Eurofurence Information > Questions & Answers

The EF23 Hotel Booking Disaster

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Schorse:
@RedFoxy
I was about to write the exact same idea now.

RedFoxy:
ok but there are only few way to solve troubles and the way of the "no responsibility" isn't the one trouble less, it can be if you have a lot of money :|

Futeko:
If I understand properly, the idea behind the change in the booking system was to reduce the strain on the Estrel Staff (and sadly it had the opposite effect).

Instead, to even out the stress on the system and to reduce frustration for all parties involved, how about adopting a system similar to how big planes are boarded?
The way it happens, is that seating opens up by row ranges - e.g. passengers with seat rows 70-99, then 50-99, then 30-99, etc. - as a way to control the boarding flow.

Applied to hotel booking, the basic idea would be:
1) Registration opens on day X
2) On day X+7, hotel booking opens for registrars with ID 1-400
3) On day X+14, hotel booking opens for registrars with ID 1-800
4) On day X+21, hotel booking opens for registrars with ID 1-1200
etc.

That way:
1) The registration system itself acts as a "queuing system" by re-using your registration ID as your hotel booking ticket number;
2) The stress is evened-out in a way that is known in advance both for registrars and the Estrel Staff;
3) It requires pre-planning (do we open up for 400 registrars at a time, or more, or less? Do we leave 7 days between openings, or more, or less?), but once that is done, it requires minimal efforts to maintain once running - just cross-checking the registration ID with (1) the planning (is booking open for that ID range?) and (2) the registration details (to avoid people saying "I have ID 244, book me a room" whereas they actually have ID 2440).

Cairyn:

--- Quote from: Futeko on 16.01.2017, 20:10:07 ---Instead, to even out the stress on the system and to reduce frustration for all parties involved, how about adopting a system similar to how big planes are boarded?
The way it happens, is that seating opens up by row ranges - e.g. passengers with seat rows 70-99, then 50-99, then 30-99, etc. - as a way to control the boarding flow.
--- End quote ---

Except that there are sufficient seats for all passengers, while there are not as many rooms as attendees.

Your system would just ensure that the first batches of numbers all get a room, and the last won't get anything.

Futeko:

--- Quote from: Cairyn on 16.01.2017, 20:23:39 ---Except that there are sufficient seats for all passengers, while there are not as many rooms as attendees.
Your system would just ensure that the first batches of numbers all get a room, and the last won't get anything.

--- End quote ---

The problem you're describing is that there are aren't enough rooms for all the attendees who would like a room.
This is already happening today - it's not a new problem the proposed idea will introduce.
This is a problem no booking system will solve, and it is not the problem the new EF23 system nor the proposed idea are trying to solve.

Essentially, we have to accept that the "not enough rooms" problem is out of our hands. We need to wait for the Estrel to build additional rooms, and that will take time.
We will face that problem every year, we faced it this year as well albeit in a much more frustrating way (as evidenced by all the comments in this thread and the others).

What we can do, is make that process the least frustrating possible - and that can only happen with a clear, transparent, known-in-advance process.
This is what the proposed idea is trying to achieve.

As mentioned in this thread, people are (1) frustrated about not getting a room, and (2) frustrated about having spent 6 hours of their lives struggling with server errors to come back empty handed.
We cannot do anything for (1). We can however act on (2). This is what this suggestion is about.

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