For those attending and finding the Sonesta just too expensive (even with the terrific rate the CMAA negotiated - Thanks Janet!) I just found a $97 hotel on Priceline - it's one of their "express deals" where you only know the class and general location of the hotel until after you book, but we decided to risk it. It turned out to be this place. It looks fine, and it's two blocks from the Sonesta but the rooms are pretty tiny. Anyway, an alternative for the impecu-- well, for the less pecunious. (Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
If even $100 a night may be out of your price range, I found an excellently reviewed AirBNB a short trip away by public transit. $250 for the whole week. Not sure what may still be open now, but it may be worth a look!
Thanks, on the other hand, to those staying at the conference hotel, since reservations made there with our conference code do help CMAA meet its financial commitment to them.
This is one of the tricky aspects of planning the Colloquium... finding that balance between pricing that will be acceptable to our participants and a hotel that has meeting space that we have to have for banquets, etc., which many lower cost hotels do not have. Unfortunately, we have to sign a binding contract with a hotel for them to allow this. And... that contact includes a guarantee of a certain number of room nights our participants will use. So... if we don't fill those rooms with our participants, the CMAA has to pay the contracted amount anyway... in short: Please stay at the conference hotel if you can!
I concur, G! I was not aware of the agreement between the CMAA and the hotel and would hate to incur any extra expense on their part. Thanks for being transparent about this!
Apparently in Philadelphia there is a 15% tax on services like hotels, so if you can get your church to foot the bill (at least initially) there will be about $100 in savings. I think the parking ($49/night) includes taxes, so you can get that a little cheaper, too.
With all due respect, as my church only foots a small part of the bill (which was largely consumed by a $600 registration fee), there was no way I could afford a hotel at $130 a night plus parking fees. I was able to find another room for less than people will pay to park (a bit unusual I admit). I couldn't have afforded it any other way.
I’m astonished that Janet was able to secure rooms in a good downtown Philadelphia hotel for only $130 a night. Standard rates for conveniently located hotels in any major east coast city generally run well above that. Boston’s Four Seasons Hotel, for example, charges from $690 to $4,500 (the so-called Garden Suite) a night and gets away with it.
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