Hotel info is up

The hotel page has been updated - reviews of a few hotels are up along with current pricing info. Please feel free to email us or leave comments if you'd like to suggest a cheap hotel (that isn't the El _ortez) or have some sort of inside track on hotel discounts.

Our totally official emails are ginger@stbe.org and mike@stbe.org. We can also be reached at sugartwiiiins@stbe.org.

hotel search and stbe.org

Well, the website is up and running (stbe.org). There's now a hotels page, which will probably be updated by this weekend. On it will be reviews of the hotels we're considering, and the current rates for those hotels.

Not an exciting update, but and update nonetheless!

hotelscorp.com bait and switch

OK, so I'm new to this blogging thing, so sorry that the picture isn't big enough to see clearly. It's a screenshot from hotelscorp.com, which purports to offer a room at the Plaza for $87.69 including tax for a 3 night stay. The first two nights would be billed at a rate of $30 each, while the third night would be $19. Sounds like a great deal, right? So I called the number the other day to go ahead and book a room, who can beat those rates on a weekend in August? The catch is that you have to go to a timeshare presentation. The other catch? There are no timeshare presentations available that weekend, so you have to pay the higher rate!

Someone tell me again how this is legal? They lure you in with this ridiculously low price (which I believed because I've gotten some ridiculously low prices before). So now I'm wondering if I can call and force them into honoring that price...I'll keep you updated.

In the meantime, please be on the lookout for cheap rooms ($40 a night and under) for August 22-25. Whoever finds the cheapest rooms will get a prize on arrival to whichever fabulous Las Vegas resort we choose to host the 8th Annual STBE.

Update: I called and asked if they had problems running a bait & switch in the hopes of getting booked at the super low rate, but no dice. Ah well, so much for demanding satisfaction from crooks. He said they can't control the fact that there aren't presentations, so I told him they should stop advertising that price if they can't offer it. I asked him to pass that information on to his boss, which I doubt will happen.

The moral of the story? Don't book with hotelscorp. If you google hotelscorp.com, there are a few entries calling it a scam, which is totally true.

STBE theme night voting...UPDATE

In voting for greatest hits:

Butt Rock - 2 votes
Hobos (old-timey bums) - 1 vote
Old People - 1 vote

Suggested themes:

Celebrity Impersonators (suggested by 2 people)
Homestar Runner
Scouts (think Wilderness Girls from Troop Beverly Hills)
Mime Time
Everybody dress like somebody else who is coming (I think this one is getting the axe - we might think it was funny, but no one else will know we're doing a theme night)
Polygamists (in prairie clothes)
80s Workout Video Extras

Test

Clearly, I'm bored.

Until the STBE website is up and running, this will be the place (along with the evite, of course) for updates and info on STBE '08. Feel free to post stories about our past Vegas adventures, and also, if you find a super-cheap hotel (that isn't the El _ortez) please pass that info on, as well.

Of course, this will keep going after the STBE is over, after all, once this STBE ends, we'll begin planning for the next one!