Re: Registration open for IETF 114

[Mary B <mary.h.barnes@xxxxxxxxx>]

n Mon, May 9, 2022 at 2:48 PM Keith Moore <moore@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 5/9/22 15:10, Ross Finlayson wrote:

This is not only extremely unreasonable, it's insulting to the very notion of IETF and offensive to many of those who aren't funded by Big Companies.  It's appalling.

Maybe you haven’t been paying attention to hotel/motel rates in the past couple of years, but they have been undergoing significant inflation.

It might be a bit of a stretch to describe $US190/day as “very reasonable”, but - for a high-end hotel in the center of a large city - this hardly counts as “unreasonable” anymore, sadly.

Since when is "high-end" a requirement for IETF?

[MB] I don't think "high-end" is the right term.  I do think "full service" is more likely - e.g. on site restaurants, bar, 24 hour staff (including security), etc.   If you look at prices for other hotels in the area, this is a good price.  [/MB] 

If there aren't reasonably-priced rooms near an IETF venue, it's not a suitable venue. 

Alternative hotels don't need to be "high-end", IMO.  They need to be safe, have plenty of rooms available, be close enough to walk to, and have reliable Wi-Fi.

[MB] There are reasonably priced rooms near the venue.  I found a number of apartments for around $125 through VRBO.  If I attend, I would likely stay somewhere like that as the hotel rooms don't even have fridges.  Personally, my only concern is safety as downtown Philadelphia is not the safest city.   But, I've stayed there before when traveling for work and the area near the hotel and the route to places like Whole Foods, which is walking distance, was generally safe.    As far as Wifi, I don't see that as a problem in the city. [/MB]

 

Keith

p.s.  I don't want to insist that anyone be uncomfortable as a condition of participation in IETF, just like I don't want to insist that participants should have to spend hundreds of dollars per night to do so. But it seems to me that most people who really want to get work done don't need "high-end" accommodations.   And if "high-end" is more important in venue/hotel selection than "affordable", something's seriously out of whack.