Question:
Couldn't we find a small college
with air, rail, bus, and taxi service
available to attendees?
Answer:
I see your point (below). Whether
a university or college is selected
might be determined by their business
focus. For example, Duquesne
University in Pittsburgh PA USA
is very business oriented-to the
point they invented Saturday College
geared toward businesspeople. They
have computer rooms, dorms, transportation,
and auditoriums. They also
interact with the local business
community. If we can find
a business-oriented school of some
sort in a central location we could
definitely keep costs down [over
a hotel setting].
UNLV (University
of Nevada, Las Vegas) is close to
the strip and has <10,000 hotel/motel
rooms and the airport all within
a five-mile radius. The prices range
from less than $20/night at a "No-Tell
Motel" to something on the
order of $7K/night in the Presidential
Suite at the Four Seasons Hotel.
If, as Andrew originally proposed,
the event is held at a "trashy"
hotel, Fitzgerald's on Freemont
would fill the bill. Another organization
that I am active in has meetings
there and the facilities
are perfectly adequate for our needs
and the price is low -- free in
our case because their facilities
director is a member of our organization.
There would be no problem with a
summer-time booking and the room
rates at Fitzgerald's and the neighboring
hotels are well below $100 per night
and you can step out of the hotel
into the heart of the Freemont Street
Experience -- a grand swindle of
Las Vegas' taxpayers in an attempt
to lure meetings and tourists downtown.
UNLV (University of Nevada, Las
Vegas) is close to the strip and
has <10,000 hotel/motel rooms
and the airport all within a five-mile
radius. The prices range from less
than $20/night at a "No-Tell
Motel" to something on the
order of $7K/night in the Presidential
Suite at the Four Seasons Hotel.
If, as Andrew originally proposed,
the event is held at a "trashy"
hotel, Fitzgerald's on Freemont
would fill the bill. Another organization
that I am active in has meetings
there and the facilities
are perfectly adequate for our needs
and the price is low -- free in
our case because their facilities
director is a member of our organization.
There would be no problem with a
summer-time booking and the room
rates at Fitzgerald's and the neighboring
hotels are well below $100 per night
and you can step out of the hotel
into the heart of the Freemont Street
Experience -- a grand swindle of
Las Vegas' taxpayers in an attempt
to lure meetings and tourists downtown.
A college or university would probably
be an excellent site. As for Karen's
well-reasoned benefits and drawbacks
list, the one about housing can
probably be discounted, depending
on the campus.
John Gilger's note about the University
of Nevada, Las Vegas, is on the
money: many urban universities would
suit for this purpose. Another example
would be Vanderbilt University,
located near downtown Nashville
(another big spot for conferences,
actually). Many universities near
an urban area often have several
kinds of lodging available very
close to campus, besides the dorm
rooms on campus.
I attended Vanderbilt University,
and one summer had the very interesting
job of preparing and clearing campus
dorm rooms for the many groups who
used the campus facilities
throughout the period of May through
August. (Some of those adults trashed
rooms faster than college students
did, let me tell you! It was a summer
to remember--changing sheets, cleaning
rooms--but I'm digressing.)
At any rate, here's the web site
for Vanderbilt's conference coordination
office: . As you'll note under accommodations,
there are many different housing
arrangements available, some with
their own baths, I believe. I'm
sure many universities and colleges
offer these services and provide
information on their web sites.
Good luck to the planners for this
event, if it takes place. It will
be hard to please everyone, but
it could be a great experience.
