Why do convention hotels discount genre convention attendees? I have attended dozens of conventions across the country and in Canada, and have found a similar problem at most of the hotels I have stayed in. As someone who has worked as a travel writer, there are certain aspects of how convention hotels discount their guests which the average person might not ever notice. Even though you might not have noticed these issues, it does not mean they should not be changed.
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The Restaurants
First off, restaurants inside convention hotels will often try to change their menus to “accommodate” conventiongoers. Sometimes this is a good thing as with the time that I covered a convention made up of mostly rabbis who wished to discuss the future of the Jewish faith. The hotel restaurants made sure the food being prepared was kosher. This was an understandable change.
On the flip, we have the Hyatt Regency McCromick Place, where we stayed this year during the Diamond Retailer’s Summit and C2E2. This is a 4-Star restaurant which is known for having delicacies and food which is high above what might be found at other hotels in the city. Why in the hell would they have a buffet made up of cheese nachos, chicken fingers, and pizza? For $13 (the cost of the buffet), I would have rather eaten pizza at one of the pizza joints the city is known for. Why would I want to get cheese nachos at a top-of-the-line hotel restaurant?
While attending the Up in the Aether steampunk convention, I had dinner at the Doubletree Hotel Dearborn/Detroit restaurant. I was told that the chicken in my chicken Caesar salad was prepared fresh. My Grandma was a chef and I can tell the difference between fresh and heated meat. I overheard one of the waitresses say “We can tell them whatever we want. These geeks won’t know the difference.”
The Pool and the Staff
Have you ever noticed that hotels do not have lifeguards on duty at the pool during conventions? You might not know this, but many four and five star hotels pay lifeguards but lay them off or reassign them during weeks of conventions. This is a way they cut their costs to make more money from the conventions. The same goes for many of the other types of members of the staff from room service to front desk moderation. A key area you might notice this is the empty valet parking or coat check rooms during a convention. Now, this is not the case with all upper tier convention hotels, but many of them.
Comped Rooms
I have found it more difficult to receive a comped room due to some type of issue during a convention than during any other time of the year. I went to a horror convention a few years ago and overheard a girl complaining about how there was mold in her shower. She stated that she did not notice it until the morning after she had spent all night in the room. The person at the front desk first told her that he would send someone up to clean her room. I stepped in an pointed out how simply cleaning the room might not remove the mold particles from the air.
The gentleman suggested moving her to another room. I whispered to the guest that she should be comped for the inconvenience and the possible health risk she faced. She spoke up and the person at the desk said he was not authorized to give her a free night and that there was not someone on staff who could authorize that. I stepped up and gave the person behind the desk my card which gave my press and travel writing credentials. Amazingly, the clerk remembered that he was authorized to give her a free stay at the hotel that weekend.
The next time that you stay at any of the convention hotels in the country, remember that you should be allowed the same privileges and should be treated with the same amount of respect as any other guest staying the hotel during the year. Convention hotels need to realize they need to keep us as satisfied as their regular guests. If not, we will not be back in the future.
