The IEDTA’s 2019 conference will take place at the Hyatt Regency Boston, One Lafayette Place, from Thursday 26 September to Saturday 28 September 2019.
This important announcement is for anyone who wants to stay at the conference hotel but has not yet reserved their room, or who has reserved a room but has not been able to reserve all the nights they want.
The hotel is willing to offer a limited number of rooms at substantially discounted rates:
- $279/night for the nights of Weds 25 to Sun 30 September (currently listed at around $529 for the conference nights)
- $379/night for the nights of Mon 23 and Tues 24 September (currently listed at around $679)
There is more explanation of the situation below, but if you would like to reserve a room at these rates, you need to act now.
Bottom line: request your reservation by filling out this form.
Deadline: Friday, 5 April
Some important points:
- After the deadline above, we expect that these rates will be difficult to get or completely unavailable, and we will not be able to help you get them.
- The discounted rates are available on a first-come, first-served basis. We hope that everyone who responds by April 5 will be able to get a room at these rates, but it is unfortunately possible that even some people meeting the deadline will be offered a higher (but still discounted) rate.
- In order to make sure that IEDTA does not lose money on these rooms, we may ask you to put down a 30% deposit to hold your reservation. On the form, one question asks whether you would be willing to pay such a deposit.
- Filling out the form does not guarantee a reservation, and it is not a binding commitment to pay a deposit. Once we have the results, we will contact you about completing the reservation process.
- Once we have received all of the forms, we will work with the hotel on making rooms available. We will contact you with further instructions on how to complete your reservations after that. If you have submitted a form by the 5 April deadline, we hope to get back to you by 22 April.
Please contact ce@williamjames.edu with any questions or problems.
Longer explanation: first, while the conference rate of $279 is significantly lower than the current booking rate of $579 for these rooms, we understand that even this discounted rate is expensive, and staying at the hotel will be out of reach for many who attend the conference. This is the unfortunate reality of hotels that are able to accommodate a conference like ours in a desirable location like Boston. (It is also worth noting that a last-minute room for tonight [26 March] is listed at $309, and March is a much less popular time to visit Boston than September.)
However, we encourage people who can afford to stay at the hotel to do so. We think it will improve your experience of the conference, and it will help to make the conference be profitable for IEDTA, rather than a money-loser.
As is standard, the contract with our hotel sets aside a specific number of rooms fo nights during and near the conference, at a special conference rate. If the hotel receives less than 80% of the total price of those rooms, the IEDTA is liable for the difference. In order to keep from losing money on the conference, we made these numbers as low as possible.
However, the result was that some people who wanted rooms were not abler to get them. We have worked hard to find a way to accommodate the wishes of our conference attenders. We are willing to increase the number of rooms, but need to make sure that the rooms we contract for are likely to be occupied. Forfeited deposits will be used to cover losses due to cancelations.
We understand that this is not the perfect solution, but it is the best we are able to do under the circumstances, and your patience and understanding are appreciated.