Convergence Communication Attempts...
IT'S DONE!!!!
Room situation is fixed, 6/28. Party room is #501, Sleeping room is on 16th floor. Both are smoking!
Jenny sends a letter to everyone asking ANYONE to fix the room situation, 6/27
Jenny Books a smoking room from the Radisson web site. Yeah. Steph will cancel her Sofitel room, 6/26.
Sent to CON on 6/26:
Hi Party People,
So, CONvergence is almost here, and I've got a livingroom full of party supplies, but I've got some questions...
Our party, through no fault of my own, is going to be held in our standard sleeping room, (no, I'm not happy about this, but since request was to host the party in a smoking room turned out to be too difficult to accommodate) there's no way to know what my room number is until I check in. How am I supposed to prep posters? Is it common for folks to post them, and then add the room number later?
Obviously my party can't be listed in the guidebook even though I registered it, since there's no room number until I check in. How does that work? Since I have to host my party in my sleeping room, am I automatically bumped out of the listed party status? Do I no longer get CON provided goodies?
How many posters do people usually prepare to cover the hotel? Are we responsible for removing them after the party? Is it worth my while to put together some sort of sign on the (grr) non-smoking cabana room that keeps getting assigned to me even though there's no possible way for me to adequately host the party in a non-smoking room, and has been cancelled at least twice now? (Which is why I'm hosting it in my sleeping room.)
I haven't received any sort of party hosting information, other than what is on the site here, is there other info I need to know? I don't want to do something "wrong" inadvertently.
Thanks in advance,
Stephanie Mitchell
Hostess of Space Spice
Booked a room at the Sofitel for Friday night so I'd have someplace to sleep, 6/25
Sent to CON on 6/21:
Dear Ishmael,
I'm sorry to hear that you've had some other stuff come up. I know what that is like.
If it was a perfect world, I'd have two smoking rooms. One to have the party in, and a different one to sleep in, since I know what can happen to those rooms after you've opened it up to 1500 strangers! (M&Ms may not melt in your hands, but they do* melt in your sheets!)
Anyway, I know that all the second floor cabana rooms are non-smoking and that all the first floor cabanas are usually reserved for the old-faithful party people. That's cool, and that's why it's not important to me to have a cabana room. So, yes, please cancel the cabana room. I'm sure there's some other party that would be overjoyed to have it.
If there is a second smoking room in the hotel, I'd love to nab that as well. When I talked to the Radisson this week, they said that there may be a "$175 room rate" a.k.a. jacuzzi suite available in smoking. That would ROCK.
If there isn't a second smoking room in the hotel, be it a suite or a standard room, that's fine. I can either take a non-smoking room, or I can stay over at the Sofitel, and host the party in the one smoking room that is reserved for me.
My sister and I are so* excited about Space Spice. I have 1000 green test tube shot glasses in my living room waiting to be filled and at least one has your name on it! (And yes, we've got a hand stamp and ink to check IDs and make sure everything goes super smoothly!)
Thanks again for all your help. I'm sorry for the desperate sounding messages, but when you don't hear anything, you start to assume the worst! I hope that things clear up for you in time to actually ENJOY CONvergence. (And if Space Spice can do anything to help that, let us know!)
Thanks again,
-Stephanie Mitchell
From Ishmaelw on 6/20:
steph,
i am so sorry. life has intruded and i've had to put many CONvergence things on a back burner, even though aware that there are pressing issues.
okay, as i understand things, you need now only he 1 room, a smoking room. i recall an earlier conversation in which you stated you were willing to forgo the cabana. no problem.
if that is the case. then we should be all set, and i'll cancel the cabana room.
if you get this at all during the day, you can reply to my work address, iwilliam@aveda.com.
sorry again for the delay, you will not have to cancel your party - we'll make something work..
Sent to the party people via the convergence web site on 6/19:
Dear Party People,
I'm having a lot of difficulty getting a response from Ishmael regaring my room reservation for my party -- SpaceSpice!
I've received confirmation that I've got the room, but as I have told Ishmael excessively, it's gotta be a smoking room or I can't adequately man my party (and therefore host it) since my co-hosts smoke and I won't be able to watch the door, bar, etc. by myself. (Nor would it be much fun for me to do so.)
I know that parties are part of the fun of Convergence, I also know that you've had difficulty accomodating smokers in the past. I want to be able to help both things.
I talked to the Radisson today and they said that there is a $175 rate room in smoking available and that there may be standard smoking rooms available as well.
