STAY AND PLAY

Rooms and Rates

Stay and Play leverage allows us to negotiate lower room rates and more availability of rooms for our hotel blocks. Without Stay and Play, a significant number of hotels in the best locations would be available only at rates significantly higher rates than they are now.

Rate Integrity

Stay and Play allows us to monitor “Rate Integrity,” meaning our block users receive the lowest group rates available for the tournament dates. (Some exceptions for previously contracted rates, such as AAA.) If a hotel offers a lower group rate than we quoted, our Rate Integrity clause requires the hotel to lower group rates for everyone booked in our block.  (Within 30 days of the tournament start, a hotel may sell rooms returned to the hotel from our block at lower rates.)

Room Type

Teams are guaranteed they will get the room type (double or king) they reserve; no more arriving later in the evening to find there are no doubles left even though that is what you reserved.

Convention Center Impact

The city tracks verifiable room blocks to determine the economic value of the tournament to the local economy (the key word is “verifiable”). The higher the economic value of an event, the greater the willingness of the city to make convention center space available in the amount, at a reasonable price and on the desired dates for the tournament. This, in turn, helps to keep the costs of running the event in check and protects registration costs from major escalation year to year.

Comp Rooms

As a result of implementing Stay and Play, THS convinced many of the participating hotels to offer a team comp room concession of 1 for 15 – for every 15 room nights used the 16^th room night is comp.  (Some hotels exempted.  See Approved Hotel List.) Previously the team comp concession at most hotels was 1 for 50.  In 2016, teams booking through Stay and Play at Crossroads received $197,211 worth of comp rooms directly from this concession.

Wide Price Range

THS contracts a wide variety of hotels for us to meet team needs. Last year our Approved Hotel rates ranged from $79/night to $178/night, all within 20 miles of the convention center, and 40% within walking distance of the convention center.

Room Block

We understand the desire of teams to have their players and chaperones in rooms close to each other.  THS and the hotels make every effort to block each team together in the hotel.

Personal Attention

THS sends at least 2 of its housing specialists to be on site at Crossroads during check-in times to assist any team that has a hotel problem during check-in. The on-site person is available at a dedicated phone number 24/7 from 24 hours before the tournament starts until the tournament ends to resolve hotel problems teams might encounter.