So in your above post of "overpaying" you used the $43 rate for all four nights, when in reality you can only get that rate for 2 nights! The weekend rates are exactly the same-$70. Kinda of skews the numbers! So you save $54.00 by booking as a FIT and not as part of OUR room block for OUR convention.

The bottom line is the Club strongly encourages all members to stay at the host hotel and book through our room block. It benefits OUR CLUB, OUR MEMBERS AND OUR CONVENTION. And there is the convenience for the members themselves and it does help the Club with the overall cost.

Brian, this is our convention, for our membership and WE HAVE TO PAY FOR IT! We pay for it through the registration charges, the dealer table fees, the banquet tickets, the auction fees, raffles, promotional items sold, etc and if those revenue streams don't pay the bill at the end of the day, we have to take OUR money out of OUR Treasury to make up the difference. There are no "free lunches" and Jim has gotten us the very best deal possible, based on what WE NEED, to host the thing.

Archie, Michael Knapp, myself, Wayne Thompson, Belinda Hixon and now Jim & Sandi Steffner (with assistance from a lot of folks)have over the years turned over every rock in Vegas looking for the best deal for our Club(and don't anyone even bring up looking at other cities! ). Some folks here may be under the illusion that we're some big power to be reckoned with and the hotels are lining up to give us everything we want for nothing. In the grand scheme of conventions we're a gnat! One that wants to tie up 25,000 sq ft of exhibit space, 4-5 meeting rooms for 5 days, a banquet hall for 3 days for the dinner, the business meeting and the auction and we want it into a weekend! And we want the sleeping rooms for less than casino rate or any other convention rate. Or discounted internet wholesaler.

There are only a hand full of hotels that can even accommodate our needs. And some of them have not, over the years, even bothered to return our calls or blown us off when we mention "weekend and public admission"!

Every effort has been made by every Convention Chairman over the years to be sensitive to the room rate for our members. That's the reason we have never had this thing at Caesars, the Flamingo or Mandalay Bay! The want too much for the rooms!

No Officer has ever demanded that everyone stay at the host hotel or belittled someone for not. Everyone has their own reason if they don't and that's fine. Still we have and will continue to encourage all of our members to stay at the host hotel. Whether anyone cares, I can assure you that the Riviera has bent over backwards to work with us and make us feel welcome. They have made certain concessions in the contract they normally don't put in there. But, it is a business for them. Period.

There, that concludes the annual articulation on the convention rates, rooms, space, history of the thing, etc. Again, we strongly encourage everyone to make your room reservations through the hotel (Riviera) for the annual Casino Chip & Gaming Token Collectors Club, Inc. Convention!

And if you decide to stay elsewhere, we'll still probably let you in the show!