<div dir="ltr"><div>Arvin,<br></div><div><br>What's insane is what heart-of-the-strip Vegas hotels charge for use of their convention space. <br><br></div>Just because you can go on Kayak and buy a single leftover-inventory room in Vegas for $59 does not mean you can waltz into a prime location and lock down 400 rooms plus use of their convention space at that rate. Especially over a weekend, which is peak rates for Vegas...<br><div><br>I got 2012 bids from some strip hotels (no reference to James Weeks, II intended). Our delegates would have to pay $50-$70 more per night for guest rooms to get use of the convention space, and the hotels demanded minimum F&B (food and beverage) that was 2-5 times higher than our typical spending. The only affordable bids we got were off-strip.<br><br></div><div>We would face the same situation in many destination cities. We might be able to swing something on the outskirts, but our delegates are generally unwilling to pay for premium locations.<br><br></div><div>-Alicia<br><br></div><div><br><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jun 2, 2016 at 10:32 AM, Arvin Vohra <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:votevohra@gmail.com" target="_blank">votevohra@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><p dir="ltr">Please note that Las Vegas was done off the strip, which was insane. -Arvin</p><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5">
<div class="gmail_quote">On Jun 2, 2016 1:28 AM, "Alicia Mattson" <<a href="mailto:agmattson@gmail.com" target="_blank">agmattson@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>Las Vegas is one of those top-10 destination cities. We were in Las Vegas in 2012 but did not have the turnout we had in Orlando. <br><br>Atlanta is not one of those top-10 destination cities, but in 2004 we had over 800 delegates there. <br><br>What really drove convention turnout this year was Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, not the fact that it was Orlando.<br><br></div><div>Some of those top-10 cities are VERY, VERY expensive for conventions (New York, San Francisco). If we didn't have Trump/Clinton to drive our convention attendance, and we chose a very expensive destination city, we'd lose our shirts on the convention finances.<br></div><div><br></div>-Alicia<br><br><br><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 9:31 PM, Arvin Vohra <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:votevohra@gmail.com" target="_blank">votevohra@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Hi all,<div><br></div><div>This year's convention was an amazing success. One of the many reasons: the location. We picked a destination city, so people brought their spouses and kids. Many people bough gold packages, even when they weren't delegates, and routinely bought packages for their families as well.</div><div><br></div><div>I believe that all future conventions should be in destination cities. I know that the common wisdom is that presidential conventions should be in non-destination cities, because people will go to the convention anyway. The argument is: don't waste good cities on presidential years.</div><div><br></div><div>This argument is flawed. While delegates will go anywhere, they won't bring their families to non-destination cities. </div><div><br></div><div>Here are some cities we should consider: <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Destinations-cTop-g191" target="_blank">https://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Destinations-cTop-g191</a></div><div><br></div><div>And we should stick to the top 10.</div><div><br></div><div>Even if we repeat cities constantly, that's fine. Most people would be fine going to Las Vegas or New Orleans every four years, or even every two years. </div><div><br></div><div>I await your feedback, and I intend to make a motion on this in advance of the July meeting.</div><span><font color="#888888"><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div><br></div>-- <br><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Arvin Vohra<br><br><a href="http://www.VoteVohra.com" target="_blank">www.VoteVohra.com</a><br><a href="mailto:VoteVohra@gmail.com" target="_blank">VoteVohra@gmail.com</a><br><a href="tel:%28301%29%20320-3634" value="+13013203634" target="_blank">(301) 320-3634</a></div>
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