DC hotel list shortened

by Honeybucket 12 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Honeybucket

  We got our list of hotels available for our convention in the greater Seattle area and there are only 3 hotels willing to have a watchtower block.

  My MIL thinks its because "as the society warns us to NOT do, people book rooms and then end up being a no show or cancel on short notice"

  Maybe its because they realize the JW's really arent the "most outstanding patrons" as they claim to be. Lets not forget that ALL wordly people that stay

  in hotels are there to do drugs and have sex with hookers. They are all loud, unruly and rude. Im just thinking its because these hotels are actually losing

  money on hosting a WT block. The witnesses get a reasonably good discount. So does this rate actually cover their 3 day stay? pool time, full breakfasts,

  tips tucked into tracts and mags. I do wonder how much the staff makes in tips vs. number of literature they recieve. I must say I am glad that this is

  happening. The more people have to pay for conventions, the less likely they are to attend. Plus the snob in me is saying "sweet! now we dont have to stay

  in these cheap ass hotels anymore"
• 

  Bobcat

  Our list was shorter too. Maybe about 10 hotels. I didn't see where there was any discount to speak of. The Best Western that was listed had a convention rate of $62.00. I went online and checked their normal rate without any discounts: $62.00
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  We made it to 1/2 of 2 days last year.

  Maybe we can cut that to just 1/2 day total this summer.

  Yawn.

  Think anyone would miss us? [NOPE]

  Doc
• 

  MrFreeze

  Last time I looked at hotel listings about three years ago we had pages and pages of hotels to choose from in the Cleveland area. Probalby about 75 hotels.
• 

  Anony Mous

  The WT never had any special deals with the hotels and I've been to conventions in several continents. To do so, they would have to buy the blocks of rooms themselves instead of a travel agency and then resell it. It was actually cheaper in the last congregation that I had to travel to simply go and buy rooms ourselves online or in advance from other chains ($50 motel) and many did do so.

  The WT probably has some kind of heads-up set up with the manager but beyond corporate niceties they don't get much out of those talks. Maybe, just maybe the WTBTS has some kind of kickback set up but I've never heard of anything like it.
• 

  JakeM2012

  Watchtower has so many antiquated proceedures. I haven't notices any discount what-so-ever in the last 15 years of my attendance. At one time you could get a step up in hotel for about what you pay for a Motel 8. Now, their negotiated rate is the same price that everybody has access to.

  I barked 20 years ago that they needed to get out of the travel agency business. One of the problems I see is that if you are an elderly person, have a mate or family member with special needs, the one size fits all approach doesn't cut it. I remember many times that WT would prohibit publishers from booking the hotel across the street from the convention but the closest thing they ever made arrangements for were 30 miles away. If elderly in a strange city do you want to be traveling that far?

  The society uses their cash rewards back at the regional kingdom hall building program, they don't pass the cash back rewards on to the congregations building as a savings, they pocket them. I know that some brothers had reward program credit cards that felt guilty for staying at the nicer hotel just across the street from the convention.

  Especially with all the web sites for travel again, Wt just needs to hang it up.

  May be that only a minority of the friends use the hotels provided or are disobedient.
• 

  sir82

  I've typically stayed at the higher-end hotels offered on the list (well, 3-star as opposed to the 1- and 2-star fleabags that populate the majority of the list).

  There is a pretty decent discount, at least as compared to the online rate, if you stay at a Marriott, Embassy Suites, etc.

  Of course that just reflects the cost in my little corner of Mongolia. I would not at all be surprised if in other areas the discounts are miniscule or even non-existent.
• 

  Honeybucket

  Last year I paid 89 a night at a 4 star hotel on the JW block. Normally The rooms run about 129.00 w/o a discount. But here's the thing, most hotels offer a discount in one form or another. You gotta ask; AAA, loyalty discount, veteran, ect. These hotels are very very willing to work with people.

  I would like to know why these hotels arent doing WT blocks. Thousands of people come to these conventions, so..only 3 hotels are suppose to house a good chunk of them. Did the WT Society piss them off? We used to have a lengthy list of hotels available. Then one by one they started dropping, starting with the nicer ones. Embassy Suites and Hawthorne suites havent hosted for years, since I was a teenager. But why?

  I think part of it is the management is noticing that JW's are booking rooms even though the block was full. Why give them a discount when they are willing to pay more for a good qaulity motel. All of the hotels on the list are low rating hotels. One of them was nasty according to JW's and Trip Advisor. Hookers, drugs, and shootings. No hot water, empty pool, bed bugs, ect. So these hotels have a problem getting good customers and they are willing to sell out to the WTBS. The nicer ones are saying nope, they dont need to sell out because their great services is what books rooms.

  I personally feel that this religion is a poor mans religion anyhow, and with majority of them being elderly on Social Security and Medicare they cant afford anything fancy. They have to settle on low quality and then they cram as many of them into one room as possible. 6 people in a 2 queen room plus 2 cots or one sleeps on the sofa or floor. The wealtheir ones stay in the nice hotels, but since there arent that many anymore, they hotels will capitilze on that.

  These are just my thoughts, Please give me anymore ideas as to WHY you think these lists are dwindling.

  HoneyBucket
• 

  undercover

  You can get discounts through numerous avenues these days, especially with all these web sites like Travelocity or Hotels.com Those companies do this all day, every day, all year, while the WTS works on it for one event for a few cities once a year. They have no bargaining power. The Internet has once again foiled the WTS.

  Honeybucket makes a good point. Give the WTS discounts or not, dubs are still coming in from all over to book rooms for the event. Why give them more discounts than what they can get through a discount club or website?
• 

  WTWizard

  I have an even better idea--that will allow them to shorten the list even more. Save your money. If you wish to spend the money, I would recommend setting aside the amount you would have wasted and buying silver with that amount. You will probably pick up 4 ounces with the money you waste just on hotel rooms. You are likely to get another ounce with travel money, and who knows how much with money spent on eating out. You might rather spend the money preparing for the upcoming energy crisis--which will happen when Arabs get sick of our supporting isra-hell. (As in 1973.) Get a few lanterns--the e-gear 30 day lantern can be had for less than a night's stay at a motel; 4 D batteries in low self-discharge NiMH and a quality battery charger for them will run you another night's stay. A second lantern and 4 D batteries (they use 3 D batteries each), and you are ready for rolling blackouts.

  Not to mention the money you save on aspirin.