Behold, I bring you the responses to the RFP I asked the Las Vegas Convention Center & Visitors Authority to send out for us, excluding the Plaza, whose prices and space will be pretty much what they were this year. All the room rates are Friday/Saturday/Sunday and include resort fees; I have included links to each hotel’s website so you can get a look at the rooms and the in-house dining options. You can also look around at the nearby eateries and points of interest if you’re so inclined.
Golden Nugget: $144/144/88
The Bel Air conference room is 2250 sf and they want $6600 for it.
The GN is in downtown Vegas about a block from the Plaza.
Sam’s Town: $143/143/80
Their general session meeting room is 2822 sf for $2700, and they offered us another 3314 sf space for $4800.
Sam’s Town is out on Boulder Highway.
Palace Station: $155/160/80
Their function space is roughly equivalent in size to Sam’s Town but cheaper: $2500 and $600 respectively.
Palace Station is on Sahara Avenue one block off the I-15 and a very long three blocks from the Strip.
Hampton Inn Tropicana: $159/159/159 (no resort fee, free breakfast)
They want us in the Event Center, 4000 sf@$12,000, but I think the Bora Bora Room (1300 sf/$2550) and Fiji/Tahiti Rooms (@800 sf/$1200) would be more suitable to our needs. Much closer to the airport than any of the other hotels and just one block off the Strip.
The D: $197/197/74
Their main function space is the same as Palace Station and Sam’s Town, plus they have six smaller rooms that hold eight vendor/gaming tables each, all for $10,000 for the weekend. Aside from the room rates, this is right in the middle of Fremont Street, with all that that implies.
My personal inclination is to go with Palace Station or the Hampton and try to sign a multi-year deal, but I’m interested in y’alls input and nobody reacted to the Discord post. Leave your preferences, comments and/or outraged screams in the comments.
I would agree with Hampton or Palace Station. Hampton being closer to the airport is a big sell for me – with the constant construction on the freeway, I found that to be a bit of a hassle.
I enjoyed the con and do hope to see you all next year.
I’m leaning toward the Hampton because of its location and because the function space(s) are a lot less expensive than the other options.
I like the Plaza’s location, room price, and facilities (assuming we can get the hotel to understand the purpose of a consuite for an SF con is not a refuge for Important People *from* the regular people, it’s a refuge for Important People to enjoy *with* the regular people). I’d like to keep it in the conversation for now.
That being said, one semi-hidden advantage the Hampton would have for attendees is that it Hampton is part of the Hilton Honors rewards program. For those who often patronize Hilton Honors chains anyway, getting rewards points for attending a con is a nice perk. Something to consider, anyway…
As I said to Alice above, the Hampton has the edge on facility price, and its rates are competitive with the Plaza once you factor in the resort fee. We shall see.