Each year, a contract must be negotiated with a facility at which the con will take place. This has been, historically, at a hotel as so much of the event happens late and so many of our attendees reserve hotel rooms. The Hotel liaison's responsibility is to take care of said contract and ensure that both parties are satisfied; but that both parties honor their end of the agreement. It is one of the most behind-the-scenes jobs at Penguicon, yet so many things hinge upon it's successful execution.

During the convention, he/she is the first point of contact between con attendees, staff members, concom and the hotel, ensuring that any issues that might arise are taken care of to the satisfaction of all involved parties. The Hotel Liaison arranges attendee room blocks, a quiet floor, and a room party block before the convention, and deals with reservation problems and facility snafus during the convention.

This year, we are at the Marriott Centerpoint in Auburn Hills, MI, just 10 minutes from the Troy Marriott. (Go to that page if you are looking for information specific to the hotel, as opposed to what we are doing there)

• Put together rules listings for function spaces
  • Function Spaces
  • Consuite
    • No bags of trash will be left in a carpeted area
    • No bags of cans will be left in a carpeted area
    • Determine how often staff will vacuum
    • Consuite has a balcony – leave door locked or unlocked? Times?

• ConTV - can we do it?
  • Also, will there be access to the LodgeNet Cave, or room immediately adjacent?
• Dealer room hours
• Legion of Doom: location?
• Chaos Toy: location?

• Firm hours on the pool
• Confirm an early start on function space on Friday
• GOH Dinner Menu creation
• Green room dinner creation
• OPS Phone Number DID

Subject: Hotel Questions - 9-FEB meeting

• Sconce height in the ballrooms
  • Oakland – 5ft Ottawa- 4.5 ^{RE: Penguicon 2012 Questions - Feb 7 2/17}
• Vendor Table Size
  • 6’ x 30” tables but we do have some 6’ x 18” tables ^{RE: Penguicon 2012 Questions - Feb 7 2/17}
• How many plugs are on a power box?
  • There are 6 plugs on each box…These are mostly used for people who need a lot of power (ex. DJs).
• How to book block rooms for me?
  • You can just send me over the names of the guests, their check-in and check-out days, if they need a King or 2 Dbls, how many will be in each room, how they are paying (individual, or Room/Tax to the Master, All Charges to the Master), and any other special requests (need to be on a certain floor, need a refrigerator, etc). Are all of these considered “Staff Rooms?”
• Can we get registration desk at 4pm on Thursday for early pre-reg?
  • Yes, the space is now blocked.

The little bit in subscript is where this was answered and the date. In most cases, this should be an email chain, so the verbiage is the subject line of the email if underlined. The parenthetical bit is the date in which the statement was made.

• Broom, dustpan & vacuum in consuite shall be supplied^{RE: Penguicon 2012 Questions - Feb 7 2/17}
• Scheduled trash pickup in consuite is part of the fee we're paying for housekeeping on the suite^{RE: Penguicon 2012 Questions - Feb 7 2/17}
• Service elevator use for ConSuite load/unload
  • This is not a problem^{RE: Followup Questions for Penguicon 2012 3/17}

• Access to storage areas for Ops/Reg on Thursday night
  • We have access to them all ^{RE: Followup Questions for Penguicon 2012 3/17}

• Dearborn Ballroom end time corrected to 1800 Sunday^{RE: Penguicon 2012 Questions - Feb 7 2/17}
• Official banners can be hung in function space by engineering at a cost^{RE: Penguicon 2012 Questions - Feb 7 2/17}
• Second floor rooms can be locked with a cost of $50 per to rekey, etc. Keep it limited^{RE: Followup Questions for Penguicon 2012 3/17}

• Overnight security at ~$35/hr. Probable cost ~$1,000 pending open hours^{RE: Penguicon 2012 Questions - Feb 7 2/17}

• Fire performers can perform in back lot provided they have sufficient liability insurance^{RE: Penguicon 2012 Questions - Feb 7 2/17}
• Tipping can take place during the Drag Show^{RE: Penguicon 2012 Questions - Feb 7 2/17}
• There is not really availability for a Thursday night concert^{RE: Penguicon 2012 Questions - Feb 7 2/17}
• Roaming parties can roam function areas and party halls. No alcohol distribution outside of guest rooms. Only minor food distribution allowed (gold coins, etc)^{RE: Penguicon 2012 Questions - Feb 17 2/17}
• MPCon is happening. Probable cost ~$1,000 for power^{ConCom Meeting 3/18 & RE: Followup Questions for Penguicon 2012 3/17}
• Bar service for Ubuntu MI
  • Set. Working on getting pricing squared.^{RE: Followup Questions for Penguicon 2012 3/17}

