Swingfest changes hotel

[RT_Couple]

Count us in on the conference call!  Just say when

[BedBreakers]

Count us in too. 

[libertinecpl]

We're in too!

[sflcupl]

can we make it a "NAKED" conference call? 

[V&L]

Count us in on the call, too.

Watching for that email - we're very interested in seeing what's going to change!

[kentuckycouple2004]

We'll join in on the conference call as well. Honestly, we don't care if swingfest happens or not. As long as the swingercast peeps show up, we'll have a blast.

B.

[italianfemmy]

Hi everyone.  I know that none of you know me.  I was planning on attending Swingfest 2010 this year.  I'm a newbie to the lifestyle and just recently joined a swingers club and went to it last week, Miami Velvet in Miami.  It was an amazing experience and solidified the decision for me that when I got back home to Tampa, I would be booking a room at swingfest. 

So, when I got home, I went back to the swingfest website that I'd been visiting for months wanting to dive into but wanted to go to Velvet first to make sure I was as comfortable with everything as I thought I was.  To my surprise, it said all of the rooms were now booked but passes were still available.  I pulled up the old hotel information (For the Ramada) thinking the event was still taking place there.  I decided to see if I put in my travel dates if the hotel would show that there were any rooms available at all.  To my surprise, it showed rooms available.  In my business experience, I know that when a hotel has a take-over, there shouldn't show as rooms available.  Alarmed by this, I contacted the hotel to make sure it was the right hotel.  This was Monday night.  The guy who answered the phone said he saw a note that swingfest had been canceled at the hotel, that he didn't know why but that I could call back on Tuesday to speak with a manager.

On Tuesday, I called back and they transferred me through to the Group Sales manager.  I asked him what was going on, fearful of giving my money and being stuck without an event.  At this point, I'd heard rumor of the corkage fee issue and I didn't believe that could possibly be the issue.  Having worked with the hotel industry a lot to book out rooms for corporate events in the past, the irony of the hotel being cancelled 30 days before the event led me to suspect the issue was greater than what was being stated.  Every hotel has contracts when they book a block of rooms and in order for the hotel not to lose out on revenue, the block of rooms has to be filled typically 30 days before the stay or those rooms fall off if the contractual obligations were not met.

The sales manager didn't go into specifics but when I told him what I thought the issue was, he confirmed that I was right.  He also said the rooms were never paid for or confirmed even as a deposit with their hotel.  He went on to say that there was a corkage fee issue but that at the end of the day, he was not willing to lose out on hundreds of thousands of dollars that our event would have brought the hotel iover a corkage fee.  He said he wanted everyone to know that the hotels decision to cancel the contract because they couldn't wait any longer for money had nothing to do with the lifestyle and that he supports the lifestyle and that he was very dissapointed they had to cancel the event at their hotel.  In the end, it came down to them needing to release the rooms and hope that they'd be able to book some of them with other guests with such short notice.  Seems they're taking a huge loss.

[italianfemmy]

I am sorry that my first post here was about something so serious.  I sat on it for a couple days, read this thread and decided that people deserved to know the truth.  I'd love to continue on with this community and get to know people and possibly even hang out with some of you when you come into town.  We have decided against paying for swingfest just because everything seems too under the radar and dishonest for us at the moment.  But we're still going to do something that weekend to celebrate the lifestyle.  I look forward to mingling with some of you in the future. :-)

[BedBreakers]

... that people deserved to know the truth... ... everything seems too under the radar and dishonest for us at the moment...

Glad you could join us here at Swingercast. However, your impression of recent events may be a bit skewed. I have no doubt that something besides corkage is going on, but personally it doesn't matter to us and if you are seeking the truth about the Swingfest promoters, I would like to point you in the direction of several of John & Allie's earlier podcasts in which they, and several others via interviews, gave much credit to the organizers -- especially in dealing with tough situations. Personally, I have no doubt that the hotel had a prepared statement for you, but in all honesty, most of those you will hear on the podcast giving interviews (including John & Allie) are people we respect and consider great friends and I would believe them before rumor, assumption, and drama talk.

Personally, we don't care for the drama, who's pointing at whom, etc... In the end, we are just looking forward to having a great time with great friends. We'll make lemonade (and throw in come Bacardi) from the lemons and party on!

Bedbreakers

[RT_Couple]

Speaking of conference calls, we are not AFF members, but the SF site says they have AFF live chats every week, have any of the SC people ever participated in these?  curious to know if this issue has been addressed on their own calls.  <3 weeks, woohoo 

[italianfemmy]

Just to be clear, I didn't post that to start any drama.  I posted it because I felt that some people who were very concerned and were worried about their money would appreciate knowing the story from the other side.  I know I'd want to know what was really going on if my money was already tied up.  I already wanted to know before putting my money into it.  Now, I cannot sit here and say with 100% certainty that the people at the hotel were completely honest but I am coupling my knowledge with blocks of rooms and the time frame that we "lost" the hotel in addition to what the guy at the hotel told me.  I can smell BS a mile away and if anything, he seemed to be flustered and not want to get himself in trouble by telling me too much.  HIs responses hardly seemed can or scripted. 

