For the hotels, I honestly find one of two ways works the best.

1) after you get a rate, tell them to do better. You'll be suprised how most of the time, they will. Unless they're packed, in which case...

2) call their business service or convention desk and tell them you're considering a meeting at their hotel for that day...about 35 rooms, meeting hall catering....ask if there are any other meetings / conferences in the space at the time. tell them you'll get back to them. Then call the reservations number to try to get a reservation as a member of the group that's there.

Usually, they release the rooms they're holding at a later date, so this is just a sneaky way of not having to wait.


[This message has been edited by NJDavid (edited 04-08-99).]