2007 Nationals/spokane--hotels?

Hi all.
I'm trying to book a hotel for Spokane Nationals and I'm confused. It seems that all the downtown hotels are going through a travel agency called "TQ Navigant." You have to register on their web site to make a reservation and they are charging a $15.00 fee per person just to make the reservation. But it seems you have to give them your credit card info before you can get any info on what hotels still have reservations.

Anyone that has gone through the process, once you give them your credit card info are you able to pick the hotel you want or are you just put on some list to be assigned? And are you able to see the particular amenities per hotel then? I called the phone number listed but couldn't seem to get any info from the person that answered.

I've been going to Nationals for years and have never encountered something like this. If you've gone through the process on the web site, please let me know if you get more info once you pay them.
Baffled.

Hi Luigi. I don't know anything about the services that this travel agency provides. They probably just paid a fee to the organizers to feature their deals on the official nationals web site.

As an alternative, you could just book your own hotel with any travel service, or (best of all) just call the hotel directly. The Davenport is the snazziest hotel in town, and it has recently been restored at the cost of many millions of dollars to it's one-time glory ("The finest hotel between Minneapolis and Seattle," if you traveled the old Northen Pacific or Great Northern lines, LOL.)

According to the Nationals site, this is sold out. It might still be worth a call, though. Even if you can't get a room there, you should still plan to drop by. That's where the skaters will be hanging out, signing autographs, etc.

A great choice would be the Holiday Inn Express. It's on a hill just on the north side of the river that gives a great vista of downtown, and it is within walking distance from the Arena (it's a considerably longer walk from downtown -- you'll probably want to take a shuttle or drive if you stay downtown).

There are a good many downtown area hotels that are not included under the TQ promotional umbrella. The Ridpath is a fine four star hotel within a couple of blocks of the Davenport.

Me, I'll be bunking in with my Mom (age 92) up on Fifth Ave.

MM

Hi Mathman.
Unfortunately the hotels are not allowing you to book with them directly. That's the problem. They've signed some kind of agreement with TQ Navigant that all the reservations have to go through them and each person is charged the $15.00 booking fee.
That's my beef! You can not book through Expedia, Travelocity, AAA, or the hotels directly except for a very few hotels and these have raised their rates significantly ($159 per night for the Courtyard e.g.)
The Holiday Inn Express, Davenport, Doubletree, both Red Lions, Montvale, Ramada, Oxford and Best western are all involved with TQ Navigant. The only ones I've found that aren't going with TQ are the Fairfield, Travelodge and Courtyard and their rates for just a standard room run from $139 to 159 per night.

Since you may be familiar with Spokane, are there any hotels that are out of the downtown area that have bus service into downtown?
Thanks for the info.

Hotels

Hi Luigi. I've been to a few Nationals too and agree that this is the oddest setup I've seen. I was lucky to book into the Doubletree over the internet (even though USFSA info was it was full). I just checked and the internet booking is not available now. Rodeway Inn (definitely a discount motel) is located by the Davenport and is still available at the outrageous price of $129 a night.

The other thing that bothers me is that I e-mailed the LOC about shuttles way back in the middle of January and have still not had a reply so contacting them probably won't help you. I did get some information from the Spokane Visitors Bureau so maybe they could help you with your hotel questions. Better yet, maybe we can all stay with Mathman at his mother's place .

Maureen

I have not been able to find out any information about shuttles. Many downtown hotels do have them at least for taking people to the airport, but whether the outlying hotels wll have arrangements for taking people downtown for the skating event, I don't know.

The downtown area of Spokane is not very big. You can walk from any downtown hotel to the Convention Center (the secondary venue). From downtown to the Arena (primary venue) is a little farther, and you will need transportation. I assume that the main hotels that are participating in this package will be providing a shuttle.

The more I think about it, maybe it is not so outrageous after all to just pay the $15. If you are planning to stay a week or so, this is only a couple of dollars extra per day tacked onto your hotel bill. The hotel rates do not appear to have been jacked up just for this event. (A room at the Davenport might run $200 per night anyway.)

MM

Well, I guess outrageous is in the eye of the beholder.
I've never paid more than 5.00 (Expedia) just to make a hotel reservation.
I've called Navigant twice and emailed them twice and can not get my questions answered.
You can't seem to find out anything about which hotel you're getting UNTIL you give them your credit card number.

I've always dealt directly with the hotel I want when making reservations and have never had this kind of trouble finding out what the amenities of each hotel are or whether or not I'm even going to get the hotel I'm requesting.

I'm about ready to fire off some complaint letters but I'm giving them one more chance to get back to my email.

You might also complain to USFS. Presumably they OKed this deal. They may not like it if the local organizers are making skating fans mad.

Contacting TQ

I've also e-mailed TQ Navigant with questions about how I get to select a hotel, do I just get one assigned to me, etc. I actually already have a room at the Doubletree but thought if they got more e-mails maybe they would start responding. I also suggested that they might want to explain the process of selecting/being assigned to a hotel on the website, but who know if they will change that.

If I get an answer about the process, I'll post it
Maureen