Subject: Westin Vancouver Update

From: Ray Pelletier <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:03:47 -0500

All;

Some background as regards the Westin moving people to other hotels as a 
result of renovations. We executed a contract with the Westin in 
February 2007 when an Asian initiative fell through. In the contract we 
were provided a room block of 425 rooms and the Westin signed off that 
there were no plans for renovations.

On August 30th we were informed there would be renovations to the guest 
rooms and our room block was reduced from 425 to 335. They, however, 
continued to take reservations into October, significantly overbooking 
the facility to the point where last week without informing us they 
began calling 46 people to move them to another hotel.

Following discussions with the Westin they have agreed to cut back on 
the renovations during the meeting to restore guest rooms, and the 
Secretariat staff have offered and will move to another facility. 
Because of this, those who had been notified of relocation by the hotel 
are being told that their original booking can now be honored.

However, despite these efforts, the Westin may still be short 10 or 
fewer rooms. Therefore, if there are volunteers who might be willing to 
be relocated from the Westin to the Renaissance (about 5 blocks away), 
those volunteers would be offered a complimentary room for the nights 
that they would be displaced.

While there has been some miscommunication from the hotel, there WILL be 
shuttle service provided going from the Marriott and Renaissance to the 
Westin for any and all IETF’ers who will be staying at those properties, 
regardless of whether they were relocated or not. Details are still 
being worked out, but will include travel in the morning, at lunch and 
in the evening. We will follow up with more information.

The Westin, the Secretariat and I are all working diligently to resolve 
this as quickly as possible and we will keep you posted as new 
information becomes available. If you have further questions or if you 
would consider being relocated in exchange for complimentary 
accomodations, then you are also welcome to contact Jon Lindberg 
([email-masked]) and/or Marcia Beaulieu 
([email-masked]) directly via e-mail.

Ray

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Ietf mailing list
[email-masked]
https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf

---

From: Marshall Eubanks <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:43:35 -0500

On Nov 28, 2007, at 2:03 PM, Ray Pelletier wrote:

> All;
>
> Some background as regards the Westin moving people to other hotels  
> as a result of renovations. We executed a contract with the Westin  
> in February 2007 when an Asian initiative fell through. In the  
> contract we were provided a room block of 425 rooms and the Westin  
> signed off that there were no plans for renovations.
>
> On August 30th we were informed there would be renovations to the  
> guest rooms and our room block was reduced from 425 to 335. They,  
> however, continued to take reservations into October, significantly  
> overbooking the facility to the point where last week without  
> informing us they began calling 46 people to move them to another  
> hotel.
>
> Following discussions with the Westin they have agreed to cut back  
> on the renovations during the meeting to restore guest rooms, and  
> the Secretariat staff have offered and will move to another  
> facility. Because of this, those who had been notified of  
> relocation by the hotel are being told that their original booking  
> can now be honored.
>
> fewer rooms. Therefore, if there are volunteers who might be  
> willing to be relocated from the Westin to the Renaissance (about 5  
> blocks away), those volunteers would be offered a complimentary  
> room for the nights that they would be displaced.
>

Ray, I volunteer to be moved if need be.

Regards
Marshall Eubanks

> While there has been some miscommunication from the hotel, there  
> WILL be shuttle service provided going from the Marriott and  
> Renaissance to the Westin for any and all IETF’ers who will be  
> staying at those properties, regardless of whether they were  
> relocated or not. Details are still being worked out, but will  
> include travel in the morning, at lunch and in the evening. We will  
> follow up with more information.
>
> The Westin, the Secretariat and I are all working diligently to  
> resolve this as quickly as possible and we will keep you posted as  
> new information becomes available. If you have further questions or  
> if you would consider being relocated in exchange for complimentary

---

From: Dave Crocker <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 23:20:41 -0500

> there were no plans for renovations.
...
> continued to take reservations into October, significantly overbooking 
...
> the renovations during the meeting to restore guest rooms, and the 
...
> that they would be displaced.
...
> shuttle service provided going from the Marriott and Renaissance to the 
...
> this as quickly as possible and we will keep you posted as new

Ray,

Thanks for the thorough update.  Given the difference between the original 
announcement and this one, "working diligently" seems like a bit of an 
understatement.

d/

-- 

   Dave Crocker
   Brandenburg InternetWorking
   bbiw.net

---

From: Spencer Dawkins <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:31:19 -0600

Hi, Ray,

Thank you for

(1) the work you're doing to achieve the best results possible, given that 
you were handed a hand grenade with the pin out less than a week before this 
IETF, and

(2) telling us what the situation is. Communication is a beautiful thing.

Spencer (at the Mariott, because I made my reservations late)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ray Pelletier" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 1:03 PM
Subject: Westin Vancouver Update

All;

Ray

---

From: Cullen Jennings <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:55:33 -0800

Wow. That greatly exceeded my expectations for a resolution. Thanks  
to everyone who made that happen.

---

From: Ted Hardie <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 09:24:23 -0800

At 10:55 PM -0800 11/28/07, Cullen Jennings wrote:
>Wow. That greatly exceeded my expectations for a resolution. Thanks to everyone who made that happen.

I agree, and I second the thanks.  I want to thank, in particular, the Secretariat
staff who volunteered to be relocated.  Given the current situation and the
enormous amount of work that they do to put on an IETF meeting, this is
an act of selflessness that goes beyond the professionalism and kindness we
have come to expect.  It means, basically, that they will be adding time and
removing rest opportunities from days that are  already longer and busier than even
those of the IESG or IAB.

Many thanks,
				Ted

---

From: "Yaakov Stein" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 07:39:43 +0200

I would like to add my thanks as well.

The contrast between IETF/Neustar and the Westin staff (who still can't
get my reservation right) is quite striking.

Y(J)S

-----Original Message-----
From: Ted Hardie [mailto:[email-masked]] 
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 7:24 PM
To: Ray Pelletier
Cc: [email-masked]; [email-masked]
Subject: Re: Westin Vancouver Update

>Wow. That greatly exceeded my expectations for a resolution. Thanks to
everyone who made that happen.

I agree, and I second the thanks.  I want to thank, in particular, the
Secretariat staff who volunteered to be relocated.  Given the current
situation and the enormous amount of work that they do to put on an IETF
meeting, this is an act of selflessness that goes beyond the
professionalism and kindness we have come to expect.  It means,
basically, that they will be adding time and removing rest opportunities
from days that are  already longer and busier than even those of the
IESG or IAB.

Many thanks,
				Ted