Final Weekend: ALL rooms taken already for Sat 30 April!

[Alex Holowczak]

Already thought of that one, that is why the 4NCL allocates a specific reservation code for each team to use (only known to the manager of said team), hotels currently use reservation codes for special offers, so it wouldn't be a major inconveinence to set this up for the 4NCL

If you did that, then you'd need a reservation code for the arbiters/Loz too, so that they can get in. This is probably very workable. I'm still not convinced that people needing more rooms than players (e.g. AMCA) would be able to get around this.

[Alan Walton]

I would have to agree that maybe that teams may get an extra room for a non-playing captain, but juniors and a parent will be covered, with a twin room, so no extra allocation required, the only teams affected will be those who bring a whole raft on non-playing people within the party, personally I believed the players themselves should have priority for rooms. The only other option is to have the 3rd division on a totally different weekend to the 1st and 2nd division to relieve the pressure on hotel rooms, if people are not getting rooms at the venue then the cost of 4NCL for some teams may become to high, other hotels are decidely more expensive (the premier inn is more expensive and you get no breakfast)

[Mick Norris]

Alan

I've found somewhere fairly near that costs less, but I am still disappointed not to be staying at the venue, and indeed that the team is split over different hotels

I have no experience of this, being my first season, but does everyone actually want Div 3 to play at the same place as Div 1 and 2? If not, then there is an easy solution

[Alan Walton]

In the past we never stayed at the "official" hotel, but this was not that of an inconveinence because the venues were in the centre of Birmingham, and walking wasn't a problem, but since the current hotels are more isolated, not staying at the venue does become more of an issue, especially for non-drivers, taxi's could tally up to £40 to get between hotels

[Alex Holowczak]

I have no experience of this, being my first season, but does everyone actually want Div 3 to play at the same place as Div 1 and 2? If not, then there is an easy solution

To be fair, Hinckley is the only round where Div 3 merges with 1 and 2. The hotel is much bigger to accommodate this. The regular hotels in Daventry, Sunningdale etc. just aren't big enough. I've had to stay in non-4NCL hotels in Daventry before because the two 4NCL venues have been full, and those weekends are split up.

[David Sedgwick]

I have no experience of this, being my first season, but does everyone actually want Div 3 to play at the same place as Div 1 and 2? If not, then there is an easy solution

The 4NCL is now of a size where it's getting more and more difficult to find a venue in the right place at the right cost to accommodate it all. What Hinckley Island does have is plenty of playing space and a good quality environment, but, even with 360 bedrooms, as we have seen it does mean that demand will tend to exceed supply. The feedback I've had over the last day is despite this, the preference is still to have common weekends.

On the basis that no solution is perfect, maybe what we have now ( a combination of split and common weekends) is as good as anything. Hopefully that way at least some of the people are pleased some of the time! Another option would be to have a cap on the number of overall teams, but I for one would find that very regrettable.

[Sean Hewitt]

I have no experience of this, being my first season, but does everyone actually want Div 3 to play at the same place as Div 1 and 2? If not, then there is an easy solution

It's certainly desirable, particularly for clubs with teams in Div 1/2 and Div3. Obviously, this presupposes the hotel is large enough to accommodate all the players.

[Roger de Coverly]

It's certainly desirable, particularly for clubs with teams in Div 1/2 and Div3. Obviously, this presupposes the hotel is large enough to accommodate all the players.

It's also desirable to only have 5 weekends over the season rather than 10 where other events such as county matches or local Congresses might struggle to attract players, or far that matter where players would struggle to determine their priorities.

It's only Hinckley where all the divisions are in the same hotel. At Staverton / Daventry, it wouldn't be a major problem to be staying in the "wrong" hotel as they are little more than only a couple of miles apart. Wokefield/ Sunningdale would be more like half an hour's drive apart.

[David Buckley]

It's certainly desirable, particularly for clubs with teams in Div 1/2 and Div3. Obviously, this presupposes the hotel is large enough to accommodate all the players.

It's also desirable to only have 5 weekends over the season rather than 10 where other events such as county matches or local Congresses might struggle to attract players, or far that matter where players would struggle to determine their priorities.

It's only Hinckley where all the divisions are in the same hotel. At Staverton / Daventry, it wouldn't be a major problem to be staying in the "wrong" hotel as they are little more than only a couple of miles apart. Wokefield/ Sunningdale would be more like half an hour's drive apart.

I have failed to book my team into Daventry on time on previous occasions but found the 101 inn on Warwick Street to be a satisfactory alternative. When I failed to book into Hinckley on time we ended up staying in Coventry

[David Buckley]

After reading that somebody booking 26 beds for 20-22 players does seem excessive, perhaps the discounted room rate should only be applied to the number of players required, therefore a squad requiring 20 players, would only be allowed 20 rooms at the lower rate, if you want extra rooms you pay the standard hotel rate (so you have twins if you required extra players) , this would mean that every team in the top 2 divisions are guaranteed discounted rooms and most of the 3rd division should also get discounted rooms.

The releasing of rooms is great, but pretty ineffectual, teams have to have accommodation sorted out well in advance of 2 weeks left, if you have tried booking that late would end up staying miles away, which I gather some teams may have to

All the rooms I didn't need are going to chess players so I'm not going to feel too bad about overbooking. It's when some players have to book venues miles away during a weekend in which bedrooms are left unoccupied that we have a serious problem. There's also nothing to stop captains booking up a plan b whilst placing their team on the waiting list.

If all captains agreed to a code of conduct where no one books more rooms than they expect to need then I would adhere to that but I don't want my players to be left with the wrong type of rooms or no rooms at all due to me underbooking when many others are overbooking.

[David Buckley]

Alan

I've found somewhere fairly near that costs less, but I am still disappointed not to be staying at the venue, and indeed that the team is split over different hotels

I have no experience of this, being my first season, but does everyone actually want Div 3 to play at the same place as Div 1 and 2? If not, then there is an easy solution

There are many squads including mine that have team(s) in divisions 1 and 2 and team(s) in division 3. Having all the divisions together is both easier to organise and preferable from the social PoV.

[Alan Walton]

All the rooms I didn't need are going to chess players so I'm not going to feel too bad about overbooking. It's when some players have to book venues miles away during a weekend in which bedrooms are left unoccupied that we have a serious problem. There's also nothing to stop captains booking up a plan b whilst placing their team on the waiting list.

If all captains agreed to a code of conduct where no one books more rooms than they expect to need then I would adhere to that but I don't want my players to be left with the wrong type of rooms or no rooms at all due to me underbooking when many others are overbooking.

As we have multiple teams as well is desirable that we all stay at the same hotel, especially since one of ours is a junior team.

Therefore waiting for people to cancel in the prior weeks is unacceptable for us, we really need to be booking a month in advance and when wanting at least 12 rooms, we cannot rely on cancellations.

I agree with your point of a code of conduct, but the current system is still not working, so maybe we have to have a system which guarantees all teams enough rooms for their immediate players, and thats why I recommended that for each team of 8 players you only get 9 rooms max (twin or single doesn't matter) at the discounted rate, if they require extra rooms then you have to pay the hotel standard rate, this should definite deter overbooking