Indeed, I felt like I'd won a lottery when I happened to check email shortly after the announcement came out and was able to get a room. I'd missed the window (despite being in a North American time zone) the last two times this was an issue.
Why do I care about being in the meeting hotel?
Two of the hotels are a short walk from the hotel (possibly a pretty pleasant walk as it is through a park) but not being at the meeting hotel means being stuck with carrying whatever I want to have access to for the day around with me (jacket, umbrella, power, etc.) from breakfast meetings through evening meetings and often dinner as one doesn't want to delay 20 minutes to go to a hotel and back in between. It means being watchful at lunch (and often dinner) that ones bag isn't a trip hazard and isn't at risk of being stolen.
Much of this could be solved by having a coat and bag check at the meeting venue.
On Fri, Aug 12, 2016 at 11:20 AM, Stewart Bryant <stewart.bryant@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Maybe we need to move to a system of ballot, where people who want to stay at the main hotel out their name in a hat, and the lucky ones get their name pulled out and thus first call on that hotel.
The way it works at the moment seems to be that if you are lucky enough to be doing an email check at the right time and book at once you are OK, otherwise you miss out
Stewart