Housing Block Benefits
Why should I book at an ASBMR hotel if I can find a lower rate for other properties online?
Negotiated hotel rates incorporate many benefits for you and ASBMR. The society selects properties that we have inspected to ensure the rooms are safe, comfortable, and provide good quality for the rate. We select the properties that are closest to the convention center at a variety of price points to keep the Annual Meeting activities centralized.
Based on the number of rooms in the ASBMR block, the hotel and convention center provide complimentary or reduced rates for meeting room rental, staff accommodations, and food and beverage. If ASBMR is unable to achieve its room block commitment because attendees are making reservations at other hotels or canceling/shortening their length of stay at the headquarters hotel, the hotel charges the ASBMR an attrition fee to make up for its lost sleeping room revenue. As a result ASBMR will be forced to increase registration fees to cover its expenses or cut back on services provided at the Annual Meeting such as the beverage breaks, receptions, and audio/visual.
The anticipated total number of used sleeping room nights is ASBMR’s strongest tool when negotiating future sleeping room rates and meeting space in large convention hotels. ASBMR may be forced to book its Annual Conference & Expo at less desirable locations or at higher sleeping room rates if sleeping room reservations continue to decline at the reserved hotels.
What other benefits are there to reserving a room through the ASBMR Housing Bureau?
When you factor in cab fares and travel time to an alternate hotel, you may discover the benefits are not as great as you originally planned. Further, by staying at the headquarters hotel, you gain the opportunity to better network with your peers and remain in the center of the activity surrounding the meeting. In addition, the ASBMR hotel contracts include clauses that protect our attendees in a variety of areas. For example, if the hotel is over sold and must relocate an ASBMR attendee to another hotel, the hotel must pay for transportation to an alternate hotel or equal or better quality and pay for the nights the attendee is not accommodated at the headquarters hotel.