Yesterday, the day or the day after I got the RubyConf E-mail giving me the conference group discount code, I went to book 2 rooms for 4 people at the conference hotel. The Web site only offered me rooms with 1 King bed.
I called the hotel and was told that *only* 1-King rooms were available for that rate.
Were there only some tiny number of 2-bed rooms available that just got booked fast, or is this some group booking screw-up where no one thought that people would be doubling up for the stay?
Has anyone else ran into this? Any way to get 1-King swapped for 2-doubles?
I like my co-workers, but I'm just not that into cuddling with them. 
And $160 (+ insane taxes and fees) per person is pricey.
···
--
James Britt
www.happycamperstudios.com - Wicked Cool Coding
www.jamesbritt.com - Playing with Better Toys
www.ruby-doc.org - Ruby Help & Documentation
www.rubystuff.com - The Ruby Store for Ruby Stuff
The fees will be waived, apparently, but the base rate + taxes are pricey.
I think, unfortunately, that's the cost of expansion. The cheap
hotels don't easily accommodate 500. :-/
···
On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 12:32 PM, James Britt <james.britt@gmail.com> wrote:
And $160 (+ insane taxes and fees) per person is pricey.
--
Technical Blaag at: http://blog.majesticseacreature.com | Non-tech
stuff at: http://metametta.blogspot.com
My partners and I were only able to book a non-smoking room with 1 king bed
or a smoking room with 2 double beds. We ended going with one of each, since
two of us really didn't want a smoking room.
Craig
Craig Demyanovich wrote:
My partners and I were only able to book a non-smoking room with 1 king bed
or a smoking room with 2 double beds. We ended going with one of each, since
two of us really didn't want a smoking room.
Seems all the rooms at the conference rate are now sold out.
Little wonder; people are discourage from doubling up.
Nice business.
···
--
James Britt
www.happycamperstudios.com - Wicked Cool Coding
www.jamesbritt.com - Playing with Better Toys
www.ruby-doc.org - Ruby Help & Documentation
www.rubystuff.com - The Ruby Store for Ruby Stuff
James Britt wrote:
Craig Demyanovich wrote:
My partners and I were only able to book a non-smoking room with 1 king bed
or a smoking room with 2 double beds. We ended going with one of each, since
two of us really didn't want a smoking room.
Seems all the rooms at the conference rate are now sold out.
Little wonder; people are discourage from doubling up.
Nice business.
That was quick. What were there, a dozen of them?
- Charlie
If true, that's unfortunate, since at least one of the speakers (me) hasn't
booked a room yet!
···
On Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 12:43 AM, James Britt <james.britt@gmail.com> wrote:
Craig Demyanovich wrote:
My partners and I were only able to book a non-smoking room with 1 king
bed
or a smoking room with 2 double beds. We ended going with one of each,
since
two of us really didn't want a smoking room.
Seems all the rooms at the conference rate are now sold out.
--
Rick DeNatale
My blog on Ruby
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/
Hi --
Craig Demyanovich wrote:
My partners and I were only able to book a non-smoking room with 1 king bed
or a smoking room with 2 double beds. We ended going with one of each, since
two of us really didn't want a smoking room.
Seems all the rooms at the conference rate are now sold out.
Little wonder; people are discourage from doubling up.
Nice business.
If there's something wrong with the hotel system, please let us
know (contact@rubycentral.org). It's extremely unlikely that it's sold
out; we have not been notified by the hotel that they have run out of
our block of rooms. It's very possible, though, that their reservation
system is screwing up in some way, and we will of course talk to them
about that.
It will be more efficient if people having problems can contact
contact@rubycentral.org directly, since we don't monitor this list for
event-specific problem reports.
Thanks --
David
···
On Sun, 14 Sep 2008, James Britt wrote:
--
Rails training from David A. Black and Ruby Power and Light:
Intro to Ruby on Rails January 12-15 Fort Lauderdale, FL
Advancing with Rails January 19-22 Fort Lauderdale, FL *
* Co-taught with Patrick Ewing!
See http://www.rubypal.com for details and updates!
As I sent that my wife was getting us reservations. She managed to get two
nights at the convention rate, and three at $30/night more.
