by truthseeker 34 Replies latest jw friends
Absolutely nothing. The rates I saw on the list were exactly what they were advertising on TV for the same rooms, plus you get the crappiest motels and the crappiest rooms for those prices.
And, what the witlesses do not know is that discounts on motel rooms are ridiculously easy to obtain without the Washtowel Slaveholdery doing it for you. In fact, it is usually stupid to pay the rack rate, or full price, for a motel room (unless you are hitting a place and time that is usually packed).
I could have gotten better rates at priceline.com or hotwire but we did abide by their requests. But, I think this is a method of retrieving additional funds for the WBTS. Think about it. They "always" wanted you to mention that you were a JW when making accomodations. Just what if the selected hotels/motels kept record of the "JW Guests" and distributed a portion of the profits from each room rented. This could easily be accomplished and accepted by the hotel/motel management. Why wouldn't they comply knowing they have a greater chance at filling rooms, eating at their restaurants, etc...
Food for thought??
For the last 30 years we never had to stay at a hotel since we lived so close. We have special rates through work and nothing the WTS had compared. We were to the point that we would have stayed at a good motel that met my disability needs. I have heard from jws that they have had to travel 100 miles one way to get a WTS approved hotel room and then had to share it with the roaches.
Blondie
I have heard from jws that they have had to travel 100 miles one way to get a WTS approved hotel room and then had to share it with the roaches.
Blondie, you just jogged my memory...I don't know why I didn't remember this before...
One year, many moons ago, when some people from our hall used the recommended list they booked rooms at a hotel so disgusting that when they got there they all banded together and went to the rooming department and demanded to be relocated. At first they were told that everything was sold out but the next day one brother who found roaches crawling on his baby threw a royal hissy fit to someone and the rooming department ended up putting them in the ritziest hotel in town...a hotel that wasn't on the Society's list.
And the real kicker was that a year later, that same roach hotel was still on the Society's list of approved hotels. No one from our area called it for rooms knowing what had happened the year before. When all the other hotels sold out, those without rooms started booking rooms on their own, refusing to contact the roach hotel. The elders got a letter from the rooming department that was to be read to the congregation to spur everyone into following the rules when booking rooms.
Just goes to show that it was all about money and not the safety and comfort of their convention delegates...
In 1985 they had an "international" convention in Montreal. I was pioneering™ and had limited funds. I called all the hotels on the list an hour after it was posted, as well as several revised lists as they were put up. I couldn't get a room in Montreal at all. By the time I found a room that didn't cost an entire week's wage per night it was 3 hours out of Montreal. It was out of the question since I was travelling there by train.
I ended up camping with another pioneer™ in the park near the stadium. It rained the entire weekend, and the tent leaked. On top of that, I had a stack of useless food tickets, as we were encouraged to eat all of our meals at the convention. The food stands always ran out of food and many people were turned away with nothing more than half bags of fruit and the occasional frozen pudding. After wasting $70 on food tickets, I only had 2 real meals in 4 days, both in restaurants. That was a challenge too, as I don't speak French. The rest of the time I subsisted on the occasional bag of chips, frozen pudding, bruised banana, and no-name cola. Some of the JWs in my hall thought my predicament was funny. The rest shunned me for the entire convention.
That was the last time the society got a cent from me. Considering the way I was feeling by the end of the weekend, I'm surprised I didn't walk away from the cult right then and there. I wish I did.
W
Well... you didn't mention the 'housing' - the private residences - that they used to offer.
When I was a lad, that was all that my mom could afford - when we had to travel out of town.
I remember staying in someones' basement - with a bathtub in the middle, with a shower curtain surrounding it.
I remember staying in someone's home - who had no A/C, and tall floor to ceiling windows.
There were also other places where we stayed, too. Long ago.
It wasn't until later that my mom was able to afford staying at hotels - or perhaps they discontinued the private housing option.
Personally, I remember staying at a place that was gotten through the 'arrangement'. I was sent ahead of the rest of the group that was going to share the cost. We were put into what must've been an apartment complex. The first room assigned to us - I had the priveledge of seeing... the person who had moved out - had left in a hurry. It was a woman who had left meat in the kitchen sink... it had been there for a while... it was moving. The bathroom... well, the toilet wouldn't flush. The other rooms had various things like clothing and whatever that she had left behind. I actually tried to clean up the place... but then realized that it would take more than a day - and went back downstairs to get a different room assignment.
Regards,
Jim TX
With all the deals available these days, I've wondered for years why the society continues to insist on everyone staying at hotels on the recommended lodging list. But no way are we ever going to be told the real reason (i.e., bookstudy is being combined with another meeting due to high gas prices).
Cate
The last time I went we stayed here....
This jogged a memory. When my parents first joined the cult they were given the guilt trip to go to the district assembly 5 hours away. My dad was laid off his job at the time and my mom did not work outside the home. My folks have always been poor anyway, but we were almost destitute that summer. But "jehovah will provide". Anyway they loaded their six children into their half way running van that they bought from very used from the telephone company. Dad built benches for us to sit on and bolted them down, no seat belts. The van broke down half way there. My Dad flagged down people that were on the way there too (strangers), and we were divided between a few families and went on our merry way. Since they had to fix the van they didn't have any money to pay for the camp site, and all of our camping gear was left behind anyway. Dad wound up talking to someone in the rooming department and a local witness let us stay in their pop up camper in their yard. I remember how my parents were just amazed that "Jehovah provided." Now as an adult I look back and think about how irresponsible they were. My youngest brother was an infant and my oldest brother was all of 11. They were just lucky nothing really terrible happened. When school started my folks couldn't even afford supplies after that fiasco. Silly, deluded people.
If it were only about WTS trying to help you save money, then they wouldn't care if you used expedia.com or velocity.com or hotels.com, if that gave a better deal. It seems evident (to borrow a WTS weasel phrase) that there must me some other motive.
Like any good investigation, a good place to start is by answering the question: "Who benefits?"
According to both an "in the know" post here at JWD several years ago, and also according to basic facts known to anyone that has worked in convention arrangement in the real world, the key issue is FREE ROOMS.
When you reserve a block of rooms for an event (any event: your wedding, etc), part of the negotiation is how many (and also, how luxurious) FREE ROOMS will be provided to the organizer, and what percentage of "fill" for the reserved block is required to get those FREE ROOMS.
So: it is in the interest of the WTS to fill the reserved blocks, to insure that the WTS Bethel senior staffers, GB members, etc. get their FREE ROOMS. That is why they insist everyone only call the hotels on the list, and identify that they want the JW block of rooms. If the blocks aren't filled to some pre-agreed-upon percentage level, then WTS does not get the FREE ROOMS.
This also explains why they continue to insist on this, year after year. If you take rooms "outside the arrangement" at either a hotel on the list, or one that is not on the list), the hotel(s) will figure it out, and next year decide they don't have to negotiate and offer the FREE ROOMS incentive. So the hotel doesn't negotiate the following year, and the FREE ROOMS disappear.
And we can't have WTS actually pay money for the hotel rooms for their senior staffers -- people that have taken a vow of poverty, and so can't afford it themselves. No, the WTS likes to keep the money flowing in one direction only: towards itself.
The hotel arrangement is about FREE ROOMS, not about saving money for the Rank & File.
~Q
