Enniscorthy congress, Accommodation warning !

sinbad68

Having missed out on Kilkenny congress I was entertaining the idea of going to this Enniscorthy congress, The flyer has come out which tells readers to mention " Enniscorthy congress" when booking with the venue Millrace hotel ( presumably to get a discount ).

http://www.enniscorthychessclub.com/congress-2016.html

So this morning I contacted the hotel to find out the Special Price for chess players and perhaps make an early booking, the receptionist puts me on hold to check with the manager and on her return tells me, they charge per room , whether single or double and it's 79 euro for friday night and 109 euro for saturday night, a total of 188 euro. On booking.com you get the same room in the same weekend for 151 euro ! ( without mentioning chess) , in fact any other weekend in Jan& Feb except chess weekend, they charge 134 euro ( fri & sat )and they've upped their prices for that weekend. As people know I'm always looking out for ICU members, If hotel does not want to give discount,that is fine But shouldn't overcharge players more than other winter weekends for staying in the venue, Not Fair or Right, Not many people want to stay in a hotel in Bunclody in cold winter months. If you plan to stay in the venue hotel, book online early and if you book by phone, Don't mention " Chess", it'll do you No good. Any way, Gonzaga classic in January is the next stop for me.

reunion

sinbad68 wrote: »

Having missed out on Kilkenny congress I was entertaining the idea of going to this Enniscorthy congress, The flyer has come out which tells readers to mention " Enniscorthy congress" when booking with the venue Millrace hotel ( presumably to get a discount ).

http://www.enniscorthychessclub.com/congress-2016.html

So this morning I contacted the hotel to find out the Special Price for chess players and perhaps make an early booking, the receptionist puts me on hold to check with the manager and on her return tells me, they charge per room , whether single or double and it's 79 euro for friday night and 109 euro for saturday night, a total of 188 euro. On booking.com you get the same room in the same weekend for 151 euro ! ( without mentioning chess) , in fact any other weekend in Jan& Feb except chess weekend, they charge 134 euro ( fri & sat )and they've upped their prices for that weekend. As people know I'm always looking out for ICU members, If hotel does not want to give discount,that is fine But shouldn't overcharge players more than other winter weekends for staying in the venue, Not Fair or Right, Not many people want to stay in a hotel in Bunclody in cold winter months. If you plan to stay in the venue hotel, book online early and if you book by phone, Don't mention " Chess", it'll do you No good. Any way, Gonzaga classic in January is the next stop for me.

Did you ring up and not mention chess? Did the rate include breakfast?

On the hotel's site, it's €178 for room only. €10 for breakfast over 2 days is worth it!

It's €218 on their website or €196.20 on bookings.com for bed and breakfast. So €188 is pretty good.

I will note that booking.com (and other online sites) have a special deal with loads of hotels. But they have a limited number - at present I see it for €151.50 for the weekend of the congress (no breakfast) - so bookings.com offers it lower than the hotel itself!

So like everything it pays to shop around (and early). I wouldn't chalk this up to a "tax" on chess players.


So I would mention "Chess" for 2 reasons:
1. To get a discount
2. To help chess in Ireland. (So the Congress has a stronger position to negotiate for rates next year (more hotel rooms the congress books, the more favourably the hotel would view the congress))

sinbad68

reunion wrote: »

Did you ring up and not mention chess? Did the rate include breakfast?

If you had read my post properly you would see that I stated, I rang to find out the special price for chess players for that weekend. The 188 euro did Not include breakfast.

reunion wrote: »

I will note that booking.com (and other online sites) have a special deal with loads of hotels. But they have a limited number - at present I see it for €151.50 for the weekend of the congress (no breakfast) - so bookings.com offers it lower than the hotel itself!

When a hotel signs a contract with the likes of booking.com, the contract would not allow the hotel to advertise prices lower than those on offer on booking.com anywhere else and almost always prices on display on booking.com are lower than those on offer on hotel's own website. Booking.com does have a rip off commission of around %15 from booking fee.BTW, The price for that weekend on booking.com has now risen to 188 euro from 153 euro this morning, in matter of few hours !

reunion wrote: »

So like everything it pays to shop around (and early). I wouldn't chalk this up to a "tax" on chess players.

When seemingly every weekend over the winter, price quoted for that hotel on booking.com is 134 euro and for the chess weekend it is 188 euro, it is a tax on chess players, considering how much food and drinks would be sold to chess players, it is a disgrace that a surcharge booking fee applies.

spurious

You could always vote with your wallet, book a local B&B for much less and give two imaginary fingers to the hotel and their price boosting.

sinbad68

spurious wrote: »

You could always vote with your wallet, book a local B&B for much less and give two imaginary fingers to the hotel and their price boosting.

It is much nicer to be staying at the venue hotel and go straight to bed after a few drinks in the hotel bar & chatting with other players instead of going out in the cold to your B&B and coming back in the morning, it would be a hassle for players who don't have a car and if you have car you are not supposed to drink& drive.
There is not much of a choice for accommodation in Bunclody Co Wexford. The nearest decent hotel is in Enniscorthy 12 miles away. The Millrace hotel is pretty much deserted during winter, unless a wedding or an event. Organisers should have locked in a price for players for the event ( no more than 65 euro a night). Expensive accommodation at the venue will deter players attending and will hurt turnout.

Enniscorthy CC

Hi Folks

Enniscorthy Chess Club have indeed negotiated a discounted room rate with the hotel, rates are as follows:
2 nights Bed & Breakfast Single Occupancy €150.00 Total
2 Nights Bed & Breakfast Double Occupancy €170.00 Total
Family Room interconnecting is an additional €60.00 per night Bed & Breakfast

If you've already booked mentioning Enniscorthy Chess, rest assured these rates will also apply to you.

