"The Host - Where is all the money going?" Topic

The night clerk at the desk said we were a lot less trouble than some of the other groups, say, sports teams.

Haha. Laugh all you want. The Host is still a dump. I have been on maneuvers that had better accommodations, and that is only a canvas cover and an MRE to eat. Now that I am a lot older I like to think I deserve better. Decent hotel room and decent meal. Fix it and I will come back back.

As others have stated, the boiler tractor trailer has been at the Host a LONG time. It was there back in the summer of 2014. I don't know about tank relining, but does it really take 16 months??? I am skeptical.

" there are few restaurants that would pass the kind of inspection the Host had."

Huh ? Are you saying the Host got some sort of extra difficult inspection? Those would be violations at any restaurant.

My best guess is that "all of the money" is being carted out the back door by the holding company. When the place finally goes into the red, they'll raze the place. Which is long overdue, its an embarassment.

The dilemma for HMGS is that too many gamers are cheap bastards. ALL the alternatives are going to be more expensive, and more than likely going to geographically aggravate somebody. When WBC announced the move to Seven Springs for 2016, the cheap brigade screamed bloody murder ( and are still screaming ) not realizing that holding events at the Host was cheaper than any con out there – and you get what you pay for. Over time, a number of people have asked themselves, why cater to those who are willing to pay the least ?

But while some of the cheap crowd won't move to the new place, others disgusted by the Host are either returning to the convention , or trying it for the first time. While nobody is expecting attendance to grow, the fact that onsite accomodations sold out shortly after they were announced shows that enough people are willing to accept compromise in return for better facilities.

Cheap AND a bunch of whiners as well. Suck it up butter cup.

Don't like the rooms? Then stay next door. There are ample choices to suit your budget in the immediate vicinity.

If we find a new location, then great.

In the meanwhile I'm more than happy to game on the Hosts tables and go shopping there.

This is not exactly roughing it.

TRU

why cater to those who are willing to pay the least ?

That's a good point.

+1 for Garth

Don't like the rooms? Then stay next door. There are ample choices to suit your budget in the immediate vicinity.

I can agree with this, as long as there's a cheaper option or two a few miles from the convention sites.

As for paying more for the badge, I wouldn't mind that too much as long as the facilities were a nice upgrade. A good loading area for people running games, and functional climate control.

That said if the conventions move to an area where rooms are $200 USD or more a night for 3 nights + gas like they were going to be at Baltimore I just can't go anymore. I can't justify that kind of expense twice a year as a younger male with family obligations.

I think a nice facility, with sleeping options that allow a compromise between the cheap and the more well to do members would be the best bet.

So for years now we've been hearing that there must be onsite hotels, that even the ones in Fredricksburg are too far. (They are closer to the facility than the host is to the tennis barn). Suddenly the immediate vicinity is good enough.
I sure this change in attitude, if real, would help the board find new options.

The more I have to spend on a Hotel room and parking, the less I have to spend in the Dealer Hall or Flea Market.

Never agreed with the onsite hotel requirement. This falls into the nice to have category.
Way too limiting a criteria in my view.

TRU

That being said a covered entrance/loading zone would be a desired feature.

TRU

HMGS should buy the Lancaster Host, run monthly conventions, lease the theater to Bell and Blade for continuous airings of war movies, turn the golf course into a paintball site and use the tennis courts for 1:1200 scale naval wargames.

Problem solved.

B

"(They are closer to the facility than the host is to the tennis barn).
thomalley, are you sure you were at the right con because the hotels are further away then the tennis barn is to the Host.

Never agreed with the onsite hotel requirement. This falls into the nice to have category.
Way too limiting a criteria in my view.

I believe this is done almost purely for the convenience of the staff and volunteers. The argument is "if by some chance anything happens they're close by."

I have been on maneuvers that had better accommodations, and that is only a canvas cover and an MRE to eat.

Nice hyperbole

I didn't stay at the Host, but I visited two rooms of buddies who did. From hyperbole like yours on TMP, I expected a mold and Ebola infected cesspool. Instead I found rooms that were as good as the ones across the street at the Continental, where I was staying.

