English Chess Forum

Following the success of the poll regarding entry fees and prizes I thought I would seek the forums expert opinion on the forthcoming Brighton congress.

This congress is a new venture for us on two counts. Firstly, Brighton is a destination in it's own right and I suspect people will want to play the there not just because it will be another good event run by us, but because Brighton itself is a fun place to be. I therefore expect that we will get more entries for this event than any other weekend event that we run and as we will be limited to the number of players we can accommodate due to space in the playing hall I think we will end up full and turning some entrants away.

Secondly, it's the first event with so much alternative accommodation on the doorstep. Whilst we understand that not every player will need to stay over in Brighton (some will be local, or choose to commute) we do need a large percentage of players staying over in Brighton to stay in the hotel hosting the chess. The hotel is hosting the event to get bums on seats (or more precisely, bums in beds) and if everyone who enters stays elsewhere then we won’t be welcome back in the future.

Given that we are not interested in short-termism and want to build an event that will run for years what should we do? Discuss!

The hotel holding the Brighton congress is a very nice one indeed. It would be a shame for people not to choose to stay in it, especially as it is likely to be similarly priced to other venues in the area, and not to mention it overlooks the sea!

Change one of the grading prizes to "Best Player staying in hotel"

Or something such as this....

Two questions that seem relevant:
1) How many players can fit in the playing space?
2) How many beds have been reserved for this event?

Alex Holowczak wrote:Two questions that seem relevant:
1) How many players can fit in the playing space?

About 110-120

2) How many beds have been reserved for this event?

A minimum of 50 or 60. I have so many events I can't remember. If we took more rooms, the hotel would be delighted - and might let us have additional playing space too!

You need a way to encourage players to take up the offer of accommodation in the hotel. What you could do is offer to sell the accommodation as part of a package to entrants, so that their entry fee is included in the package.

I mention this because the Jersey International, held at the Normandie in St Helier, did exactly this - they bundled the accommodation, travel, evening meal together, and the entry fee was only payable by players who did not stay in the hotel venue.

Not sure how the maths would work out for your event, of course. Perhaps you could include the evening meals?

A lovely venue, by the way. An economist would say charge two entry fees, a high one for non-residents and a very low one for residents. I vote option 2!

The Blackpool Conference offers a reasonably generous discount off entry fees for staying at the Imperial (another Barcelo hotel). It was tried for the first time at last March's event and proved successful at driving up numbers staying at the hotel.

I suspect a penalty for not staying comes to much the same thing, but might be less effective from the PR/marketing point of view.

Decision made. £9 discount for those staying at the hotel.

Good decision! The main concern for me is parking in Brighton and the limited parking spaces on offer at the hotel, which are allocated on a first come first served basis. The £9 discount least off-sets the £20 per night stay for my car!

Sean Hewitt wrote:Decision made. £9 discount for those staying at the hotel.

I suggest you conceal it, if you can, by wrapping it up as a hotel + entry fee package. I am thinking of playing, commuting from Hastings. Staying at the hotel would never make any economic sense for me and somehow I feel that a £9 entry fee differential would not play well - especially with Brighton people living only a short walk away. It's all about perception and maybe you should dress it up differently.

PB

Paul Buswell wrote: I suggest you conceal it, if you can, by wrapping it up as a hotel + entry fee package. I am thinking of playing, commuting from Hastings. Staying at the hotel would never make any economic sense for me and somehow I feel that a £9 entry fee differential would not play well - especially with Brighton people living only a short walk away. It's all about perception and maybe you should dress it up differently.

PB

Thanks Paul. You're right about perception, but we need people to perceive that we want them to stay in the hotel! Consequently, it's important that people see the clear price differential in the entry fee for stayers / non-stayers.

We are likely to be oversubscribed and have to turn entries away anyway, so if the price differential puts some people off who aren't going to stay in the hotel, then that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Sean Hewitt wrote:Decision made. £9 discount for those staying at the hotel.

Hi Sean I think you have made a good choice offering a discount for staying at hotel.As i would have to stay for three nights the £60 parking was the disincentive for me. Andrew Farthing spoke to you i gather and hope you are happy a reasonable compromise has been reached.Regards Colin Gardiner

Colin Gardiner wrote:Hi Sean I think you have made a good choice offering a discount for staying at hotel.As i would have to stay for three nights the £60 parking was the disincentive for me. Andrew Farthing spoke to you i gather and hope you are happy a reasonable compromise has been reached.Regards Colin Gardiner

Hi Colin!

One alternative that will save money for anyone driving to Brighton is the excellent Park & Ride scheme. The return fare on the bus is £3.60, and the 27 bus runs right past the hotel venue.

http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.c ... t=c1000782

If that does not appeal then here's the page with all the parking information you need;

http://www.visitbrighton.com/site/touri ... ar-parking

Adam Raoof wrote:

Colin Gardiner wrote:Hi Sean I think you have made a good choice offering a discount for staying at hotel.As i would have to stay for three nights the £60 parking was the disincentive for me. Andrew Farthing spoke to you i gather and hope you are happy a reasonable compromise has been reached.Regards Colin Gardiner

Hi Colin!

One alternative that will save money for anyone driving to Brighton is the excellent Park & Ride scheme. The return fare on the bus is £3.60, and the 27 bus runs right past the hotel venue.

http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.c ... t=c1000782

If that does not appeal then here's the page with all the parking information you need;

http://www.visitbrighton.com/site/touri ... ar-parking

Thanks Adam that may be useful as i am staying at Hove

Dare I say it, but if you don't mind a 20 min walk, there is unrestricted parking further up in Brighton