ElderBerry, the watchdog is rapidly losing its teeth.
Hotels for convention
by ElderBerry 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Scully
This has been a practice for decades - the WTS tells JWs not to book at hotels that have not entered a pricing agreement with the WTS; JWs do whatever they want.
From what I recall being told is that the hotels will offer additional complimentary rooms which were then booked by people who were in the know - Elders™, HLC members, visiting GB, DOs and COs.
When I was still in my late teens, one hotel had "lost" our booking and gave the room to someone else, so they gave us a *suite* for the price that we booked and reserved with a deposit. Best hotel *suite* EVER. The following years, my dad reserved the same room for us. We weren't allowed to tell any of the Friends™ about this room.
It was one of the only things that was a perk for going to the DC.
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NotFormer
Scully, I guess in an environment where people were encouraged to take lesser jobs for the greater good, i.e. to allow more time in field service, there would have been a lot of frugal pragmatism. Back then, conventions and assemblies were a much bigger deal and better frequented than what is being reported in recent times. So the WT would have still got decent kickbacks from the obedient "ones" booking as they were told.
I doubt that that dynamic exists anymore. The big out of town meetings aren't attended like they were, there're plenty of PIMOs who will do the bare minimum, JWs in general are just tired and disillusioned. If ever there was a graph over time showing JWs who book through approved channels versus those who make their own arrangements, it would be most interesting to see how much things have changed.
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joe134cd
Notformer - Wt certainly doesn’t have the grip it used to. I recently heard of a one day assembly that was held on a long weekend. My PIMI relative was complaining about the timing and the low attendance of 500. The assembly hall is built for 2000, and when I was going attendance was around 1000+. I remember a similar occasion many decades ago, when an assembly was held between Christmas and new years. It was a packed stadium in the middle of the sun.