Those of you registered for the National Stationery Show have been receiving periodic emails advertising lower hotel rates. After receiving yet another, a friend emailed to say “I gather the advance bookings are down.” An obvious assumption…
…but not an accurate one.
While in New York for NYIGF in January, I had an opportunity to visit with Nancy Collins from TravelPlanners-—the official travel service of both the gift shows and NSS. When asked about whether or not we’d be seeing some of the lower rates in May that we saw just before the winter show, she assured me that they were in negotiations, but that the hotels didn’t want to play ball (my words) that far in advance of the event.
Needless to say, we both understood how crazy that was, pretty sure there wasn’t going to be a miraculous turn in the economy during the following fours months to justify the absurdly high prices a few hotels were posting for the show.
Well, here we are, seven weeks out, and whadaya know? The hotels realized there wasn’t a miraculous turn in the economy during the past couple of months.
Duh.
So no, this isn’t a reflection of show participation; it’s the result of a long, frustrating negotiation attended to on our behalf.
Thanks to Nancy, Patti Stracher, and everyone else who has been chipping away at this since last winter. I, for one, am happy to see my hotel’s came down a bit too.
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Just curious – did the rate drop for those who already had made reservations?
Editor’s note: Yes, current reservations will automatically be adjusted down, as was the case in January for the gift show.
Cinda you are so right – the rate drop has NOTHING to do with attendance. Not only have NYC hotel rates dropped as compared to last year, but the hotels are willing to negotiate as the show gets closer AND not everyone who attended books through Travel Planners – so you can’t say X number of people are attending because that’s exactly how many people booked though TPs.
The rates via TravelPlanners for NYIGF were good, but I got a better rate at my hotel by booking with another travel website; and I sure I wasn’t the only who didn’t book with TP and went to the show so you can’t judge attendance that way. (BTW, this is NOT a slam toward TravelPlanners, they do a terrific job).