USFA considering forcing members to use THS

[Sukinator]

Can this really be enforced? Filling out a waiver all the time would be really annoying, but surely one could find a way to claim exemptions without, well, being wholly truthful.

As USFA members, how much do we get to see the benefits the USFA gets from this deal? Do we get lower tournament registration fees to compensate for higher travel costs?

It would be nice to see a rigorous analysis of the pricing. When the USFA/THS says we save $20/night with Stay and Play, that's obviously off, when you compare the true bottom price. We have a ton of anecdotes in these forums by people saying they pay half THS price. But that's not exactly statistics, and doesn't count car rentals/convenience/quality. Before adopting Stay and Play, I could be more convinced I'd get my money's worth if the USFA put some more work into their cost/benefit study.

[peet]

I'm not normally a huge cheerleader for capitalism, but if the USFA and THS wanted to get more people to use THS, wouldn't it be a better strategy to, ummm, y'know, provide good service at good rates?


I know.... Crazy talk!

[Philistine]

{snip}
As USFA members, how much do we get to see the benefits the USFA gets from this deal? Do we get lower tournament registration fees to compensate for higher travel costs?
{snip}

USFA members get the benefits in that the money/savings from the THS deal--AIUI, about $100 - 120K is estimated per year--doesn't have to come from somewhere else, e.g. increased membership dues or registration fees or cuts in some other programs.

How many entries are there to all of the national events in a given year? Around 10,000, maybe? I guess the question would be along the lines of would you prefer an increase in registration fees of $10-15 per event or the ability to freely choose your own hotel.

--Philstine

[Allen Evans]

.... wouldn't it be a better strategy to, ummm, y'know, provide good service at good rates?

Peet, are you SURE you're working in the software industry?

You just don't seem, you know, "aligned" with the common software business model with statements like that.

[Capt. Slo-mo]

would you prefer an increase in registration fees of $10-15 per event or the ability to freely choose your own hotel.

--Philstine

Well, there's your solution. If you can find a deal that substantially beats the new and improved THS (although I'd still like to see the performance clauses), then you are free to book elsewhere. No need for waivers or unnecessary paperwork.

But, without the THS room stamp of approval on your registration form, there is a $15-$20 line item add on to the cost of the entry fee. The USFA gets their pound of flesh, and you get to book a room for something well below the price of the THS selections.

It's free enterprise at its finest. IF THS can perform a service more valuable to you that booking it yourself, and follow through with good customer service, they'll get lots of business. If they continue as before, no one is stuck being forced to suffer the indignities of arriving at the front desk and arguing about their missing THS hotel room.

And their now-invalidated fencing registration....

[fencerll]

This would effectively double my hotel costs. Using priceline.com Name Your Own Price (and biddingfortravel.com to find out the best price to bid) we got the hyatt in the dfw airport for $50 a night. I understand that this would be a source of income desperately needed for the usfa. However, there are many ways the usfa could cut costs and stop wasting money before forcing us to pay more to attend NAC's.

[noodle]

This would effectively double my hotel costs. Using priceline.com Name Your Own Price (and biddingfortravel.com to find out the best price to bid) we got the hyatt in the dfw airport for $50 a night. I understand that this would be a source of income desperately needed for the usfa. However, there are many ways the usfa could cut costs and stop wasting money before forcing us to pay more to attend NAC's.

priceline makes a profit, even on the name your own price service.

[CvilleFencer]

I mentioned this in the other related thread and I will mention it here. This and an ED/staff decision. If you want your voices heard contact the USFA offices directly. Talking about how much it sucks on a web forum that a lot of people in the decision making process don't even read won't accomplish anything. Contacting the USFA/Kurt directly will get you much better results.

The waiver process will be the real key here for me. I will not try to use THS again and I don't recommend my students use it. I won't go into the why's of it (pretty standard and well known issues with THS) but if people can't get waivers from this program and must either use THS or not fence, it is obviously an issue.

[piste off]

If this goes through, I am organizing a protest group. To join you must bring your own torch and pitchfork.

I suspect that the group will be so big that I'll be able to negotiate great travel deals for us all.

R-

[fencerll]

I mentioned this in the other related thread and I will mention it here. This and an ED/staff decision. If you want your voices heard contact the USFA offices directly. Talking about how much it sucks on a web forum that a lot of people in the decision making process don't even read won't accomplish anything. Contacting the USFA/Kurt directly will get you much better results.

Given that that's completely true, I don't think it's unreasonable to talk to each other and give input on whether we think it's a good idea to support this or not before contacting the usfa with our opinion.

And so what if priceline makes a profit? I don't really understand what that has to do with the issue.

