Hotels

[4KidsDad]

I'd be interesting in knowing how your TB team(s) handle out of town lodging.

Does one person organize a hotel list for all to stay?

Do you block rooms at one hotel and request the team should stay together? If so, do you go for the cheapest? Closest to the fields? Most amenities?

Or do you let every family fend for themselves and hope all girls arrive at the field for the first game?!

 

[marriard]

Does one person organize a hotel list for all to stay?
Do you block rooms at one hotel and request the team should stay together? If so, do you go for the cheapest? Closest to the fields? Most amenities?
Or do you let every family fend for themselves and hope all girls arrive at the field for the first game?!

- One person organizes a block of rooms because you get the best rate this way. And the hotel can segregate the team room block away from other guests if necessary.
- What kind of hotel depends on the team make up. You should be catering to the team make up. In general most teams seem to stay at Hampton Inn/Holiday Inn type hotels.
- Sometimes the tournament is driving hotel choice. I hate that, but on occasion they have helped get better rates.
- For 14U down, you want a pool., Older teams for whatever reason seem to stop going to the pool, but younger teams are always out there.
- And you want breakfast served by 6:30am (or a Dunkin Donuts that opens by 6am close by)
- Location we always are looking in the middle of all the possible fields. One way to guarantee you WONT play at a particular park is to book the hotel close by.

We have made exceptions for families with financials who choose to stay close by but cheaper. You want the team to stay together not only for the team but because you can keep costs down as well. You do have to be understanding and it is easy enough for them to join the team wherever.

 

[teammom2]

Everything Marriard said. Around the $100 mark seems to fit most budgets. Hotels.com has a group option that's helpful in finding hotels without calling each one. Process is pretty easy. Start looking for hotels as soon as your schedule comes out. Better to book and not need if something changes than to be left scrambling for 12 rooms.

 

[JAD]

You are never going to make everyone happy with the choice of hotels, so our philosophy was always to book a block of rooms and if the parents wanted to use them great, if they wanted to stay somewhere else that was fine too. A lot of parents travel for business and free hotel rooms is one of the perks, so no one judged parents or players who did not stay in the block hotel. That said, I would like to mention that some of my fondest softball memories are of the "coaches meetings" we had at the teams hotel in the evenings. Nothing better than enjoying a couple of adult beverages and an occasional cigar with good friends and talking softball. Parents were invited too, we just called them "coaches meetings" so my wife would allow me to attend.

A lot of tournaments, including most nationals and large showcases are now "stay to play", which means the team is required to book a certain number of rooms in the tournaments block or pay a buyout if the team chooses to stay somewhere else. These situations need to be explained to the parents so there are no surprises.

 

[canyonjoe]

Every team we have played on someone will block out rooms but we have to call and move the room to our name. We try and find ones that
will let us cancel friday if we have a late start Saturday. We try and find one that has a pool and also a BBQ so we can cook or hang out after. On
every team you were not required to stay at that hotel. Some had points with other chains and others liked to bring an RV. Usually around 100 or so.
Also nice if you can find one that has double rooms. Perfect for 2 families if it's just 2 of you.

As someone above stated there are some stay and play where you have to book hotel rooms with tourney hotels.

 

[ScottyDont]

Same as above, I have to say that I hate the fact that some tournaments have booking companies that kill you with their rates. We're paying almost $200 a night for the Colorado IDT. That's on top of airfare at $400 pp. Almost $2.5K just in hotel and airfare and then you have to eat.

 

[JAD]

- Sometimes the tournament is driving hotel choice. I hate that, but on occasion they have helped get better rates.

Anyone who thinks the tournament directors objective is to get their team better hotel rates needs to be drug tested....

 

[Arnival]

Priceline express deals. It doesn't get cheaper.

 

[Hawkeyes]

Priceline express deals. It doesn't get cheaper.

Agreed. I use it all the time.

Earlier this spring, we chose to not stay with the team and save a few bucks. We were coming in late Friday night, had an 8am game on Saturday and an 8:30pm. I knew that hotel time would be limited. Saved $175 on hotels and we ended up in a nicer hotel than the team.

 

[marriard]

Anyone who thinks the tournament directors objective is to get their team better hotel rates needs to be drug tested....

I didn't say it was their objective - just that I have on occasion got a better rate primarily on smaller tournaments when not a lot of teams were traveling.

Big tourneys and showcases.. yeah... not so much