ATL-Bri

A couple:
The Embassy Suites in downtown Indianapolis during the summer was convention after convention. The fireman and policeman olympics found every happy hour packed. Many nights the beer ran dry. This was followed by a religious convention where you could not get a table at breakfast, but happy hour was barren.

NCAA Women's Bowling Finals at a Hilton (I believe) in Houston: This resulted in the only night at a hotel that I have ever called security as two drunk men argued wax patterns ("No dragon pattern is the worst." "No, phoenix pattern is more difficult.") outside the elevators next to my room at 2AM. I never knew that bowling had wax patterns until this night.

Dominatrix convention at a Hilton in Atlanta (the one north of town shaped like a castle, which was oddly appropriate): I met a visiting friend and had drinks at the bar while we watched scantily dressed men and women (many of whom should have known better than to squeeze their bodies into such attire) walk by hand in hand or on by led by on leashes.

lighthand

Every kind of protest (education, cost of living, international, etc.) basically soup to nuts, in Rio during the World Cup.

Plus the ARMY outside the hotel I was staying at, I lost count at 50+.

jumpdogjump

In Denver '98 there was a state meeting of the Catholic Diocese at the same time as a meeting of cross-dressers. Both groups showed a surprising amount of civility toward each other. And no, I wasn't with either group.

ThePointsCollector

Christian Rodeo and Porn conventions at Hard Rock, Las Vegas.

Efrem

Is that a professional term for a wedding dress designed to fit the groom?

DFW DL

The Texas All-State Spanking Party is held annually at a hotel in North Dallas. Very nice and gracious crowd, and quieter than you would think. One of the events was a naughty schoolgirl party and I think there was also a trade show with vendors.

Having endured a child beauty pageant, I'll choose a weekend with the spankos any time.

Seat 2A

Back in the early 1980s (July of 1982 if I recall) a few of us splurged and scored us a room at the Holiday Inn in Ventura, California. We were there for the Grateful Dead's two day gig at the Ventura County Fairgrounds and believe me, having a hotel room was a welcome treat after having spent the previous week and a half backpacking through Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

Keep in mind that under normal circumstances, the Ventura Holiday Inn was a fairly Tory place, where well heeled folks from the hot and smoggy Los Angeles basin would come up for a pleasant weekend escape. Not this weekend...

Now here's the rub - see, we weren't the only heads staying at the Holiday Inn. I'd guestimate there were at least a couple hundred other colorfully clad, bushy haired happy wide eyed (or was it red eyed?) guests (plus their friends, acquaintances, sidekicks, mascots, etc) wandering through the hotel both before and after the shows (which back then were played at a civilized hour - 2:30pm start time). Many of these "new" weekend guests were high, some of them really HIGH. I mean, people were piling into the hotel elevators with no idea what floor they were on much less if they were even in the right hotel, so every button was pushed in the hope that maybe something might be recognized. Uh huh... The dining room was anything but its usual reserved and refined atmosphere and I do recall a dog or two wandering through the lobby as well. It was just crazy! But generally good crazy.

I am suddenly reminded of an older friend of mine's summation of it all after I'd purchased him and his wife tickets to a Eugene, Oregon show for their 20th wedding anniversary:

"The strangest collection of white people I have ever seen!"

Certainly, this had to rank amongst the strangest assemblage of guests that the Holiday Inn Ventura had ever hosted.

From my experience, staying at a hotel for a Dead concert - much less any concert - is like being upgraded to First Class on Singapore Airlines. We had a fantastic time that weekend! The weather was great and the band churned out some great sets that definitely lived up to the old saying "There is nothing like a Grateful Dead concert!". I might add that those of us in my party were pretty well behaved. We were high but not too high and respectful of our fellow guests regardless of their stripe. That said, I should imagine that any of the Holiday Inn's more traditional guests who stayed that weekend (assuming they didn't quickly check out first!) would have an entirely different take on their experience.

Karen2

Around 1975, friends asked us to meet them at a hotel near LAX as they were staying over en route to somewhere from their home in NYC. When we arrived, we learned that the hotel was also hosting a swingers' convention. It was really astonishing for my husband and me, in our early 30s to see that these people were mostly in their 50's. By the time we left from visiting with our friends, the swingers were running naked between rooms down halls where people not in the lifestyle were also trying to sleep.

Near ORD, we were spending the night at a Hampton Inn with our grandson on his grandchild trip. Apparently we were among the very few in the hotel that were not part of a pre-wedding party. Our grandson dropped off into sleep but I could not handle the banging on our wall and loud music. I went out in the hall and found several young men in their underwear running up and down. Finally, I called the desk as there was not going to be much sleep for me. An amazing young female clerk rounded up all the partiers into the lobby and forbid them from going to their rooms until each one promised to go to sleep. Kudos to her!

chuichi

I was only in Tokyo once but we saw a sumo wrestler on the Metro!

stimpy

Well if Sumo qualifies, I once stayed at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne, back when it was the best hotel in town, and on my floor (thanks to Diamond status) was the Japanese Royal Family along with a bunch of the top Sumo wrestlers on a tour. This was long ago, but I do recall that the Sumo guys had to take the freight elevator.

s0ssos

Yea, I think by now the "regular"elevators should have been built to fit them well (as well as to accomodate the average American. Or, over-age, that is).

exilencfc

I saw a load of cardinals on the Rome metro. Turned out they were commuting to a papal mass.

westmassexpat

I was a bellboy at a new convention hotel in Austin during college and have a few memorable groups.

The best was in 2005 when most of the hotel was filled with a statewide teachers' conference, but there were several hundred marines about to deploy to Afghanistan also arriving the same day. The troops' commanding officer bragged about his boys getting action within the first hour of checking in, and the teachers (almost exclusively women) were quite wild themselves.

t325

Either you're missing some commas, or today I learned that Christian Rodeo and Porn conventions are a real thing

beachmouse

Rule 34.