More Convention Facepalm

~ Cheryl

Via Charles Tan on Twitter I found this report by Mari Ness on the difficulties she had with the World Fantasy hotel. As far as I can make out, Mari had been through 3 unsuitable hotel rooms before she approached the ConCom, and once she did they found her a room that was properly accessible (albeit deficient in other ways). Sometimes a hotel will make all sorts of promises in advance and break them on the day. But you can at least learn from experience. Hopefully people considering using the Town and Country for conventions in future will read this and take notice.

6 thoughts on “More Convention Facepalm”

  1. Hi Cheryl,

    Thanks for increasing attention to this.

    Just to clarify, the issue wasn’t just with the hotel rooms (although that was bad) but that the hotel locked up the disabled access ramps so I couldn’t get into the little deli/ cafe and get coffee, and that a supposedly “disabled” access stall could not fit a wheelchair – severe accessibility issues.

    Fandom has lots of disabled creators and fans and I want all of them to be able to have fun at cons and not worry if they can enter restaurants and bathrooms.

    – Mari

  2. There were a number of issues with the site, but Mari’s were the worst of all — she spoke with me about them, in fact, and I was stunned by the locking off of ramps and the other things she had — unnecessarily — to deal with.

  3. I too had the pleasure of meeting Mari – and helping her with the first time she encountered the unfortunately named Sunshine Deli. I even got on the phone with the hotel liasion who was VERY rude and Not Helpful – patently not believing me that it was locked off (with furniture on the other side, even) and telling me that she should just “give the deli person the order and they could bring it to her!” I was um, like, “you know SHE CAN’T GET TO THE COUNTER YOU IDIOT BECAUSE YOU HAVE IT BLOCKED FROM WHEELCHAIR ACCESS?”

    I did point out to Mari that a letter to the very highest name she can find re Town & Country, pointing out the difficulties she encountered, and copying a local chapter responsible for ADA compliance might – just might – effect change for someone else faced with this lack of caring on the part of the hotel. At the least, it would be an expensive fine.

    There were four staircases to this deli – you can’t tell me one can’t be turned into an accessible ramp, instead of having to wheel 3/4 of the way around the bldg. to enter.

  4. Wow. Just wow. You’d think with the ADA suits floating around, hotels would be more careful… If not to do the right thing, then just to cover their own butts.

    oh – and Hotel Liaison is supposed to work for the CON not the HOTEL – some folks get that confused… *Le Sigh* Giving all Hotel Liaisons a bad name. I apologize for our profession.

    Grrrr.

  5. I should clarify that when I said Hotel Liaison, I was referring to the Town & Country staffer, Katherine, assigned to work with the convention, and not the convention’s hotel liaison. Although it appears that neither of them did anything to help Mari out….

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