Subject: Hotel Information for Minneapolis Meeting

From: "M. T. Hollinger" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1999 14:56:56 -0500

Last year, I made a proposal:

   The site for each IETF meeting should be released
   as soon as it is known, and every effort should be
   made to do so by the time of the preceding meeting.

Several folks said thatt sounded like a good idea, and I had hoped the
situation of late announcements would improve.  For example, my proposal
would have called for release of the Minneapolis hotel name by the time of
the Orlando meeting.  Unfortunately, here we are a month *after* the
Orlando meeting with no Minneapolis hotel information on the web page yet.

The only plausible explanation I've gotten for delaying the release of
this information is so that the members of the secretariat can get
reservations before the rest of us.  I don't buy that.  They could all
make reservations the same day the hotel was selected (and cancel them
later if need be, just like anyone else; hotels don't charge penalties for
cancellations far in advance).

Marcia Beaulieu, of the IETF secretariat, has been prompt and professional
about answering my inquiries by private e-mail (thanks!).  Also, I'm very
pleased with the past hotel choices and respect her hard work on them.
However, she refuses to divulge the next hotel site even though it has
been finalized for some time.  She also won't tell me whose decision it is
to keep this information a secret.  Marcia simply says that "we" (whoever
that might be) have decided to keep the hotel name under wraps until
registration opens, late next week.

I would like to know:

    What is the name of the Minneapolis hotel?

    On what date was this hotel selected?

    What is the name of the Oslo hotel (or, if not yet selected,
    what are the names of the 2 or 3 on the short list)?

    Whose decision is it to keep this information secret?  Why?

In an organization like the IETF, which flourishes based on the free flow
of information, it seems truly incongruous for simple logistics data like
a meeting location to be kept closely guarded.

         - Mark

---

From: Tony Hain <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1999 16:52:04 -0800

Mark,

As the Orlando host, I will reiterate your comment about Marcia's hard work.
I would also point out there were a couple of weeks lost at the end of
December which may play into this. 

I actually don't understand your need to know any further ahead than the
date the registration opens. It really doesn't matter what date the hotel is
announced, once it is people will jump to get their space.  What you want is
to know before anyone else. 

As a general rule I would argue that the announcement should be hidden
behind the registration process. While I understand everyone wants to block
a room ASAP, and it is hard to know that authorization will come through 4
mths ahead of time, the mass cancellations that happened in Orlando just
make it hard for those that missed the initial signup window. It makes no
sense to have 1/3 of the primary hotel empty with people driving up to 15
miles. If you were presented with the information after registration, those
signing up early would have first shot at the hotel, rather than those that
just troll the web page. 

================================================================
Tony Hain			[email-masked]
<mailto:[email-masked]> 

-----Original Message-----
From:	M. T. Hollinger [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent:	Friday, January 08, 1999 11:57 AM
To:	[email-masked]
Subject:	Hotel Information for Minneapolis Meeting

I would like to know:

         - Mark