ALA Conference Services sent out a warning yesterday asking exhibitors to “beware of housing poachers.” Conference Services Director Deidre Ross notes, “We have been having poachers trying to get exhibitors to book outside our block as well as other people trying to lure our exhibitors’ money away from ALA. So this letter is being sent out to all Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference exhibitors as we speak. This kind of thing bothers us every year. We also send cease-and-desist letters out to the offenders.”
The cease-and-desist letter from Ross reads:
“At a time when ALA is facing many daunting challenges and the financial stability plus future growth of the Association is being called into question, it is especially disturbing that some businesses are profiting handsomely at ALA’s expense.
“The chances are quite good that sometime soon you will receive a phone, fax, or e-mail transmission, if you haven’t already, that offers you cut-rate housing for ALA’s Annual Conference or Midwinter Meeting. The author’s apparent intent is to convince you that the offer is made on behalf of ALA or that they are a viable alternative to going through the ALA Housing Block. It is not. Many associations and show organizers have become the unwitting victims of these room block poachers who secure exhibitor lists from internet websites and membership databases from the membership directories that associations produce.
“DON’T BE MISLED!! Housing for the ALA Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference is handled exclusively by Experient. To secure housing go to the Midwinter Meeting website or call Experient at 800-974-3084 and identify yourself as an ALA Exhibitor. Hena Anwaya is the ALA Housing Coordinator at Experient.
“Everyone, including myself, loves a bargain. Poaching housing blocks, however, is not about better prices—it is about highly suspect ethics.
“When ALA secures sleeping rooms at hotels for our conferences, we do so in order to assure that our attendees and exhibitors are adequately accommodated. We also need the hotels for meeting space for the 2,000+ sessions. This involves contracting the rooms and space with many hotels, but doing so exposes us to cancellation and attrition policies that, in some cases, could threaten our financial stability. I hope you will support ALA’s efforts to thwart the efforts of room block poachers when making your housing arrangements. Here are a few companies (there could be more) that have contacted exhibitors. NONE are affiliated with ALA and NONE have any discounted rooms within the ALA Official Housing Block managed by Experient:
- Exhibit Travel (a.k.a. Exhibit Housing or Exhibit Show)
- Convention Expo Travel
- HDMC Group
“ALA is working with other affected groups to weigh our options to combat this continued threat to associations’ financial stability.
“And on another, but related note, Expo-Guide and FAIRGuide are two organizations that have targeted trade shows throughout the U.S. They sell advertising and exhibitor listings in their guides by deliberately misleading exhibitors into believing that they are associated with a particular trade show. Expo-Guide has contacted ALA exhibitors by mail again this year. Both of these companies are headquartered overseas and ALA is not connected to them in any way. Any advertisement or listing that you purchase from them could be of no possible value to you.
“Thank you for your support.”