The Journey
A newsletter for chapter advisors, chapter officers, and regional officers.

Demystifying the Convention Hotel Rate
By Rod A. Risley,
Executive Director

Many Convention attendees are taken aback at the Convention Hotel rate...why does it cost $165 for a hotel room? Allow me to help shed some light on this important subject.

1. Much More Than a Room... The hotel rate at the Gaylord Opryland Resort provides guests with much more than just a place to sleep. Some of the amenities provided for hotel guests include: USA Today delivered Monday through Friday to your door; in-room gourmet coffee; in-room brand name bottled water; no surcharges for local or credit card long-distance calls; Fitness Center privileges; Springhouse practice facility, clubs and range balls; scheduled transportation to the Opry Mills shopping mall, the legendary Grand Ole Opry and the General Jackson Showboat; and an Opry Mills discount coupon book.

2. The Law of Supply and Demand... Just as airline fares vacillate daily based upon how many seats have been sold for a particular flight, hotel rates often vary depending on projected hotel occupancy rates. A convention hotel’s rack rate (which is generally the price the public would pay for a sleeping room) can change from season to season and even from day to day.

Hotels generally charge higher rates in the peak convention seasons, which are February-June and September-November. Since most organizations do not host conventions in July, the demand for rooms and the room rate will be lower. Because March and April are peak convention months, the demand (and the room rate) is usually higher. So if you stayed in July at the same hotel that hosted a Phi Theta Kappa Convention the previous April, your room rate would likely be lower than the Convention rate.

Several years ago Headquarters surveyed chapter advisors regarding the possibility of moving the International Convention to a “non-peak” month like July, in order to significantly reduce hotel rates. The majority of advisors voted to keep the Convention in April.

Room rates for conventions are negotiated long before the event itself — often five years in advance. This is necessary because we are competing with other groups for a limited amount of hotel sleeping and meeting room space. In the entire continental U. S. only five hotels have enough sleeping rooms, meeting rooms and large assembly halls to accommodate our group.

Astonishingly, the room rate for the 2002 Convention is exactly the same as the rate negotiated for the 1998 Convention held at the Opryland Hotel. To receive the same rate at the same hotel four years later is unprecedented for Phi Theta Kappa!

3. You Are What You Eat... When calculating a specific convention room rate, hotels may consider the amount of food and beverage functions the organization will sponsor in-house. Over the years, attendees have told Headquarters that they prefer eating most meals on their own (at nearby fast-food restaurants or hotel outlets), as opposed to having more catered meals as a part of the Convention agenda, because this would increase the Convention registration fee significantly! We agree. It would cost an average of $20 per person to have the hotel cater a no-frills breakfast for every attendee at the International Convention... most Phi Theta Kappans would be in favor of eating breakfast on their own for much less, rather than raising the registration fee.

4. Other Hotel Costs Add Up... Many times attendees aren’t aware of the costs for hotel services that someone has to pay for, regardless of whether the attendees actually use these services. For instance, many Phi Theta Kappans prefer to carry their own luggage to their rooms, but the hotel must still pay a bell staff. When four people share a room, the room requires more linens and more housekeeping services than rooms shared by only two people. Also, different room uses require different set-ups. An area used for a dance one night may be needed for a breakfast early the next morning. The hotel must have staff on hand late at night to “turn” the room and prepare it for the next group.

5. Our Reputation Precedes Us... Most hotels consider the group’s overall “wear and tear” on their property. Phi Theta Kappa’s Convention has earned a good reputation among hotels, but any student group is considered by hotels to have the potential for being lively, noisy and frequently piling large numbers of students into one sleeping room.

Based on this reputation, some hotels feel they must schedule additional security and housekeeping personnel for our Convention and pass that additional cost on to us. While we attempt to convince hotels that our membership is different, the “high risk fraternity paranoia” still plagues us when negotiating room rates.

So... you see, it’s not so simple. Keeping rates as low as possible is a top priority, however, and will continue to be our chief concern in negotiating future Convention sites. See you in Nashville!

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This page last modified -- Friday, 14-Nov-2003 11:00:21 CST (cwe)