Comments | almeda: What Happened at Windycon.

almeda

What Happened at Windycon.

Nov 13, 2006 09:36

Well, I did speak to a lot of good friends (most of who were amazingly good sports about how hyper or unfocussed I was), but for the most part, from my point of view, Windycon looked like this:

( Lots of rambling bullet points, most involving the word 'concert'. )

social skilz, conventions, music, meaningful, listmaking, symptom log, scared

Comments 45

exapno November 13 2006, 15:47:25 UTC

quicky notes as i'm still not functional
John = jcw-da-dmg
Windy contract - someone (fairly reliable) mentioned the orig being a *6*-year (odd number!), of which this was year 3 :( However, dunno if the semi-recent hotel-management switchover changed that.
Reason for 07? TANYA HUFF!!!!!!!!!!

ahem - i'm fine..really :)

almeda November 13 2006, 15:59:43 UTC

I am deeply unwilling to put myself at that hotel's mercy again.

born_to_me November 13 2006, 16:22:22 UTC

It was one of those "I'll go because my friends are there" situations. I don't like that hotel either, and I'll pray nightly that WindyCon concom gets a freaking CLUE and abandons it for something actually worth being it.

I'm still in shock from the horrible, awful, abysmal, scary, panic-inducing Consuite. YUCK!! I'll go on about that more in my own journal.

As for your concert, it was lovely. More on that in my journal as well. ;-)

jerusha November 13 2006, 16:05:31 UTC

If it's Tanya, then I'll suck it up and go. She's not the only person who could draw me back, but it's a very. short. list.

tanac November 13 2006, 15:51:09 UTC

istr that the contract was for 10 years. Sorry about the monkeys :) Realllly wish I'd been able to attend your concert! sigh. Glad it went well!

almeda November 13 2006, 15:57:24 UTC

Just for starters: every room reservation belonging to a friend of mine that had any special request on it (like 'nonsmoking room' or 'crib required'), the special request was screwed up. Even if the reservers carefully called up a week ahead of time and confirmed it.

People reserving double-doubles were shoved in king rooms. People needing handicapped rooms were put in regular ones whose bathrooms were too small for them to use.

Also, every room I entered (sample size six -- yes, anecdote is not the singular of 'data') had a problem with the sink. A DIFFERENT problem with the sink.

beamjockey November 13 2006, 19:14:40 UTC

Reservation and request for double-double cheerfully accepted by phone.

At con, a room with a single queen-sized bed was offered to the three people staying there.

At this point, a rollaway bed was requested. None were available.

One person was willing to sleep on the floor.

Lengthy conversation with manager did not improve anything.

On afternoon of second day, a rollaway bed appeared. I was somewhat mollified.

I fear that none of my evidence rules out your monkey hypothesis.

(Our sink was fine. But the chrome thing that is supposed to move up and down in the center of the bathtub drain was out of place and just lying around.)

almeda November 13 2006, 19:31:35 UTC

The plural of anecdote STILL isn't 'data,' but I'm starting to wonder if perhaps it wouldn't be useful for the con to send out an automated email (like the one I got a couple of weeks ago saying, "This is Windycon. You are registered, for sure.") asking people to concisely recount any difficulties they had with their room reservations, just to see if my sample's experiences were in fact as universal as I suspect they were.

It would make great ammunition to show to the general manager of that hotel, cc'ed to someone senior in the national Wyndham hierarchy.

This is not how a hotel treats clients they respect.

Thread 5

jcw_da_dmg November 13 2006, 15:52:57 UTC

Yup, that's me.

exapno November 13 2006, 15:54:22 UTC

Concert!!! OMG CONCERT! :)
was wonderous :) Really really fun, good stuff :) YAY!

jrittenhouse November 13 2006, 17:41:33 UTC

My strong understanding is that the people in charge have a 10-year contract, and that less than half of that have passed. They're aware of a lot of the problems voiced here, but it never hurts to send a private message to the Chair, or the persons involved (like the Hotel Liasons).

almeda November 13 2006, 18:58:18 UTC

Phoenix was already having a shitty enough con. I know that none of the problems were his fault.

Reassuringly, every time I had an encounter with someone clearly fairly high up in the hotel hierarchy -- good suit, small nametag, etc -- THEY were competent. And God knows hotels can turn around a lot in the course of single years. I hope like hell they do.

I've worked in the hotel industry, and over 80% of what infuriated me about the hotel this year was sheer incompetence/bad management. When someone makes a reservation, and confirms it, the hotel had damned well better either already have the resources that would consume blocked out for them, or GET THEM before the guest checks in. You do not give out reserved resources to walk-ins and then stiff people you've made promises to. Period.

jrittenhouse November 14 2006, 06:00:00 UTC

No, the problems were not the con's fault. They were doing their best.

Stupid stuff like dumping confirmed - that's majorly bad hotel management.

darkwing830 November 16 2006, 12:38:18 UTC

I will always happily talk to and help you. (HUGGS)

Thread 6