, it meant we would have to pay a 'corkage fee' for serving our own alcohol, which would effectively force us to charge for our drinks or charge a cover fee at the door. And we don't intend to do that to you.
By the time the hotel told us this, it was too late to explore other venues. We wish there was another way, but we would rather have no party at all than to have a party that wouldn't live up to our standards.
Don't get us wrong - we love Norwescon, the committee has been nothing but helpful to us, and they have our continued support. We have every intention of finding a way to bring the kind of parties you expect back to Norwescon. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough time to reach a satisfactory solution this year.
We hope the Doubletree will work with us to find an amicable solution for next year. We've been their loyal customers for well over a decade, renting blocks of rooms, eating at their restaurants, and running up ridiculous bar tabs. We would like to be able to offer them our patronage again in the future.
In any event - have a great time at the con. We will. We'll see you there.
This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works License. Please redistribute.
Crossposted to:
http://community.livejournal.com/norwescon
http://www.freepowerboards.com/norwescon
http://norwesconclubs.freeforums.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/norwescon
http://tribes.tribe.net/nwc
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2358328874
http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=messageboard.viewCategory&groupID=102313307
As you may know, there are several new policies and restrictions the hotel has put on room parties this year. Many of these are based on existing regulations that the hotel has only just this year begun to enforce.
You can find the complete list of room party rules here:
http://www.norwescon.org/documents/nwc31socialevents.pdf
We looked at the new guidelines from every angle, considering every possibility to determine how we could best meet these rules and still bring you the kind of party you've come to expect from us. In the end, there was no way we saw that we could.
We're sorry about the short notice on this, but we were hoping right up until the last minute we'd be able to find a way to make it work. We know you've told us time and again that our party and others like it are a big part of the reason you attend Norwescon, so we apologize to anyone whose travel plans or accommodation arrangements were even slightly based on the expectation of seeing us there.
Initially it looked like there was a strong possibility that we could use the Maxi's Restaurant space for our party, but the final terms from the hotel would have required us to use hotel bartenders and banquet staff instead of our own volunteers. The hotel told us this was due to union requirements, but we have not been able to independently verify this.
This meant we wouldn't really be throwing our own party any more. More importantly, it meant we would have to pay a 'corkage fee' for serving our own alcohol, which would effectively force us to charge for our drinks or charge a cover fee at the door. And we don't intend to do that to you.
By the time the hotel told us this, it was too late to explore other venues. We wish there was another way, but we would rather have no party at all than to have a party that wouldn't live up to our standards.
Don't get us wrong - we love Norwescon, the committee has been nothing but helpful to us, and they have our continued support. We have every intention of finding a way to bring the kind of parties you expect back to Norwescon. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough time to reach a satisfactory solution this year.
We hope the Doubletree will work with us to find an amicable solution for next year. We've been their loyal customers for well over a decade, renting blocks of rooms, eating at their restaurants, and running up ridiculous bar tabs. We would like to be able to offer them our patronage again in the future.
In any event - have a great time at the con. We will. We'll see you there.
This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works License. Please redistribute.
Crossposted to:
http://community.livejournal.com/norwescon
http://www.freepowerboards.com/norwescon
http://norwesconclubs.freeforums.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/norwescon
http://tribes.tribe.net/nwc
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2358328874
http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=messageboard.viewCategory&groupID=102313307