Stay and Play Article and Discussion

[keith]

Does Oklahoma City count as a city?

Apparently it's as tier 1 as the USFA is going to get

[Redblade]

Does Oklahoma City count as a city?

Oh, be nice. You really need to visit.

[I_luv_saber]

2. Year 3 of use: Discounts disappear (but are hidden: Discounts are reported, but on artificially inflated quotes). Those of us who have real experience in the hotel industry know that creative bookkeeping within the industry is rivaled only by Hollywood.

Absolutely. I love seeing people's faces when they find out what our actual rack rate is (not that we ever sell at that ridiculously high rate, but it gives us room to maneuver and make it looks like people are getting a great deal).

3. To maintain the captive market, THS will be motivated to offer special "things" to the decision makers. This will probably NOT be anything illegal, but temptations do have the tendency to cloud the judgment of even honorable people.

This may not even be necessary. Once in place, THS will probably not need to take any further action until it thinks that it's contract is in jeopardy. In which case, I think rather than "special things" you'll just see the discounts come back for another few years, then disappear again. Every few years, they get pissed off, THS gives a new "discount" (putting prices where they were in the first place), those that were pissed now feel like they're getting a deal, and THS slowly erodes the discount again over time. That's usually how the contract cycle runs in my experience.

[flechewounds]

Folks -

Craig has posted my rebuttal on the main site - link here.

Thanks, Craig!

[pillow]

Folks -

Craig has posted my rebuttal on the main site - link here.

Thanks, Craig!

Great letter hitting all the high points of our objections. Nice that you are also a lawyer. Now, will the USFA read it?---Yes!

[dekko]

Folks -

Craig has posted my rebuttal on the main site - link here.

Thanks, Craig!

Not trying to be a smart a** here but one of the sentences is incomplete, IE missing at elast one word. "This plan is outside the charter of ????"

If possible can you or Craig or someone make a small update? The error is here.

************************************************** *****
Authority

Stay and Play is outside of the charter of the. Nothing in Article II of the USFA bylaws suggests that the purpose of the USFA is to arrange travel for the membership.


************************************************** *****

[Emfuser]

Folks -

Craig has posted my rebuttal on the main site - link here.

Thanks, Craig!

Wow, you really nailed it with that letter!

[edew]

Absolutely. I love seeing people's faces when they find out what our actual rack rate is (not that we ever sell at that ridiculously high rate, but it gives us room to maneuver and make it looks like people are getting a great deal).

In the back of most hotel room doors (or the back of the bathroom door) is a little reminder of the daily rate. Usually, this number is so ridiculously high as to be uncompetitive. At the Motel 6 I stayed at (paying $35/night), the rate on the back of the bathroom door quoted $93/night. I guess that's their "rack" rate.

[Katherine]

Nicely written.

I did spot the one incomplete sentence mentioned above and two typos...

Under Section Authority
1st Paragraph, 1st sentence:

"Stay and Play is outside of the charter of the." Missing conclusion of sentence.

Under “Legality”

2nd Paragraph, 2nd Sentence: "It is seeking to force the use of unrelated THS services, services that many members have made the choice not to use in recent use." Did you mean to use the word “years”

Under “Soft Launch and Rooming Commitments”
Last Paragraph, 1st Sentence: “actions speak launder than words.” S/B: Louder

K

[tchwojko]

"lose" not "loose". In the third paragraph of the section titled "Program Questions"

[flechewounds]

Nicely written.

I did spot the one incomplete sentence mentioned above and two typos...

Under Section Authority
1st Paragraph, 1st sentence:

"Stay and Play is outside of the charter of the." Missing conclusion of sentence.

Under “Legality”

2nd Paragraph, 2nd Sentence: "It is seeking to force the use of unrelated THS services, services that many members have made the choice not to use in recent use." Did you mean to use the word “years”

Under “Soft Launch and Rooming Commitments”
Last Paragraph, 1st Sentence: “actions speak launder than words.” S/B: Louder

K

OK - I didn't have the time to fully edit it (long story, but basically I was also busy preventing inappropriate liaisons between teenage foreign guest fencers - oh, the hormones!)... sometimes, being the parent can be tough, tough work... it was all I could do to hit F7 and spell check it (grammar off, my bad).

[ivlobane]

Still a good read and thanks for compiling the legal info. Sounds like a potential class action lawsuit? Too far fetched?

[DonnaP]

OK - I didn't have the time to fully edit it (long story, but basically I was also busy preventing inappropriate liaisons between teenage foreign guest fencers - oh, the hormones!)... sometimes, being the parent can be tough, tough work... it was all I could do to hit F7 and spell check it (grammar off, my bad).

I think we can forgive you for the spelling - it was well written and spoke for so many of us - thank you for taking the time. I have also written to Christine with many similar concerns and policy/procedure questions (minus any profanities!). I am hopeful that the USFA will/can reconsider.

[I_luv_saber]

In the back of most hotel room doors (or the back of the bathroom door) is a little reminder of the daily rate. Usually, this number is so ridiculously high as to be uncompetitive. At the Motel 6 I stayed at (paying $35/night), the rate on the back of the bathroom door quoted $93/night. I guess that's their "rack" rate.

Probably. Depending on the state, they may have to post it somewhere. I'm honestly not sure about California, but it wouldn't surprise me. The rack is almost always really high so they can claim 40% discounts or somesuch. It also lets the hotel sound like they're really giving you a good deal when they give you their usual sell rate.

In the case of THS, for example, it would likely go something like this:
Hotel rack rate $170
Promo rate (rate they actually sell at) $110
THS rate $100

This way they can claim they are getting you a $70 discount, rather than the more realistic $10 discount. That's not counting the rate you might get with AAA, AARP, or a negotiated group rate, which are just hotel-direct solutions. That doesn't even include the ridiculously low rates you can get with Hotwire or Priceline sometimes.

Maybe THS is a different animal compared to my past experiences, but I bet this is what they'll do, and in past experiences there's not many that can match the prices able to be got by online sites. Just my experience though...

[Greybeard]

OK, once again I am sort of unclear on the concept, but since I have moved into the ranks of the seated fencers I have discovered some new wrinkles to travel. Obviously it now makes sense for me to pay a little more to stay in the hotel attached or nearest to the venue. (not my favorite thing)

This summer I tried to get into the gaylord too late and ended up at the Embassy Suites, plus- Hilton points, minus - $10 a trip for a cab to get to the Gaylord and back to the ES. (the ES said the Gaylord told them their shuttles were persona non grata. Interesting because I saw shuttles from 4 other hotels there)

Of course I could have rented a car to get to the airport, to the venue (pay for parking) and back to the airport. Not the best use of funds.

Seated fencing is the red headed stepchild of the tournaments and we were told that if we did not keep up attendance at tournaments like we had at nationals chair events will be dropped. Thanks for trying to get more seated fencers. There has to be more than the 15-20 of us.

But back to stay and play, am I to understand that THS will compare the fencers from out of town with the list for whom they made reservations and then tell USFA about the miscreants who did not go through them? What happens then, are they then dropped from the tournament? Will they receive a registration refund? I am guessing not.

[EldRick]

Re. typos "...actions speak launder than words."

[Greybeard]

At least he is using gooder English. Us lawyers are taught to write more better. Just kidding Gary

[Spursfan]

Hello, long time fencer, first time poster.

This article was sent to me by another fencer and made me rather upset. I read through the thread you all were kind enough to contribute to and must say that this whole new policy is a bad decision. People should not be told what to do or where to go when their own dollar is being spent for their enjoyment. Period. End of story. Anyone who thinks different is trying to squeeze cash out of you for their benefit.