On Wed, 16 Dec 2015, Dave Crocker wrote:
A different approach is simply to require that venues /always/ be chosen with excellent, close proximity of alternative lodging that covers a wide range of prices.
When I found out about the rooms being released, the $270 option was the only one still there. I went to look at the alternative hotels, and since most of them didn't have online booking (one was call only, one was call or email), I just went on booking.com, found a hotel 1.5km walking distance from the Hilton that had free wifi etc, and booked it. It was around 100USD per night.
I did the same in Yokohama because we had the same situation there, main conference hotel sold out way before I could book, and with 300 rooms, no wonder.
So while I prefer to stay at the conference hotel, there are usually alternatives, and this should definitely be taken into account when choosing venue... unless of course the venue is huge and good price/performance so everybody can stay there.
-- Mikael Abrahamsson email: swmike@xxxxxxxxx