Mendal@SU-SIERRA.ARPA (Geoff Mendal) (05/19/86)
I just tried to get the "SIGAda" hotel rate for the upcoming Pitts conference. If you call the hotel directly, they will gladly book your reservation, but will *NOT* give you the SIGAda convention rate. Instead, the hotel will give you another number to call (412-255-8747). Once you call this number, they will tell you to call back on the 800 number (800-245-1099). After calling this 800 number, the travel agency (Mon Valley Travel) will take all your information, but *YOU* must mention that you want the SIGAda rate, or else you'll get shafted. Beware... gom -------
Brosgol@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA (05/20/86)
Geoff- Sorry about the problems you encountered in trying to make hotel reservations, but thanks for your unintentional help in debugging the system. You have discovered the dangers of trying to do things too much in advance (i.e., before receiving the registration package in the mail). The problem is due to our attempt to streamline the registration process by having people go through a central source (Mon Valley Travel): this would be useful both to the registrant (by making him/her aware of special air fares) and to the local arrangements folks (by facilitating the tracking of registrations). Alas, some preliminary announcements for the meeting seemed to suggest that instead of doing this, people should contact the hotel directly. That's why you ended up being routed through half the phones in Western Pennsylvania: the hotel had been advised that people would be registering through Mon Valley Travel, but the existing information on the conference seemed to imply otherwise. Our intrepid local arrangements coordinator, Suzanne Broughton, is working to get things fixed so that people can register either through Mon Valley Travel (this is the preferred technique) or through the hotel, and get the special SIGAda room rates in both cases. If I hear of any late breaking developments, I'll let you know. -Ben