Look forward to seeing you all there!

sinbad68

Enniscorthy CC wrote: »

Hi Folks

Enniscorthy Chess Club have indeed negotiated a discounted room rate with the hotel, rates are as follows:
2 nights Bed & Breakfast Single Occupancy €150.00 Total
2 Nights Bed & Breakfast Double Occupancy €170.00 Total
Family Room interconnecting is an additional €60.00 per night Bed & Breakfast

If true, This is a positive development and good news for the tournament and players , as my mobile is low on credit, it would be great if someone rings the hotel to check out the prices as we don't know who the poster Enniscorthy CC here is . Curious to know when these prices were negotiated ?, was it in response to this thread or well in advance and the receptionist and the manager on call when I rang were not aware of it ?, If well in advance they should have been mentioned on the tournament website.

Personally speaking as certainly more than 10 people will book hotel rooms for this event, The corporate rate option booking should have been open to players who wanted it.

As things stand a single person would pay 75 euro a night for bed & breakfast, but if booking corporate rate you pay 95 euro a day and for the additional 20 euro, you'll get your carvery lunch, 3 course dinner and tea/coffee, biscuit and mineral water through the day.

http://www.millracehotel.com/corporate_rates_wexford.html

sinbad68

I picked up my credit card and tried to book a room for this event last Sunday , was told all rooms booked out for Saturday night on chess weekend, so won't go . Block booking well in advance by someone ( hotels usually give major discount on block booking) might be a good idea.

There are now 3 competitions in January, .... Mulcahy , Gonzaga, Enniskerry. Looks a bit congested, Cork already have their congress in March , perhaps they should cancel Mulcahy and give breathing room for the other 2 competitions.

Applying latest theories for future event prediction here ( I like bruno de finetti principles ) , this tournament would have 72 entrants( won't give margin of error ). Organisers have made an effort and hopefully this competition is a success.

sinbad68

sinbad68 wrote: »

this tournament would have 72 entrants

Original formula gave 84 entrants, but taking accommodation as a higher factor element( perhaps I am overdoing it ) 72-74 would be the expectant range of attendance.

sinbad68

The scammy little venue hotel told me they had No rooms and put me on cancellation list and then went on price gouging, asking 248 euro for rooms for that weekend for the last remaining rooms, it went on for 2-3 days after I rang. The tournament in on 29/1-31/1 . If you book the next 2 nights on booking.com 31/1 & 1/2 you can get it for 83 euro total ( 41.50 euro a night !) and if you book following weekend 5/2 & 6/2 it is 134 euro for two nights, after booking.com commission hotel gets 114 euro for 2 nights but wouldn't take my 170 euro for 2 nights, even though chess players are the ones booking rooms .

http://www.booking.com

sinbad68

Rumour has it GM Baburin and Lalic are playing in masters section, I hope players are not turned off and do attend this tournament and make it a success.

sinbad68

sinbad68 wrote: »

Applying latest theories for future event prediction here ( I like bruno de finetti principles ) , this tournament would have 72 entrants( won't give margin of error ).

BULLSEYE !!! exactly 72 players entered Enniscorthy congress which started this evening .

12 in masters http://www.chess-results.com/tnr204628.aspx?lan=1

22 in Majors http://www.chess-results.com/tnr204634.aspx?lan=1

38 in challengers http://www.chess-results.com/tnr204636.aspx?lan=1

I made my prediction over two weeks ago, a few days before Enniscorthy published their early entry list for their inaugural tournament ( no previous data )and I have had NO contact with organisers !.

Last AGM I was asked by 3 different people to come and vote ( one was from gonzaga ) in the AGM and I told them, Mcmorrow will certainly win and I expect his margin of victory to be 9 or 10 ( it was 9 ).

One thing else about Enniscorthy congress, The riverside park hotel in Enniscorthy town would have been the ideal place to hold this tournament but it was held in Bunclody, when accommodation became a problem organisers gave a list of places to stay in the area except riverside park hotel !, which makes Sinbad think that there is bad blood between the organisers and this hotel, I think organisers approached this hotel with view of holding the tournament there but it was rejected by this stupid hotel ?.

EnPassant

There are live games from Enniscorthy here: http://www.icu.ie/live/ennis/tfd.htm

L1m1tless

EnPassant wrote: »

There are live games from Enniscorthy here: http://www.icu.ie/live/ennis/tfd.htm

Thanks for the link, It looks like the broadcast has broken down unfortunately.

Same for anyone else?

historian

sinbad68 wrote: »

Applying latest theories for future event prediction here ( I like bruno de finetti principles ) , this tournament would have 72 entrants( won't give margin of error ).

Exactly 72 entries - now that's seriously scary. Nobel Prize for Mathematics (or a career as an illusionist) beckons.

Ficheall

historian wrote: »

Exactly 72 entries - now that's seriously scary. Nobel Prize for Mathematics (or a career as an illusionist) beckons.

I'm afraid there is no Nobel Prize for Mathematics, and sinbad is too old to win the Fields Medal... Perhaps the Abel Prize might be the best bet.. or some stock-market gambling..

EnPassant

The live games from Enniscorthy are working again:- http://www.icu.ie/live/ennis/tfd.htm

cdeb

Great draw for Tom O'Gorman against Baburin this morning. Quite a week - lost to a 1380 in Gonzaga, but then drew with Stephen Brady FM in the Armstrong on Wednesday and got his first (I think?) GM result today!

My 100% winning record against him gets better and better.