Can someone there in events help me get the (non-smoking) cabana room currently reserved cancelled and get me a smoking room for the party. I've got a considerable investment in this party so far and I would really hate to have to cancel at this late date.
Thank you in advance,
-Stephanie Mitchell
Sent to Ishmaelw via email on 6/19:
Dear Ishmael,
It had been a week since I had emailed you (the last time) and I hadn't heard anything. So once again I called the hotel.
First off, thanks for changing my sleeping room to smoking.
However, I found that the party room is still a non-smoking room. I will not have the party in a non-smoking room. As I have said in my June 5th email, (below) it is much more important to me to have a smoking room than a cabana room.
I repeat. It is more important to me to have a smoking party room than a cabana room.
I spoke with the Radisson this morning and they said that there is a $175 rate room available in smoking. There are also may be standard rooms available in smoking.
I repeat again. It is more important to me to have a smoking party room than a cabana room.
The people at the Radisson have been very nice, but they can't help me. You are the only person that can change this reservation, but for some reason you seem unwilling to do so.
By offering a smoking party room, I am willing to take on part of the responsibility of offering a fun, convention related place for people to smoke. I know that Convergence relies on parties to add to the festivity and make the convention a success. I would think that you would welcome someone willing to cater to a group of people that has been difficult for you to accommodate.
I have a significant financial and emotional investment in this party. I will be extremely disappointed if I am forced to cancel my party.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
-Stephanie Mitchell
Sent to Ishmaelw via email on 6/12 (no response received):
Hi Ishmael,
I just called the Radisson to give them my credit card number for my two hotel rooms. (One sleeping room for Friday & Saturday, near Jennifer Shannon, and one Cabana room for Friday night, for the Space Spice party.)
Much to my surprise, they told me that both of those rooms were Non-Smoking. Yikes! This can't be. I know for sure that both of my room requests were for smoking. (In fact, I think I drew big circles, arrows and stars on the party room request, a copy of the sleeping room request is below.)
Alright, so, here's the whining...
Last year we got stuck in a non-smoking room, which was the pits. My husband is a heavy smoker and I hardly saw him all convention because he was off trying to find someplace to smoke. If we get stuck in a non-smoking sleeping room, I'll be bummed.
But "bummed" is no where near the word I'd use if the party room can't be a smoking room. This isn't an option.
It's GOTTA be smoking.
When I talked to the hotel, they said that all hotel changes needed to be done through you, then I can call back and verify that I'm in smoking. Haven't gotten a ton of emails from you confirming things in the past, but I'm hoping against hope that this can be cleared up quickly.
Honestly, if the party room can't be smoking, I don't know that we want to host the party.
Could you please get in touch with me on this asap? (Yeah, yeah, I know you're busy, but if the room isn't smoking, I don't want to have the party, which means I have several hundred bucks worth of stuff that either needs to be cancelled or returned. Not a happy day.)
Stephanie Mitchell
Day: 612-288-2419
Eve: 612-378-5313
Email: steph@graphicacts.com --OR-- stephm@strothercom.com
Sent to Ishmaelw via email on 6/5 (no response received):
Hey Hotel Room Guru Deluxe,
Thanks for the note. Just a couple of questions for you....
1) You say 2nd room request, which makes me think that you must have received my first one. So I should not* be freaking out about not having received any sort of confirmation on my first room yet? Or should I?
2) Re: the party room, just wanted to reiterate the importance of having a smoking room.
3) Also Re: the party room, I wanted to confirm that y'all knew we were only planning on having the party (and therefore the room) on Friday night. If it's a problem to have a cabana room for only one night, then we're perfectly happy with having a regular room for our shindig.
4) Hoping to confirm that it's Okie-dokely to have this be an adults only party. Due to the nature of our subject (Space Spice), we'll be at a minimum 18+ (we may just do it 21+ so we only have to have one person carding our guests.)
5) Is there some sort of planning pack info we may be getting in the future from the party people? Like guidelines on how many posters it takes to cover the Radisson?
Getting psyched! Looking forward to a fab time!
RECEIVED from Ishmaelw via email on 6/5:
From: "Ishmael I. Williams" <ishmaelw@visi.com
hi,
this is from ishmael, one of the hotel room guru‚s for CONvergence. this is just a short note to let you know that we have received your additional room request for the cabana and will forward it to the hotel shortly.
please let me know if you have any questions.