Now that I am a lot older I like to think I deserve better. Decent hotel room and decent meal.

Fine, then stay somewhere else. May I suggest the Courtyard Lancaster by Marriot. It's a 5-10 minute drive from the Host, depending on traffic.

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Fix it and I will come back back.

Right.

The holes in the hall way made me feel like I was going to be attacked by aliens. Bowman, my room was visited my you. It is fine. I do have nitpicking complaints but otherwise one of my better stays at the host.

My information on this matter is garnered from very reliable sources. That is, the owners of two nearby hotels who I have a long friendship with.

The major details of the story as to this question of the money and the host are this.

1. The Host is owned by a company which owns several other hotels in the area. The use the Host as a "cash cow" taking as much money out of it as they can to finance these other hotels.

2. That is not fiscal short-sightedness or bad management. These other hotels are "brand hotels" or "name hotels." That is part of a national- chain or international group. Not all of those hotels in the national chain or international group are owned by the company. Most are in fact owned by private individals who pay exhortbitant fees for miniscule benefits from this chain. That is, inclusion on their web sites, access to their reservation and referral service etc. To get this the private owners have to literally adhere to what the government calls "unfunded mandates." The chain demands a certain level of quality or appearance to be part of the chain and the services and all of the hotels, owned by the chain or by private groups must adhere and the company does not pay one thin dime to the privately owned members to accomplish it. They also demand control of pricing and costing for rooms, which they keep low for obvious reasons. Many of you can see a hint of this when you make a room reservation at a chain somewhere and your call tot he actual hotel for reservation comes after you've spoken to the "home office." They will tell you "Hold on" and then you will get the specific hotel.

3.Complicating the specific character of The Host is it's golf course. The owners of the host would LOVE to sell the land off to a developer for a shopping mall or an outlet center. The problem is twofold. First, what makes the host attractive is that it has a comparatively low tax rate because it, because of its golf course is zoned agricultural. If it were turned over to commercial, the tax rate per acre would skyrocket to perhaps 100 times what it is now, and no one wants to pay the money for that. Second, there is not enough road frontage to turn the whole thing into a mall. You can't put a service lane in or the wide turns and broad sweeps needed, and it would be a traffic and accident nightmare (and a lot of the land would be taken up with these roads and lots. The other factor is that the county itself does not want to give up the Agricultural rating for state and federally funded reasons, and if they do that then they will drive out the Amish who will gladly sell their farmland for shopping malls and move to Ohio, or Indiana or upper New York State, but if they move out that sucks the lifeblood out of the tourist trade for the area and…. the whole Ponzi scheme of tourism collapses.

4. Lancaster and it's convention center is useless as there is no parking. But more than that the whole area has been overbuilt with hotels that are simply "rooms" and bus hotels. That is hotels built with the idea of busloads of people coming in and filling them up and not having a large car footprint. Even the new hotel built where Lapps/Arigato used to be, which I am told will be a Fairfield Inn, has inadequate parking for its rooms and will rely on bus traffic. While this is good for the low end hotels, it means there are less and less rooms for rooms, that is, meeting rooms, convention rooms, display and vender rooms. If you check all the hotels around on every weekend there are usually dozens of "fairs" or "events." CD bazaars, Quilting fairs, Jam and Jellie preservers meetings etc., and a lot of the smaller rooms in hotels are booked up solid all year for small church and sect meetings. No one therefore is in a hurry to see the host go as the rooms in the host frequently "host" these meetings which the bus and auto trade thrives on.

Wargames and war gamers comprise not even a smidgeon of causality in all of this.

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I realize those stories are a bit out of date, but it gives you a glimpse of what is going on there.

I believe HMGS is tied to the FCC and Host till other suitable places can be found. Of course, being suitable is in the eye of the beholder. :-)

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Guest room, 1 King or 2 Double

Rate details
Room details

309.00 USD/night

Yeah, thats a big no. For me and a whole bunch of others I'm sure.

There is no link there. If it is mine, I would point out that the Host (and other hotels) often post such rates. It means nothing, especially on weekends.

I was guessing all the money went to their impeccable wine list.

Just past the Host and the parking lot was full yesterday, at least the front lots anyway.