[Dev]

I'm not normally a huge cheerleader for capitalism, but if the USFA and THS wanted to get more people to use THS, wouldn't it be a better strategy to, ummm, y'know, provide good service at good rates?

I don't think that you understand capitalism, Peet.

Clearly, the point of capitalism is to figure out who can screw the customer fastest, hardest, and most thoroughly. Have we learned nothing from cable companies and wireless providers?

Why go to the trouble of providing better (or even distinguishable) service when you can confuse them with contracts and pricing schemes? Providing better service still means the customer makes a choice; far better, from a human psychology standpoint, to make them feel as if they have no choice. There's more money in it.

[Wetmelon]

While I can see why people might think this is a good idea, it seems like a stunningly bad one. It absolutely screws over the fencers / families who have a particular hotel they like to stay in, or the ones that like to, ya know, just decide for themselves where to spend their $100 / night.

Hence the Waiver so that you don't have to

[edew]

priceline makes a profit, even on the name your own price service.

Considering that Priceline makes a profit doing their business model (I hope they're making a profit; I can imagine, that they being an e-commerce site, that they're not making a profit just to "gain market share"), perhaps we should have an arrangement with Priceline instead of THS. Priceline will work with USFA to generate great prices for the venue and hotel rooms for the fencers.

It looks better, too, if USFA can claim Priceline as a sponsor rather than THS (if they can be considered a sponsor).

[noodle]

Considering that Priceline makes a profit doing their business model (I hope they're making a profit; I can imagine, that they being an e-commerce site, that they're not making a profit just to "gain market share"), perhaps we should have an arrangement with Priceline instead of THS. Priceline will work with USFA to generate great prices for the venue and hotel rooms for the fencers.

It looks better, too, if USFA can claim Priceline as a sponsor rather than THS (if they can be considered a sponsor).

i'd have no problem using THS if they were like priceline, but a bit more expensive. even if we're talking about more than just a few bucks. but you can get hotels on priceline at like half the cost of THS.

[counterattack]

This is a terrible idea. Travel is complicated enough already without having to worry about "approved hotels" and waivers and not being able to use priceline to get the Omni for $60/night in Richmond. This is just a ridiculous restriction and inconvenience. Nobody in the USFA customer base is asking for this. We ARE asking for online registration. THS wants to do this to make money for themselves and they are promising USFA a slice. Just say no.

-ph

[KD5MDK]

if THS weren't so abysmally terrible at pretty much everything, i could get behind an idea like this.

if they provided better customer service, a better website, prices that are actually competitive, and alternative hotels that aren't all 4 star $100+/night, this might be a good plan.

If they did, would you believe them?

[wwalkerjr]

I like to stay at the venue hotel.

I wanted to work with THS at Atlanta but they did not have a room for me at the Omni, so they booked me into another hotel at about the same rate. As a very frequent visitor to Omni hotels, I called Omni and they made a room for me at half price out of the unblocked rooms, a saving of about $30/night from the THS hotel.

For the S/N, in early May there were no rooms available at the Gaylord. The problem arose because the USFA did not publish the event schedule in a timely fashion. This forced a great number of people to book the entire 10 day S/N for their stay and cancelled specific dates at the last minute. This prevented full utilization of the THS blocks. I waited until mid-June and then made a THS reservation at the Gaylord. If I had been forced to take a THS reservation at the May 22 cut-off, in order to have a "valid registration", I would not have been able to enjoy the S/N in the way I wished.

If the USFA wants to undertake enforced membership fundraising, why not force the membership to sell cookies or Christmas wrap door to door?

[jessicasimpson]

[QUOTE=fencerX;810836]What is "Fence and Feed?"
QUOTE]

I know it has gotten better since 01' ( I have not had to stay at a venue till 1am- or 3am if my athlete gets drug tested) but how will they handle reservations if your event runs late?

[Slacker]

THS has not done me any favors. I find better hotel accomodations on my own and I eat where we please. There's gotta be something written in the Bill of Rights somewhere that says you have the freedom to stay where you please... well, sort of.
Do the American thing, fencers, let your State Division people know what you think about stuff that 's important to you. Call the USFA, make a stink about it. Griping on this board won't get us anywhere, but lobbying can.

[edew]

My beef with THS may be my preference in using Safari, but I just can't seem to get past step one on their website. At best, I get to see what hotels are available and when I go to the site to register for a room, I can't choose two beds for two people with different names and person so-and-so will arrive first and leave on Saturday and whatever. After being confused for a while, I just give up and go to Priceline or Orbitz and know I can get a room for cheaper.

I can't even help USFA and THS because their UI sucks the big kahuna.