jck observed > I can remember times and places when the IETF got meeting rooms > (sometimes all but the plenary ballrooms, sometimes those but > not the smaller spaces) for nearly free in return for other > commitments, commitments that sometimes increased costs > (relative to what might otherwise have been possible) to > individual participants. the IETF always gets “free” meeting (including plenary) rooms in north america and never anywhere else - that is just the way that the hotel business works Scott