Directors,
I have been receiving many phone calls and emails regarding members not being able to register.
Some members have actually notified me that they were told the room block is closed.
First and foremost the room block is not closed. The problems some of you may have encountered is not entirely the fault of the hotel reservation staff and I will explain that.
Based on years of experience with our group, room nights are allocated based on our record of previous usage. So on the actual conference dates of Friday to Wednesday more room nights are available for those peak pick up nights. Less rooms are allocated on room nights before and after the actual conference dates.
The sense I am getting and what I am seeing with the members that have already registered is this year members and providers are wanting more nights than what has been allocated. While I was initially worried that due to COVID 19 we might not make the room block now I am more concerned that we may exceed our room block allocation. Now while it appears things may be getting better, everyone is looking forward to getting away and having a successful conference and at the same time returning to some form of normalcy. I too am looking forward to that but the overwhelming response (higher than previous years) to registering has caused some problems.
The many members who have contacted me with various registration issues have already seen their problems taken care of. I am doing the best I can to correct the problems that I am made aware of. However there may come a time when there are just no more rooms to be had.
Some members were not able to book room nights on days before and after the conference dates. I have corrected that by adding on more room nights. Some of you were charged a higher rate for those rooms and I have adjusted those charges as well. It is only due to the relationship I have fostered over many years with the Caribe that I was able to add on more room nights at our block rate of 194.00. Some of you saw you were charged 335.00 per night for the additional room nights you requested.
I strongly suggest if you have not booked your room and you are planning on attending do so as soon as possible. Use the link rather than the phone numbers. I have the registration staff at the hotel monitoring our room pick up and I am working with them to add on more rooms at our rate. Please note that there are some issues that I am not going to be able to correct. The extremely low room rate does not guarantee any particular room type. These group contracts are based on run of the house which means they assign you based on what is available.. While I will continue to try and work out all the issues with rooms and everything else associated with organizing this conference please know that the room type is up to the hotel and not to me.
Next week is the last week of the legislative session. I plan on being heavily involved in what is going on in the final days of the session. Many of us have witnessed first hand what could and has happened in the middle of the night regarding legislation. This year it is a bigger problem because we are not allowed to be physically present in the LOB.
I am still very concerned about the Single Payer legislation and will not rest until we see it has not passed. On behalf of NYSPEC I have done everything possible to defeat this ill advised legislation.
I am looking forward to seeing many of you and having a successful conference. For those that have asked our treasurer Joe Mannion or myself about the Golf we are working to finalize that as well. Shortly you will receive a flyer regarding the Golf event.
In Unity,
Stay Safe
Peter D. Meringolo
Chairman