···
On Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 10:01 AM, Rick DeNatale <rick.denatale@gmail.com>wrote:
On Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 12:43 AM, James Britt <james.britt@gmail.com> > wrote:
> Craig Demyanovich wrote:
>
>> My partners and I were only able to book a non-smoking room with 1 king
>> bed
>> or a smoking room with 2 double beds. We ended going with one of each,
>> since
>> two of us really didn't want a smoking room.
>>
>
>
>
> Seems all the rooms at the conference rate are now sold out.
>
If true, that's unfortunate, since at least one of the speakers (me) hasn't
booked a room yet!
--
Rick DeNatale
My blog on Ruby
http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/
David A. Black wrote:
If there's something wrong with the hotel system, please let us
know (contact@rubycentral.org).
I tried contacting you personally; I gather it got lost someplace. I then posted here in the hopes that some had some ideas on how to correct this before the hotel got more full for the target dates (making it harder for them to fix things even if they wanted to).
I've now sent an account my problems to the rubycentral e-mail address.
Hopefully, people who have booked the 1-bed rooms can get them changed to 2-bed rooms, making more rooms available overall. (And reducing some amount of "inappropriate touching". 
)
···
--
James Britt
www.happycamperstudios.com - Wicked Cool Coding
www.jamesbritt.com - Playing with Better Toys
www.ruby-doc.org - Ruby Help & Documentation
www.rubystuff.com - The Ruby Store for Ruby Stuff
We very much apologize if this has inconvenienced folks, our intent was to make this run smoothly, but we don't control all these hotel employees and the horrible systems that they use.
We signed for 700 room nights and an option of 150 more. We have to fill 90% of those or WE PAY (RubyCentral). This is the way hotels work for conferences of our size. (so yeah, Charles, its a few more than a dozen).
We should have plenty of rooms at last count. We have single-bed rooms and double-bed rooms for the rate of $159/night which extends from Oct 31 - Nov 13.
If the booking person you are speaking with says otherwise, they are wrong and you should ask for the head of hotel reservations or email us at contact@rubycentral.org
We will contact the hotel (again) today to ensure things are flowing properly.
Best regards,
Rich Kilmer
···
On Sep 14, 2008, at 1:05 AM, Charles Oliver Nutter wrote:
James Britt wrote:
Craig Demyanovich wrote:
My partners and I were only able to book a non-smoking room with 1 king bed
or a smoking room with 2 double beds. We ended going with one of each, since
two of us really didn't want a smoking room.
Seems all the rooms at the conference rate are now sold out.
Little wonder; people are discourage from doubling up.
Nice business.
That was quick. What were there, a dozen of them?
- Charlie
Richard Kilmer wrote:
We very much apologize if this has inconvenienced folks, our intent was to make this run smoothly, but we don't control all these hotel employees and the horrible systems that they use.
Things look much, much better now, and thanks very much for your time and trouble to make things go right.
James Britt
(Ex-hotel worker who knows just how horribly wrong things can go)
All,
I just wanted to let you know the report we received from the OMNI, Orlando hotel this morning. We have over 100 of one and two-bed rooms available in our block on the peak nights (5th, 6th, 7th) and can get more if we need them. If a reservations agent tells you otherwise they are not correct and you should let them know that Oscar Vargas, Group Reservations Coordinator, sent us a report to show that they have availability.
Note that you should be able to reserve your rooms online at the following URL:
http://www.omnihotels.com/FindAHotel/OrlandoChampionsGate/MeetingFacilities/RubyConference2008.aspx
There were issues with the web-based system last week and there were issues with the (central) OMNI reservations agents and our group code, but both of those have been resolved, again, we apologize for any inconvenience.
The hotel researched whether anyone had been charged more for their rooms (using the conference code), and the found none. If you have been told that you had to pay more please email us at contact@rubycentral.org. You should not be changed any additional fee above the $159 from Oct 31 - Nov 13.
We currently have 160 folks booked at the hotel and hope that more of you will register there before the Oct 6th cutoff date. Its going to be a great time for us at RubyConf this year and staying in this hotel will be worth it.
Best,
Rich
···
On Sep 14, 2008, at 3:12 PM, James Britt wrote:
Richard Kilmer wrote:
We very much apologize if this has inconvenienced folks, our intent was to make this run smoothly, but we don't control all these hotel employees and the horrible systems that they use.
Things look much, much better now, and thanks very much for your time and trouble to make things go right.
James Britt
(Ex-hotel worker who knows just how horribly wrong things can go)