[Announcements] Cambridge Hyatt rate

[Michael Korcuska]

As you may know, the Hyatt advertised a rate lower than the Sakai  
group rate. They are not supposed to do this (by contract and by  
common sense). We've spoken with the hotel and have come to a  
resolution.

I'm pleased to let you know that they will be reducing our group rate  
to $184/night.  This will apply to all existing reservations and to  
reservations made between now and the end of this week (June 12). For  
those who have made existing reservations there is nothing you need to  
do--the hotel will be manually adjusting your room rate. The only  
exception to this reduction is for those who have requested a specific  
type of room (e.g. "River View" or "Balcony"). In these cases the rate  
will remain $199/night.

This is, in fact, slightly more than what community members were able  
to find on the internet. There are a few reasons why we thought the  
Hyatt's proposal was fair:

* Our rate includes complimentary in-room internet ($12.95/day). So  
our effective rate is $171/night.
* Not everyone would have been able to take advantage of the promotion  
as there were a limited number of rooms available at that rate. So  
some would have gotten a better deal while others would have been  
stuck with the original rate. We felt this was the fairest to everyone  
in the Sakai community.
* The Hyatt may still lower the hotel rate if rooms remain unsold. If  
anyone does find a lower rate and wishes to change their reservation  
they should feel free to do so (I'm tracking this via yapta and will  
let folks know when/if it alerts me). We will manually reconcile hotel  
guests with conference attendees and Sakai will get credit for those  
room nights. If you decide to do this it would be helpful to let Mary  
know.

So, a big thanks to Lydia from Stanford for finding the lower rate.  
She's helped save everyone a few dollars!

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Best regards,

Michael

-- 
Michael Korcuska
Executive Director, Sakai Foundation
mkorcuska at sakaifoundation.org
phone: +1 510-931-6559
mobile (US): +1 510-599-2586
skype: mkorcuska