Originally Posted by RawAlex
I think in some ways it comes from a two-fold problem for adult conventions.
The first year in Florida, it wasn't specifically a "whole hotel" takeover, which lead to some situations, particuarly on the first and last day of the show. So one of the issues is that Internext is forced to pretty much assure the hotel of a complete sellout. So room rates are calculated to make sure that AVN isn't underwater even if only 75% of the rooms sell.
Now, as for comparing the westin to the diplomat, I just checked Expedia for rates (in canadian dollars) for next month for 5 days. Diplomat, cheap room is $301 a night, westin is $110. So on that scale, (almost 3 times) the room rates for Internext are actually in keeping with the relative room rates in Florida.
When Internext signed the long term agreements, they were selling out the show, offloading people to the hotel by the golf course, and even pointing people to cheaper properties in the area. The show was a massive oversold deal that had no chance of failure in the near future. However, the 2009 summer show was very lightly attended (you could book a standard room the morning of the show), and images from the show indicate that the crowd was very light. I remember when the showroom floor upstairs was filled, the pool bar was crowded, and basically the property was swarming with people. This last show honestly looked like less than half that crowd, and without a show floor, much of the game is given over to social rather than more organized events. and as far as vegas I dont think it has really sunk in for them. Chris was talking how vegas will be the biggest show ever. its like wake up those days are over.
So the prices of the hotel rooms are in line, but perhaps at this point the property is well beyond what the vast majority of people are willing to pay. The Playahs (including the Iporn people, I gather) can afford to pay the price, but the average webmaster and small program owner will have a very hard time to justify paying out a couple of thousand dollars, only to end up in a place where they can't find anyone they really would like to meet, because there is no show floor, no real events, and just people wandering around in bathing suits getting drunk.
With AVN Chris out the door, perhaps someone can give this show (and vegas) a serious, sober second thought and come up with a show that is more conducive to getting business done.
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