We saw this concern from a team traveling in to a rather competitive tournament coming up in the next several months. We removed the names from the message.
Just an FYI. When I first communicated with the HOTEL REMOVED two weeks ago about reserving 18 rooms for the tournament in late April, the front desk told me I must speak with the Sales Manager (NAME REMOVED). I’ve been leaving messages for NAME REMOVED for two weeks, and she has never returned my calls. When I called again this AM, she finally answered and said she’s now out of rooms with double beds.
It’s disappointing to incur long distance charges and someone will not return a possible customer’s call, especially when you’re trying to schedule an almost 900 mile (round trip) road trip. I’m not sure if she had enough rooms when I initially called, but lack of communication resulted in wasting two weeks. I will try another hotel at this stage, but this is not a good representation for your tournament.
The hotels in your area are part of your soccer tournament brand. The quality of the tournament will be judged by whether or not the teams have a great hotel stay.
Our Advice: Work with your hotels closely. Call them weekly, perhaps even daily as your deadline approaches. Yes, they will probably be sick of hearing from you and your calls will go to voicemail, but since they are an integral part of your event, they should know that their performance with your guest teams are a top priority.
As team applications come in, mark the ones that are local and follow up with all others as soon as possible. Make sure that two weeks do not go by as the team is trying to book rooms.
Follow up note: The tournament director replied back almost immediately, volunteered to find rooms personally and the team found rooms nearby. One special mention is the team rep sent a note to the tournament director, closing the loop on the issue.