The dates for this year's Naperville meet have been posted several times but
I haven't seem any information on the hotel. Since this will be the first
year that I will have a chance to attend, can someone give me the hotel
information or where it might be posted?

Thanks

Jack Burgess
www.yosemitevalleyrr.com

On Jun 11, 2008, at 2:03 PM, Jack Burgess wrote:

The dates for this year's Naperville meet have been posted several
times but
I haven't seem any information on the hotel. Since this will be the
first
year that I will have a chance to attend, can someone give me the
hotel
information or where it might be posted?

Holiday Inn, 1801 Naper Blvd., Naperville, IL Phone (630) 445-6314
weekdays and ask for the Sunshine Models rate. But note that the
rate hasn't been established yet, so it's probably too early to book
a room. Also, it's best to phone direct, as some of us have had
problems in the past getting the special rate by phoning the national
Holiday Inn reservation 800 number.

Richard Hendrickson

Greetings Jack,

The dates are October 30-November 1, 2008 at the Naperville, Illinois,
Holiday Inn.

Best,
Lawrence Rast

Oops, left off the hotel link. Here it is.

http://www.naperselect.com/

Best,
Lawrence Rast

Thanks...

Jack

I second Richard's comment about booking your Sunshine reservation directly with the hotel in Naperville. Over the past several years, a number of the attendees tried booking for the meet through the 800 number only to be told that there were no rooms available and that they would have to book at the higher rate.

This is an old trick with many hotel central reservations people. Unfortunately, the 800 people never talk to the hotel people and just overbook to fill up the rooms at the higher rates

This happened last year and when I spoke to Martin about it, he called the hotel and they confirmed that they had plenty of rooms at the agreed rate. Several attendees persisted with the central reservations bureau (800--) people and were finally told that there were rooms available and booked them in, but only after a prolonged badgering.

Best Regards,

Tom Olsen
7 Boundary Road, West Branch
Newark, Delaware, 19711-7479
(302) 738-4292
tmolsen@...

Tom Olsen wrote:

This is an old trick with many hotel central reservations people. Unfortunately, the 800 people never talk to the hotel people and just overbook to fill up the rooms at the higher rates.

You are right, Tom, and I even suspect it's policy, it happens so often with so many of the chains. In other words, the "800 people" have no interest in talking to individual hotels about group rates.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history

I've had this sort of thing happen to me at a couple of business confrences, which is why I only bother booking hotels through my Amex small business account. Over the past three years I've never hit a convention and paid more than the "special event rate", and usually wind up spending 5%-20% LESS for a room, even with last minute reservations.

Ray Breyer


Anthony Thompson <thompson@...> wrote:
Tom Olsen wrote:

This is an old trick with many hotel central reservations people.
Unfortunately, the 800 people never talk to the hotel people and just
overbook to fill up the rooms at the higher rates.

You are right, Tom, and I even suspect it's policy, it happens so
often with so many of the chains. In other words, the "800 people" have
no interest in talking to individual hotels about group rates.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, thompson@...
Publishers of books on railroad history


------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links

Tom Olsen writes:

"Over the past several years, a number of the attendees tried booking for the meet through the 800 number only to be told that there were no rooms available and that they would have to book at the higher rate.

This is an old trick with many hotel central reservations people. Unfortunately, the 800 people never talk to the hotel people and just overbook to fill up the rooms at the higher rates."

I can only speak for Hilton 800 operators and their relationship to the hotel. At Cocoa Beach we will book about 100 rooms for Friday and 100 for Sat with lessor numbers for other nights. When the number of rooms for a given night is exceeded, the 800 operator cannot extend the room block and, therefore, cannot give the event's room rate. Only the hotel room guru can do that and...typically [ for some reason ]...the problem occurs on the 2 weekends before the meet at which time the hotel room guru is not at work. I CAN, however, change any room rate to our meet's rate...even on the day of the meet. Hence, I always tell attendees that, if they cannot get the advertised room rate, take whatever is offered [ a single room...not a suite ] even if $1000, let me know and I'll change it to our rate. The only case in which a room will not be available is if all rooms are sold. I might note that this situation occurs every yr. You might ask...why not just take a 125 room block? The reason is that we really don't know how many rooms we'll need and the hotel cannot sell any of those rooms so they prefer to not tie up the rooms. AS the date of the meet approaches we'll ramp up the number blocked by from 10-20 rooms a couple of times.

I only know of one or two cases in which rooms were available in our block and they were not offered to an attendee. In both cases, I tested the waters myself and had no problem booking a room...almost. I believe the problem was due to the attendee using an incorrect name of the event OR the 800 operastor simply not getting the proper list of events.

Mike Brock...FWIW dept.

On Jun 11, 2008, at 2:03 PM, Jack Burgess wrote:

The dates for this year's Naperville meet have been posted several
times but
I haven't seem any information on the hotel. Since this will be the
first
year that I will have a chance to attend, can someone give me the
hotel
information or where it might be posted?

Jack, I'm pleased to learn that you'll be able to attend the
Naperville meeting this year; I think you'll find it to be both
enjoyable and instructive. Tony Thompson and I usually travel
together, booking a flight from/to Oakland (typically Southwest to
Midway, since they have cheaper fares and a better on-time record
than other airlines), share a rental car, and go a day early to take
part in Bill Darnaby's pre-Naperville operating session (at which we
know you would be most welcome). If you would like to join us in
these arrangements, we'd be happy to have you.

Richard Hendrickson

Dates and hotel information have been posted for the Naperville meet this
year but the last post I saw (June) indicated that the hotel rate hadn't
been set yet. Does anyone know if the rate has been set now?

Jack Burgess
www.yosemitevalleyrr.com

$92 according to the Naperville 2008 registration form.

Jim Hayes
Portland Oregon

Whose site has the Naperville 2008 registration again?

Does it have any updates since the first flyer?

Al Kresse

The Naperville flyer can be seen at my site www.sunshinekits.com. Click on
the Sunshine meets link. I received this flyer / registration form on July
30th. It's pretty fresh.

Jim Hayes
Portland Oregon

That's what I needed...I didn't get a Naperville flyer (but do get the
Pleasanton one). Thanks...

Jack Burgess
www.yosemitevalleyrr.com

--- In STMFC@..., "Jack Burgess" <jack@...> wrote:

<snip> Does anyone know if the rate has been set now?

Jack Burgess
www.yosemitevalleyrr.com

A recently received mailing from Sunshine listed room rate as $92.00.
Gene Green

Steve,
This is the link to the activities of the Naperville
2008 RPM meet.
-Andy Carlson
Ojai CA