Yep, It Happened
May 23rd, 2006 by PotatoI’ve been very aprehensive about the upcoming conference in Cancun. The hotel where it’s supposed to be at was ravaged by hurricane Wilma, and wasn’t going to open until a month before the conference (from over 7 months before the conference was to start, that’s a lot of time for something to get delayed). The hotel where all the students are staying is owned by the same company and is sited next door, and wasn’t scheduled to reopen until two weeks before the conference started, and even then under “limited services” (I was thinking no room service, others suggested no air conditioning — ouch!). Given all this craziness and uncertainty, I’m surprised we didn’t end up getting a better rate.
As the renovations took place over the winter, we got semi-regular updates about the progress, which stopped about two months ago. The first hotel (the one hosting the actual talks) was supposed to open last week, but we still haven’t heard any word from them. I just checked the website, and its opening has been pushed back to June 1st. The student hotel’s opening date (yep, the one I’m staying at) has been pushed to June 14 — but I’m arriving June 11!
I’ve sent an email to the conference organizers to see what the deal is; I really hope it’s cancelled. I actually shelled out for travel insurance this time around, and am really dreading moving closer to the equator in June.
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:48 am
Well, it’s not actually cancelled, but they have bailed on the Marriott hotels that won’t be ready on time. They’re in the process of moving everyone’s reservation to a nearby hotel.
May 23rd, 2006 at 2:20 pm
Update: The hotel’s webpage has been taken down. There’s been no update about whether or not we’ll be moved. Rumour has it that once the hotel realized that pushing its dates back could mean cancelling a rather large scientific conference, they instead decided to beat the workers harder to try to finish the renovations on time…
EDIT: Nope, we’re moving: the conference website even has the new hotel up now. We tried calling the hotel on our own to see what the deal was (the new registration form has a ridiculous $50 “per person” charge for rooms with more than two people, so at $115/night, it’s almost as good to just get a second room if you’re cramming students in like crazy. Of course, this could lead to a doubling of the expected costs for us…
Ugh, I hate conferences.