I'm not going to get into why members stay at the non-Convention hotels, that is there own business. There are a few things I wish everyone would consider.

The Convention hotel bases all of the Clubs total costs on three things. Number of room nights booked, amount of dollars spent on catering, and whether there is increase in the casino drop during our convention.

Our room nights booked are miniscule by almost all convention standards in Las Vegas. Our catering bill is very small for the number of people we have even including the banquet. And surprisingly (at least to me) is that the casino drop usually is lower when our Convention is in the hotel. Seems we don't like to gamble much. Maybe if they based it on our liquor consumption we could all stay free *G* .

Yet, with the all the things not helping, our Convention Chairman has been able to negotiate very favorable terms for our use. No other group our size uses as much space as we do. The show floor, all the meeting rooms, and educational seminar rooms we use are huge. About 3-4 years ago I checked and there were I believe only 11 hotels in Las Vegas with the space to accomodate just our exhibit hall. If you elimiante the hotels we can't afford; Venetain, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Rio, etc. there was only the Riv, Trop, and Stardust that we could get the space we needed without a huge jump in cost. With the exception of the Riv, Stardust (gone before 2007), and Trop (maybe gone before 2007) the cost of just the exhibit hall would increase our costs over $25,000. The lowest room rate I could find at one of the other hotels was $159, if we booked over 1500 room nights (I believe this number is accurate). We book probably 600-700 room nights.

The point I'm taking so long to make is we need our Club members to book into the Club room block. When we have to move for whatever reason the first thing a new hotel does is check the 3 criteria with the old hotel. With only the Riv and Trop left in the lower end cost range the Convention is going to get real expensive if we have to go to a higher priced hotel with the numbers we have. Plus whoever is Convetion Chair (hopefully Jim and Sandi)won't even be able to guarantee the numbers we now have if the rate is $25-$50 higher.

Just remember if you have to rent a car or take a taxi even once a day to your hotel you will save more by staying at the Riv than you could even staying Chuck's or the Plaza *G* . The fact you can go to your room on a moment's notice is worth a lot to me and I would think it is to most people. I hope everyone will give thought to the future of the Club convention and book into the Club's room block. We need the member's support.

I look forward to seeing everyone in LV. And as a teaser, don't miss the banquet. Claudine and her buddy Kruse (kinda like her Gilligan) have really hit another home run with this year's speaker whcih will be announced in the next couple of weeks.

Wayne