Sux2BinSUX

I just got back from attending a conference in San Francisco. Before the conference I was given information for 5-10% off UA or AA using a specific code for a given date range as well as a group discount rate at the Westin St. Francis in Union Square. So I got to thinking . . .

Maybe FT could start a new topic where when a FT member came across such information for group discounts, it could be posted so other members could easily use this information to their benefit. Near as I could tell, one never actually had to prove that he/she was a participant in the conference to use these discounts.

Any comments? Think this could actually happen?

Athena53

That's not really fair to the group unless they're likely to fall short of their guaranteed number of rooms. (In that case you'd be doing them a favor.) The professional society to which I belong tends to sell out their rooms, particularly when the meeting is held at a place like the Broadmoor or the Boca Raton Resort, where there are few reasonable alternatives around. I'd hate to see those rooms taken up by people not in the group.

On the other hand, we negotiate our rates years ahead of time and I've found that many times the "special" group rate is not that impressive. We had a meeting last May at the Marriott on Marco Island and I stayed at the nearby Hilton, which cost about $40 a night less and was just as nice. Many of my colleagues did, too. I wouldn't be surprised if there were rooms left over at the Marriott.

A client who wanted to meet with me and with a prospective customer in the Minneapolis area once tried to get into a hotel where I was attending a meeting there. They told him there were no rooms. He called back and said he was with our group. He got a room. No proof needed.

akhullar

This is dependent on where and what Conf ? Some of our conferences are under some are over the anticipated attendees. Also one Conf. I attend you cannot book a hotel at conf rate unless you are registered.

RichardInSF

The airline discount is more useful than the hotel discount. Many hotels actually charge MORE for "conference rates," which can go towards subsidizing meeting room costs, etc.
Seems to be no objection to posting the airline discount codes, right?

Sux2BinSUX

I know I would be more interested in using the airline discounts!

Athena53

The airline discounts are a good idea.

RichardinSF got it right.

Shortly after travel sites started proliferating on the Web, I had to go to a group meeting in Panama City, FL. Since i'm just as tight with my employer's money as I am with my own, I was happy to find a rate $15/night less than the group rate, and booked it.

When I checked out, they had applied the group rate because they had a list of people who were attending the meeting (only a dozen of us, so easy to track). I was annoyed but it was only a 2-night stay so I didn't waste my energy fighting them.

But that was the price for the "free" meeting rooms.

raffy

Re: the airline discount. As my employer is a meeting planner, my experience is that the code is generally linked to the location of the meeting, so if you're wanting to fly to JFK and the meeting is in San Francisco, the reservationist will question the routing and not provide the discount. I work on about 20 or so events per year and each event has its own unique code, which is provided by the airline.

rustyr

Try corbinball.com, click on "International meeting industry events calender added" on the right-hand side. That will show a calender with dates,but no locations. Just one I hit eventually showed up a code to use w/United. In general they (discount) range from 5-10% off unrestricted to usually 5%off advprchse. Also I've had luck going to the particular cities convention and visitor's bureau web site.

rustyr

[quote]<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by rustyr:
[b] Try corbinball.com, click on "International meeting industry events calender added" on the right-hand side. That will show a calender with dates,but no locations. Just one I hit eventually showed up a code to use w/United. In general they (discount) range from 5-10% off unrestricted to usually 5%off advprchse. Also I've had luck going to the particular cities convention and visitor's bureau web site;also try vnuexpo.com,, then click on calender, that'll get you to date and location, again with 3-4 clicks, they listed codes for 1/2 dzn a/lines, this particular venue in LAS.

pinniped

Most airline/hotel boards here actually do have threads like this.

- Somebody starts by posting a "secret" (e.g., corporate, restricted, membership, convention, etc.) discount code.
- A few other people add their codes.
- Somebody responds that none of the codes work.
- Somebody responds that Voila! One of them actually does...
- Then we get a few posts about whether or not it's ethical to "borrow" the codes.
- Then we have a discussion about how airlines/hotels/car company pricing structures are evil to begin with.
- Someone posts "It's okay if you make a donation to cancer research." (One of the most useful 10%-off AA codes a long time ago was for breast cancer donors, and this remains a good conscience-easing idea to this day.)
- Finally, someone summarizes all discount codes in the thread to date into one post.
- ...And I copy that post and send it to my printer.

In short, what you suggest is already being done on a lot of boards, including both UA and AA. The others here have already pointed out that it's not the single-convention codes that are most valuable.