Hotel Costs for Invitationals

[Raleway]

Hey all! Hopefully, the summer Science Olympiad grind and prep have been going well! I was just curious for traveling teams what hotel costs were like. If you could answer this poll it'd be a great help- it's just one question.

http://www.strawpoll.me/13714394

Thank you so much! Enjoy the rest of summer- if school hasn't started yet.

NOTE: It is for per ROOM.

[bernard]

Can you specify if the hotel costs are per person or per room?

[Raleway]

Can you specify if the hotel costs are per person or per room?

To clarify, it's per room.

[dholdgreve]

I'm not sure how you draw any conclusions from this... In remote areas we have paid as little as $60 / Room for a room of 4 people. At States it can go as high as $140 /. room and $12.00 parking tacked on to it.

[Raleway]

I'm not sure how you draw any conclusions from this... In remote areas we have paid as little as $60 / Room for a room of 4 people. At States it can go as high as $140 /. room and $12.00 parking tacked on to it.

Most of the invitationals now are held in big cities such as Philly, Boston, SF, etc. and prices can get quite... expensive. I understand some invitationals are in smaller towns, but this is focused more on the expensive side of hotel costs at the more major invitationals (MIT, PUSO, SOUP, GGSO, etc). Hope this cleared up some stuff

[syo_astro]

I try not to rant about this all the time, but we'll see if anyone finds this useful...

Raleway, maybe others too, please look at https://www.soinc.org/play/invitationals and COUNT how many invitationals are in large cities vs. not. I disagree that most invites are hosted in such cities.

Many who want to set up invites always tell me we'll help in general with other tournies, we want to improve all invites, etc, etc. So making the discussion about something else wouldn't be worth the time. This discussion has been had many times. I'm not saying such invites are bad, and I'm certainly not saying to make things more cost-intensive. By all means, improve it! But having invites in a big city is not the be all and end all. Far from it. It will be expensive to get to for non-local teams, and even if the on-site staff is awesome, it's not like it's impossible to have alumni help out with invites hosted by HSs/MSs/just any invite established in non-major cities, which are...most of them. Oh, and that website actually doesn't mention all of the invites, as some state websites mention more.

There is definitely a place for these invites you mention, and they may serve local teams. But many many teams also can't go, and so other options are VERY relevant. Maybe I'm just out of the loop, but when there were few invites in big cities, many of the invites not in big cities were still really nice (say the older stoga or islip more recently).

Even if you make it easier for a few more teams whether local or from another state (which I agree IS fantastic, again, I don't think we disagree with that), you still cannot fit an infinite amount more. Making a few "nationals-level" and very competitive invites more accessible would be awesome, but most teams, especially those at the regional/state level, cannot go to them (yes, a slight assumption, but I don't think it's hard to assert). Make sure to not lose sight that not everyone can go to the invites you mention.

Do not say that most invites are held in big cities or even that most of the major invites are held there.

[GoldenKnight1]

I'm not sure how you draw any conclusions from this... In remote areas we have paid as little as $60 / Room for a room of 4 people. At States it can go as high as $140 /. room and $12.00 parking tacked on to it.

Most of the invitationals now are held in big cities such as Philly, Boston, SF, etc. and prices can get quite... expensive. I understand some invitationals are in smaller towns, but this is focused more on the expensive side of hotel costs at the more major invitationals (MIT, PUSO, SOUP, GGSO, etc). Hope this cleared up some stuff

I agree with syo_astro. There are plenty of invitationals that are not in "big cities" but it is also hard to know where you draw the line. What is a big city to you?
Does Cornell, in Ithaca, NY count? I wouldn't but it is relevant to know what exactly you are looking at.

Also your idea on prices seems to be making the assumption that if the invitational was in the city that you need stay in a hotel in that city. In center city Philadelphia for example you will find hotel rooms at $150+tax and up. On the other hand if you stay 30 minutes away in one of the suburbs you can cut that cost in half.

[Unome]

I'm not sure how you draw any conclusions from this... In remote areas we have paid as little as $60 / Room for a room of 4 people. At States it can go as high as $140 /. room and $12.00 parking tacked on to it.

Most of the invitationals now are held in big cities such as Philly, Boston, SF, etc. and prices can get quite... expensive. I understand some invitationals are in smaller towns, but this is focused more on the expensive side of hotel costs at the more major invitationals (MIT, PUSO, SOUP, GGSO, etc). Hope this cleared up some stuff

I agree with syo_astro. There are plenty of invitationals that are not in "big cities" but it is also hard to know where you draw the line. What is a big city to you?
Does Cornell, in Ithaca, NY count? I wouldn't but it is relevant to know what exactly you are looking at.

Also your idea on prices seems to be making the assumption that if the invitational was in the city that you need stay in a hotel in that city. In center city Philadelphia for example you will find hotel rooms at $150+tax and up. On the other hand if you stay 30 minutes away in one of the suburbs you can cut that cost in half.

The urban/rural (or rather, not-urban) distribution of invitationals is an interesting subject. Here in Georgia, most of the invitationals are within an hour of the center of Atlanta, but none are within the Perimeter (roughly 20 miles by 15 miles ellipse).

[Raleway]

I think my words were taken a little out of context... I understand my wording was not the best. I should have said the noticeable and more acclaimed invitationals are being held in higher end cities. Yes, it is possible to rent a room further out for cheaper, but the point of the survey is to understand what price point most teams can go up to. So yes, if a team can really only pay up to 75 dollars a room, then the invitational will need to ask for rooms outside of the main city. I just wanted to gauge the range of prices most teams will be willing to pay up to for hotel rooms- that's all. Sorry for the misunderstandings.

[EastStroudsburg13]

I think my words were taken a little out of context... I understand my wording was not the best. I should have said the noticeable and more acclaimed invitationals are being held in higher end cities.

To be honest, I think the above replies did address the clarification that you just provided. While the proportion of major cities that host the top-end invitationals to minor cities/towns is higher, there are still quite a few major invitationals that aren't in "higher end cities". Wright State/Centerville, Mentor, Cornell, Solon, even Princeton, are pretty major invitationals and aren't in major cities. Several of them are close to major cities, but none of them are located within the city itself. So I think the previous replies may not have actually misconstrued your wording as much as you think they did.