With that said, apparently a new hotel has been booked, although they don't want anyone to contact the hotel so they haven't released the name of it which makes it impossible to call it to verify there is indeed an event there.  But, if there is, everyone will still be able to have a great time and there will be no harm, no foul.  For me, full disclosure is important when my money is involved and I'd rather hear a hard truth than a sugar coated story.  I know others out there feel the same way.  I wasn't trying to cause trouble.  People could already smell that something wasn't right.  Anyway, if the new hotel name is released and we can confirm that the event is indeed happening, we would love to take part in it because our hopes were up for it and we thought it would be very cool and a different twist away from the clubs. :-) 

[John]

Just to be clear, I didn't post that to start any drama.

Hey italianfemmy, first off welcome to the forum. Second, I am inclined to believe that your intentions are self-less and that you posted with good info and intentions. Please continue to share any info, speculation or insight that you feel is appropriate.

For me, full disclosure is important when my money is involved and I'd rather hear a hard truth than a sugar coated story. 

Me too. So here is some further full disclosure: To date, Jason has made good on every promise (and some of them have been crazy) that he has ever given me. In exchange for a free pass to Swingfest and airfare we agreed to talk about the event and invite our friends. We don't have airfare or confirmation of our reservation yet but Jason assures us that this is on the way. I'm keeping the faith.

We share Bedbreakers outlook:

... In the end, we are just looking forward to having a great time with great friends.

Bedbreakers

Posting the name of the hotel is a double edged sword. On one hand, you have full disclosure, honest and transparency. On the other you have countless people calling the hotel to confirm. In 2008 one woman flirted so heavy with the receptionist that she ended up inviting the woman for a threesome. Can you imagine the Human Resources department sending up alarms of sexual harassment?

Do I know for certain that Swingfest will take place? Not 100% but I am erring on the side of a person who has come through for us before.

As soon as we get our air tickets and hotel confirmation, I will post here. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to the trip and hanging out with some of our best friends.

John

[italianfemmy]

Hey John, thanks for your post.  I definitely can understand where those of you who know the organizers of the event are coming from since you have that history established there.  For a newbie like myself, credibility is important and being able to check to make sure the event is actually registered at the hotel before purchasing tickets is pretty normal.  I agree with you on the double edge sword.  It puts those like myself in a weird position where we don't know whether or not to trust in it enough to blindly send our money to someone we don't know.  On the other hand, this is something I was excited about for months and was finally ready to make the plunge (so to speak... hehe), and then the hotel switch happened and it made me nervous. 

I know if I knew for sure that a decent amount of people were going and that there is indeed a secured hotel then I'd be very inclined to sign up.  I just want to have a good time, meet new people and be a small part of something awesome.   I keep checking back daily for updates because I want to have faith in it and attend the event.  I think if it really happens and has a good turn out, it will be something I'll remember for the rest of my life and it would be a loss to miss out on it.  I just can't push the button without a little more insurance though.  It would be one thing if the event was happening at a private persons house and they didn't want to give their address out until the night before the event. Totally understandable.  But such isn't the case.  Ahh well, I'll keep checking back and hoping for some more information so us and our friends can partake in the events and have fun. :-)  We too, know a lot of people and we have a lot of friends in the lifestyle.  We'd love to promote the event if we could confirm its legitimacy. 

Anyway, thanks for the welcome.  I hesitated to post what I'd found out for fear it wouldn't be received well so I really appreciate your friendly response. :-) 

Hope everyone has a fab 4th! 

[curious2ba]

We are still wanting to come but had not yet booked our rooms just because we were waiting to make sure we had other priorities lined up first. I am glad we haven't yet booked though because this is crazy! We are lucky to only live an hour and a half away so we could just book and come on little notice. There is no way though that I can reserve a room at a hotel that is undisclosed. If there is a conference call I would like to be a part of it otherwise I'll keep watching and waiting to see if things pan out and hope we'll be able to come. I know there is a club nearby called thehttp://www.orlandoloveloft.com/ Love Loft. We have been just once and only to that club so I can't way how it compares to others but it would definitely be better than no action at all.

Hope to see everyone soon!

[Mick and Jenn]

Hi John any news of the hotel name yet. Jason promised to call me and let me know of the details a day or two after my first post and I haven't heard anything as of yet. Maybe if this doesn't pan out we all need to have a contingency plan in affect....ie a new hotel to book where all of us can meet up etc. Let me know if anything comes down the wire and if all of you decide on something different.

Mick