Unfortunately for this year the normal hotel room blocks that we do are not going to be possible, at least not at this exact moment. There are a few factors leading into this which we’ll discuss, as well as laying out some options.
- A couple of the hotels we have used in the past are no longer accepting pets. We don’t know if this was a policy change that happened at the national level or not, but regardless they aren’t going to be changing their minds on the matter
- A LOT of rooms are already booked. This seems most likely to be from competitors booking their rooms before a group block was set up, since the reserved rooms coincide directly with our event. We’ve warned against people doing this for a long time, and now it’s really coming to bite us. Had people waited, we could have negotiated better rates, no pet fees, etc. But with the rooms currently booked, the hotels have no desire to work with us, or just physically can’t because the rooms aren’t available.
We know this is disappointing for a lot of people, but sadly our hands are tied on the matter, as we’ve been in contact with the hotels for a couple weeks now and have made very little headway. There is still one hotel that we ‘might’ be able to get a block of rooms for, but we aren’t holding our breath. Most of the hotels either aren’t communicating with us, or have simply said no.
We’re going to lay out a few different options below for folks to make travel arrangements:
- Hotels.com This is going to be your best option if you want to stay in a hotel. We’ve made a link that will get you a search with the closest hotels to the site, and the stay is currently set for Monday to Monday. You can adjust as needed, pet friendly has also been marked. please also note that the Baymont shows in this search, but they only accept ADA dogs. Hotels.com preset search
- AIRBNB does not appear to be a great option at this point, as their selection is limited and the prices a bit steep, but we’ve done the same preset search to make it easy, again adjust as needed: AIRBNB Preset Search
- VRBO is much like AIRBNB, the options do not appear great: VRBO Preset Search
- RVShare.com: This is another decent option, with some perks. If you rent an RV you’ll probably be spending about the same as you would for a Hotel. But with the benefit of being on site, which means you may not need a stall reservation, you also won’t have to drive back and forth. There are quite a few RV’s for rent in the area, we’ve set the search up for the same Monday to Monday, and selected pet friendly, and rentals that do delivery. Jimmy is able to coordinate the delivery location as well, so if you aren’t on site we can make sure you get parked where you want to be: RV Share Preset Search
- On site tent camping: This is going to be your cheapest option, with some perks as well. Much like the RVShare option you’ll be on site, so there won’t be a need for travel back and forth, and a stall may not be required either. All of the camping spots have power, so you would be able to plug in a heater or fan, although the temperatures are usually pretty mild when we are there. There are bathrooms and showers on site as well that are left open through the night. Camping is $30 a night, and you can go anywhere you like. Camping reservations can be made here: Camping Reservation