After receiving meeting room rental estimates from five different hotels around Austin, I’ve come to the difficult decision that I need to look further afield for smaller, more affordable venues.
Originally, I was looking to stay as close to downtown as the hotel room rates would allow. To the right is the original map I shared with y’all some time back.
Unfortunately, those hotels with enough space in the green zones quoted meeting rates that started at $5,000 for the weekend and went up to $15,000.
That is a non-starter. My initial budget worksheets don’t show a way to make it feasible, and I don’t have the money to make up the difference myself.
On the plus side, I’ve since discovered that one of the hotels I had earlier discounted as having no meeting rooms actually has enough meeting space for about 75 people. It’s smaller than I’d like, but it should be sufficient for the first year at least.
So now I’m looking at a map more like this:
Three of the larger, more expensive hotels I looked at are in the red “circle” at the bottom at the junction of 183, 290, and I-35.
The 75-person hotel I mentioned above is located in the first green circle north of the red spot.
Shortly north of that is another hotel with about the same amount of space.
North of that are a few hotels that are large enough, though some might be too big (and expensive).
Finally, the top circle has another hotel that could work.
Sadly, all of these are further from the airport. Then again, the 2014 PLC was about 15 miles from the nearest airport and many people came from much further afield. Heck, we drove all the way from Austin!
The furthest north of the hotels on that map is about 25 miles. The closest is 16 or 17 miles.
As far as costs, the first hotel actually posted their daily rate on a sign next to the meeting room- $400, or $200 for half the room. That’s $1,200 for the weekend- less than 1/3 the cost of the cheapest meeting rooms I found in that red circle. Sure, there’s the matter of taxes and availability, but hey- this thing is starting to sound more feasible!
My hope is that the other hotels I’m looking at all have a similar, or lower, rate. Then it becomes more a matter of date availability and how the hotel’s building, site, and staff feel.
Many thanks to the Gods and friends who have helped me push through the earlier discouragement to keep looking.
-In Deos Confidimus
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