San Joaquin, CA Celebration 3 FanForce Group Discount Hotel Reservations (Deadline July 1st)

Jedi_Master_Sal of the Pittsburgh Fanforce, has been given authorization to coordinate CIII hotel room reservations for ALL of Fanforce. The deadline to get a Discount Group Reservation with Fanforce is July 1st. The more people we have signing up for the Fanforce group rate, the cheaper everyone's rate will be.

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Message from Sal
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I am authorized to negotiate a group rate for all of Fanforce. It is my hope to secure a full hotel connected to the convention center (by skywalk) for all of Fanforce before the general public is able to book rooms. I am fairly confident that this is possible.

What I need from you all is a tally of FIRM numbers of interested people from your respective Fanforce chapters. (Also, if you have some "possibles," you may give me a count for those as well.)

Please format your numbers as such:
Pittsburgh FF: 14 Firm, 6 Possibles

I will need your final tally no later than July 1st, so that I may compile the list and start negotiating with GenCon (the promoters of CIII).

The 501st already has a deal through them for 250 rooms, but I am confident that with the combined presence of Fanforce we will be able to have many more rooms requested, and could then present a valid case for special consideration in regards to discount rates and "pre-booking".

The room rates quoted to me so far (this was by one specific hotel so rates may differ slightly)
were as such:

$134 per night for a single (1 person) 1 double bed
$144 per night for a single (2 person) 1 king bed
$154 per night for a single (3 person) 1 king bed, 1 roll out bed
$164 per night for a single (4 person) 2 doubles

These numbers HAVE NOT been guaranteed. The price quotes and room sizes where only an initial quote and that by submitting a request it does NOT guarantee that a chapter will have rooms reserved for them.

A deal first has to be made with GenCon. Once that deal is made and we know GenCon is holding those rooms can we count on it being a guarantee.

The submission of requests is to show to GenCon proof of what FanForce is proposing. BTW, chapters CAN submit requests after the July 1st deadline, but I need to get the proposal into GenCon on that date. If other chapters want to sign up after and the deal can be made, that can only serves to bolster our numbers and position. They are welcome to join. It should be noted though that if a deal is made for the room numbers I submit on July1st that GenCon may only be able to honor THAT amount of rooms, so urgency is needed.

Should the actual rates be different (whether higher or lower) you will be notified immediately after I receive that information.

The bed size may vary by hotel. You will also be notified of that should it differ than what is quoted here.

The information contained in the replies I receive will figure prominently in the negotiating process and, as a result, will need to be as accurate as humanly possible since a contract will most likely need to be drawn up.

Do not "pad" your numbers. Only firm numbers, please. (The "possibles" may be taken into account, but I suspect that unlikely.) We, as Fanforce, can not be responsible for extra rooms not filled, so once again I urge you to be absolutely confident with your figures before you submit them to me.

Since this is just the beginning of the negotiation phase, I do not yet have any answers regarding who, how, and when you will be able to pay for rooms. Rest assured that I will post this information immediately after finding out, so as to give you and your respective members as much time as possible to make whatever decisions you need to make regarding payment.

If there are any questions regarding CIII room booking, please PM me for now and I will ensure that a special thread be made for this, which will include a FAQ.



Let's show our "force,"
jedi_master_sal

 

Here are two updates as to the CIII room booking situation. Both are good!
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For everyone's information:

The proposal has been sent to GenCon. I am awaiting their response.

We had a late push last Thursday (July 1) and our totals nearly doubled.

We have 34 chapters who have signed up, more than 100 rooms requested for, accounting for several hundred members from 5 countries.

The exact breakdown will be posted later as I have time. (CR's are to check the thread in the CR forum)

Now we sit and wait for a response. If I do not receive one by Thursday, I will follow up then. It is important that we give them adequate time to respond back. We do not want to rush this to a point where they are offended and back away.

In the meantime keep your fingers crossed. At worst if they say no, we are in no worse position than we currently are in. Which is to say that when the rooms become available to the general public, we would have to fend for ourselves.

You will know, IMMEDIATELY upon me finding out ANY information regarding the proposal. It is my sincerest hope that we are able to come to an agreement with GenCon for the rooms, but were we not to succeed, at least and honest, earnest attempt has been made.

May the FORCE be with us in this,
-Sal
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Here's the second and even better update! The response!
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Sweet mother of Anakin we have an initial response from GenCon and it's very promising!

Here is the response (the person's name sending it to me has been withheld) This in part so that they are not getting calls from everyone and their brother, hope you understand. Anyway here we go:

Hello Chris,

I'm going to discuss this with LucasFilm and will get back to you with reference on how they want us to handle the housing requests for large groups like this.

Talk to you soon.

NAME WITHHELD


This is actually GREAT NEWS. At the very least they did not say no from the get-go. That was the biggest hurdle to jump. Good news is that she carbon copied this to a person at LucasFilm for whom I've spoken to directly in the past and that person now works under Steve Sansweet, with whom I spoke to last month on the phone and have had two e-mails with.

This all plays out well for us. It's a good step in the right direction.

We're still not out of the preverbial "forest of Endor" (woods) yet, but we can see the bunker (light)...

-Sal
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End of updates... for now.
-Sal

 

i started a thread in the pacific region board: http://boards.theforce.net/Pacific_Regional_Discussion/b10049/17490058/?0 about fanforce chapters that are going to Celebration III and the possibility to have a fan club table there to represent the Pacific Region fan force chapters...

please post your thoughts.

james (san diego)

 

i posted this on the thread for the potential Pacific Region FF fan table at Celebration III:


the deadline for fan tables is the 9th of December, and i need the following from participating clubs: a contact name with contact info, and 2 references (with contact info).

if i don't hear anything by the 7th, then the table is a no-go!
http://boards.theforce.net/Pacific_Regional_Discussion/b10049/17490058/

james