The road to Worlds is not an easy one. I figured it would be fun to start a thread with people’s extraordinary journeys this year. Ours is a horror story in the making.
The middle school Massachusetts teams planned ahead and figured that it would be a good idea to book our delegation in the same hotel. We were optimistic, and there was no downside with a cancel at any time, and reserved blocks room for both the Framingham High School and middle school teams in December. However, for accounting purposes, it was separate reservations (can’t commingle student activity funds!). So, yesterday I call Sleep Inn to make adjustments to the reservation. They inform me they have no record of any reservations for our teams. YIKES! Still trying to figure that one out, but it seems Sleep Inn got the reservations and then canceled it. The Sleep Inn front desk really did not care to help, not their problem since I booked through booking.com. So, working with booking.com are trying to be helpful in a “scripted customer support” manner. They said they would do their best to relocate us at suitable places, but our party would at different sites across town! Hello! 11 middle schoolers, two adults? It took a while to get the customer service rep to get off script and find a solution, but they did, at a cost, we will be much farther from the Expo Center, isolated from Massachusetts teams, and around $500 poorer that was not budgeted.
I don’t really have anything about a journey, but I thought it funny that I came into this thread thinking it would be about physical detours and potholes in the roads.
My teammates stayed at Fern Valley last year. I’m sure you know, but for everyone else on the forum, it was horribly nasty, there was a giant rave one night and someone (at the rave) was killed and some others injured. Not a great experience for them.
Vexmen teams (minus me) will be staying at Extended Stay America in Hurstburne. It’s an easy drive there so you should have a car.
Google still shows availability. I have learned to try and book through hotel company websites exactly for this can’t keep the reservation situation. I only see studio availability and not sure how many rooms are still left.
Last year we stayed at the Embassy Suites in northeast Louisville but it is closed for renovations this year. Very nice place.
I recommend you verify directly with the hotel you are booked with. As explained to me, in some cases booking.com only sends fax out to the hotel and does not verify the transaction actually went through.
We found an alternative hotel, thanks for the leads! Lesson learned - work directly with hotels to make sure you have a confirmed reservation transaction. Otherwise, it becomes the finger pointing game. We are happy that we checked a week in advance and did not show up to no rooms on the 20th.
I always call the hotel at least three times (I know overkill) to make sure. Working with a school district that uses credit card authorization forms rather than increasing my purchase card is another hurdle. We elected to stay closer to the Exposition Center this year rather than downtown again because of the fireworks nightmare.
Very nice place.