BFest 2013: Denver Colorado Planning and Suggestion Thread

[3X00-Modified]

Chicago was a Country Inn, Queen and King rooms were $65 a night with the group discount. We also got a banquet room for free since we had over 20 rooms reserved. We used it for sign in and some late night activities... most were out under the Cack Shack... next to the dumpster... lol

And here is Indy's details as well

On the candlewood hotel, there are three prices for a group as big as ours, a queen suite with one queen bed is 79, two queen beds is 89 and the suite with an extra room, and a pull out king size bed is 99. All suites have kitchens, flat screen tv's, with a dvd player.

[Styluss]

Ugh, that may destroy the hopes I have for the hotel I am looking at...

[ronaconda]

Just out of curiosity...how much is the one you are looking at???

[Styluss]

Over $100... with no water park! The thing is, these rooms are bad ass. And huge.
But I have yet to actually talk to management and get the bottom dollar price. Which I hope to do tonight.

I knew that getting the hotel lined up for this event would be the toughest part of putting it together. And so far that has proved true.

[scd88ga]

Over $100... with no water park! The thing is, these rooms are bad ass. And huge.
But I have yet to actually talk to management and get the bottom dollar price. Which I hope to do tonight.

I knew that getting the hotel lined up for this event would be the toughest part of putting it together. And so far that has proved true.

9 out of 10 people don't care for/want a expensive hotel. It's going to cost enough just to get there and if the hotel is stupid expensive, that will be a deal breaker for many people's attendance to the entire event...

[DUBS28]

I can't say much because I have never attended a BerettaFest and don't know what the people expect, but I have attended events kinda like this and I would say $60-$80 a night or cheaper would be a good range. I have always lived by "You don't go on vacation to stay in the room, you go on vacation to stay out of the room."
I have done the 2 - 3am drinking, detailing and emergency repair nights at hotel parking lots. As long as i have a key to a room, a place to crash and a shower who cares. As long as it doesn't have bugs, we coo'. (that only happened once in Vegas and I didn't end up staying there.

[3X00-Modified]

Over $100... with no water park! The thing is, these rooms are bad ass. And huge.
But I have yet to actually talk to management and get the bottom dollar price. Which I hope to do tonight.

I knew that getting the hotel lined up for this event would be the toughest part of putting it together. And so far that has proved true.

9 out of 10 people don't care for/want a expensive hotel. It's going to cost enough just to get there and if the hotel is stupid expensive, that will be a deal breaker for many people's attendance to the entire event...

There is also a bit more to it than just the hotel costs that push people away, and as Ryan argues almost every year I'm sure many will say this is too far away to drive, which is a bit sad since he comes all the way out to us. Ryan I'm really pushing to go this year and Amy is on board and actually suggested skipping the wedding... LOL

Also dubs, the one thing that does become a bit of an issue is you can't get just any ole hotel since there are some that are concerned about where they leave there car overnight so location is a bit of a big deal which will greatly affect costs as well.

Driving cross country for my honeymoon I learned quickly that $80-100 is completely reasonable and more of a normal price for many hotels. Especially if you want to be anywhere near the city the event is held in.

[Styluss]

...I learned quickly that $80-100 is completely reasonable and more of a normal price for many hotels. Especially if you want to be anywhere near the city the event is held in.

There is a lot of truth to this. However I can see that price range being too high for our group. I will continue the search for other options...

Dubs, you live here so you know that when you hit the $60 a night range not only the area surrounding the hotel but the hotel itself drops in quality quite a bit. There is a rather sharp contrast in this state between a $60 hotel room and an $80 one. My biggest concern is to not get a hotel in BFE, like it was in 2004 when you all were here last. The hotel was on 108th! Yeesh! That would add like 45 minutes of drive time to any and all of our events that are currently on the itinerary. I am aiming to get something near a major highway with a great parking lot and decent amenities. It has proved to be rather hard so far.

[lmnjlo]

I would expect around $80 a night. My biggest hope is that there is a big enough parking lot...that is in a good, low-crime area, with ample lighting and easy to get to and from. That may be asking a lot....but that is what I look for when looking at hotels for BFest. Once you figure out what hotels can accomadate those items...then I start looking at price and quality. IMO.

[3X00-Modified]

Remember, find a place that is 80-100 or even 100-120 a night regular price and start negotiating for a group... Hell have Chris call them, he got one hell of a deal in MI last year. And if the economy sucks as bad as everyone would want you to believe then they will work with you to get your business.

[Travelor]

If there is no free continental breakfast I won't be going.

DEALBREAKER

[DanteGTZ]

If I can get a GTZ put together before then, I'd really love to go - It'll all depend on when our 2nd child is born. IIRC, the timing for baby birth/Bfest is almost the same week this year so who knows... I haven't been to a Bfest since 2001! I do remember it being AWESOME tho - I had a ton of fun and meeting everyone was great!

[Rettax3]

If there is no free continental breakfast I won't be going.

DEALBREAKER

Spend $2.00 on an apple and a yogurt at the nearest grocery store, then throw some waffle-batter on your exhaust-manifold while it is still hot the night before -it will probably still be better than the free breakfasts at most hotels.

I'm really hoping to be able to make this one -I've had the GTU at ~9,000 feet MSL (above mean sea level -Denver is only 5280+/-) for most of her modified life, and with the supercharger, there isn't much performance difference from there down to sea-level itself, so a steep mountain road at altitude sounds great. I too have a wedding to attend at the end of summer though, and as I am the best man, it does take precedence over BFest. I also don't know if I can afford the trip this year, or how I'll work around other family obligations, but my spouse is in support of me going -I've wanted to attend long enough...

[DTMAce]

Remember, find a place that is 80-100 or even 100-120 a night regular price and start negotiating for a group... Hell have Chris call them, he got one hell of a deal in MI last year. And if the economy sucks as bad as everyone would want you to believe then they will work with you to get your business.

Now now, don't be dragging me into this. LOL

Just have to approach them the right way Ryan. That or that manager was sweet on me or something. *snicker

I doubt many places would give a discount as large as what we got last year. But then look at the regular prices of the place. I think we are comparing apples to oranges.

Most of the regular hotels often will set a group price 15-30 percent lower than the listed room rate, some may even do more, especially if they know its a large group coming. You can always over-estimate too. Tell them you have a potential group needing say 30 rooms. Tell them also that there won't be an exact count till registration, make sure they have the precise dates of both the event and the registration, etc. And tell them that you are checking out many hotels and wanting to find a good deal for the group. Be honest. Be polite. Be respectful, even if they are asses or bitches.

That's about all I can tell you.

[Z26_T]

So what are the plans and who is expected to be there? I will be moving to Indiana sometime in June or July so i am not 100% sure if I'll be attending or not. Though i think id like to. Even if mine is one of the uglier ones