• Jay Maynard to swap to an executive room
• Cancel Shawn Powers Reservation – 325MTTP
• Keith P-Rohrer has two confirmation numbers. Wants rerate at the con rate for 3994417.
• Christine Bender and Kyle Welmers room assignments

• Private dining area for GoHs as 'green room' needs further discussion once our program is more solid^{RE: Penguicon 2012 Questions - Feb 7 2/17}
• Hotel has asked that a Flyer Hanging Area be a single board near reg…following up for better accommodations^{RE: Penguicon 2012 Questions - Feb 7 2/17}
• Flatbed carts for luggage movement Thu/Fri are available provided we schedule this (and use is brief)^{RE: Penguicon 2012 Questions - Feb 17 2/17}
• ConTV
  • Met with Bernard (Director of Engineering). Seems feasible. ^{ConCom Meeting 2/17}
  • Bernard will follow up with LodgeNet to get 'permission' ^{ConCom Meeting 2/17}
  • We are on! ^{RE: Followup Questions for Penguicon 2012 3/17}
  • Need start and end time still

Function Space Layouts [PDF] (revision r120416.01, 16 April)

Room Layouts [Visio Drawing] (revision r120416.01, 16 April)

• Visio 2007

(revision r120416.01, 16 April)

• Rounds plus 6'x18“ tables for gaming library
• Only banquet rounds or 6'x18” available

(revision r120416.01, 16 April)

• 6'x30“ tables used in drawing
  • These tables are in limited supply…need to know where they can be eliminated entirely
  • Also, where can they be replace by paired 6'x18” tables
• Current layout allows for:
  • 6'+ aisles
  • 3' between vendors
  • 3-5' between tables and walls
  • Obviously, this all might be wrong/need tweaking

• 4th Floor North Suite
  • 401 & 403
• Open Fri - Sun
  • Open for GoH Dinner/etc Thu
  • Open for Dead Dog Sun
• Cleaning fee $100/day
  • $400 total

DeSoto Office A

• ConSuite Storage
  • 8 rn
    • 2 rm * 4 nights
    • Comped
  • Near Consuite (402 & 404)
• Volunteer
  • 6 rn
    • 1 rm * 2 nights
      • Fri - Sun
    • 1 rm * 4 nights
      • Thu - Mon
  • Party block
• Last year's Volunteer Hours winner
  • 2 rn
  • Find out who the winner was?
• ConCom Rooms
  • 32 rn
    • 8 rm * 5 nights
  • Paid back to con by individual members
• GoH Rooms
  • 20 rn
    • 5 rm * 4 nights
  • Quiet area

• Food Track
  • Perhaps in side-suite of ConSuite?
  • Otherwise its own suite
• All others purchased directly through hotel
  • Suite-owners wishing to throw a party must coordinate with Room Parties and Hotel Liaison

This is essentially how the various aspects of the job get done, as best as I can describe it.

Because we generally put ourselves in hotels that we book entirely, I have found it in our best interest to manually assign each and every room prior to the convention. This is, essentially, the hierarchy I use. This same order is used for determining who gets ALL limited quantity hotel items, from roll-offs to fridges to whatever else.

1. Convention-Owned Rooms in the following order
   1. Con function rooms (green rooms, function space, broadcasting booth, etc)
   2. Guest of Honor rooms
   3. Any other rooms the con owns for whatever reason
2. Staff and Nifties
   1. Staff
   2. Nifties
3. Fringe Cases
   1. Anything out of the ordinary I need to accommodate (handicap accessibility, specific room required, etc)
4. Special Requests
   1. All special requests handed in by various departments
   2. All folks that submitted special requests (such as noise preference) to the hotel liaison on the web form on a first-submitted, first served basis
5. ConCom members
6. General Population
   1. Everyone else, on a first-reserved, first served basis. When possible, the requests they made through the hotel are fulfilled (such as single or double, or floor preference) but near the end, those pickings are slim, at best. This means, if you haven't submitted a request on the web form, your room request will be handled LAST.