Did you SAVE money by using a hotel on the recommended lodging list? (page 3)

buffalosrfree

We stayed once, and never again, the room wasn't bad, but the bathtub wouldnt drain out, and when they sent maintenance to fix it, the non drain problem continued. The exercise room was closed for remodeling, the swimming pool was closed, The restaurant was so over priced it was ridiculous. So no never will we stay at a recommended one again.

greenhornet

Wow the fun times. I remember Watchtower charged us a dorm room at a college compass. The rooms were filthy. The students moved out and the rooms never cleaned. They took our money because we had to stay for the spiritual food! No refund........

LDH

Not only free rooms.

What they are getting is a REBATE.

Think about it. The free rooms? The Governing Body doesn't stay where the Rank and File stay. How many JWs have stayed at their assigned hotel have ever run into anyone from Headquarters?

They are getting incentive, cash money.

This is the way contracts work with Fed Ex, UPS, hotels, etc.

The contract holder is awarded a percentage back of the money spent....as long as they are meeting the minimum sales requirement.

Before the internet, sure it made 'sense' for them to pre-coordinate rooms.....when no one questioned their motive.

Now the internet has replaced those dinosaurs, but they refuse to give it up. And then pin it on Jehovah.

That's right folks, Jehovah's gonna be mad if you don't stay at Microtel.

Quotes

Thanks LDH, good point.

The free rooms would only be at the (few!) nice hotels on the list.

For the rest, it is likely "a straight cash payback / secret commission".

In my profession, one of the points of ethics makes "secret commissions" (i.e. "kick backs") a license losing activity.

Too bad the WTS doesn't have the ethical limitations of a bunch of evil, worldly, doomed-to-destruction engineers. No, they are ssssoooooo much better than us evil, worldly people!

~Q

done4good

Never! I really saved money by using my Hilton Honors points, and stayed at a hotel that I wanted to stay at!

AudeSapere

Quotes (??) wrote: 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.

I thought that the expenses of the speakers, DO and CO were paid by local congregations?

Am I wrong about this?

-Aude. (always lived close enough to commute to DO's. Only once stayed in hotel in SanDiego and it was decent.)

crazycate

Quotes: I never knew about a "cash back" opportunity, but then I've never been involved in that industry. I wondered how a few free rooms could really be that big a deal. Learn something new every day. Thanks.

Cate

sir82

I thought that the expenses of the speakers, DO and CO were paid by local congregations?
Am I wrong about this?

There are plenty more expenses than just hotel rooms.

Rest assured, the Society spends as little as possible for "their own". For example, for "special Assembly Days", when a visiting speaker from Bethel shows up, the Circuit pays for the airfare and other travel expenses. Some (most?) assembly halls have rooms built in where visitors can stay, so no hotel expenses. It's a real feather in one's cap to have the "privilege" of paying for the Bethelite's meals, so that's covered by kiss-up locals.

shamus100

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.

That is extremely irresponsible. Jehovah didn't provide - people's pity for your situation provided; nothing to do with god.

In the hotel business (A close friend of mine is in the know), people do get free rooms as Quotes said earlier. There is also another way that travel agents make money; comissions. Did the WTBTS make money from comissions? Who really knows. Perhaps someone here who worked on the comittee would know.

Free perks, free stuff, free hotel rooms later on? Perhaps. It wouldn't suprise me one bit. Filling a hotel in the off-season is a big bonus to hotels.

DaCheech

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.

ditto here, we stayed 1 hour away in one of their hotels

Did you SAVE money by using a hotel on the recommended lodging list?

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