Hello everyone,
We have another status update for you on the hotel situation. We are attempting to be as transparent as we can, so please do bear with us.
As we mentioned in our last announcement, we’ve sorted through all of the issues we initially had on the booking site for hotel rooms. We also informed you of two separate concerns: demand was higher than expected for rooms, and we noted the renovations going on in the South Tower of the Westin which may impact room availability.
## Complications with Westin Renovations ##
Last week, we got confirmation from the hotel that those renovations were far more extensive than planned. As the majority of the hotel’s double rooms are in the South Tower, this will limit the number of double rooms the hotel is able to offer us for Furnal 2023.
As before, we still have our vendor block reserved, so dealers will still have access to some double rooms when their block opens upon acceptance. However, no further double rooms are available for general attendees at this time.
## Room Changes ##
As some of you may have experienced at other events, hotels can’t always honour the room type selected on reservations. We don’t want people to arrive in March only to find their desired room type isn’t available.
With limited numbers of double rooms available, we are working with the hotel and our booking company to adjust some double rooms to a different room type, to avoid any unpleasant surprises for guests and maximize time for planning.
The sorting and prioritization of the reservation list is as follows:
1) number of nights booked; and
2) what time the rooms were booked.
In other words, if you booked fewer nights (e.g. a Fri to Sun stay) or booked later, you are more likely to see your room type changed.
For those whose room type will be changing, the hotel has offered us single King bedrooms with a cot for the same price as the double Queen rooms.
If you wish to explore other hotel options, we have also secured some rooms in the Radisson Blu Toronto (249 Queen’s Quay West; approx. 10 min walk) as an overflow hotel.
## Stages of Confirmation Emails ##
Our booking company will begin sending the final batch of confirmation emails, starting around the first week in December — there will be several stages, as listed below:
Scenario 1: You will receive a new confirmation email for your existing room. In this case, you’re all set, and no further action is required.
Scenario 2: If your reservation has been changed, you will receive an email confirming a King + cot (K+C) room. If you accept, no further action is required. If you choose to decline that room, you can cancel in that email.
Scenario 3: Once the above two groups have been resolved, emails will be sent to those on the waitlist to offer what rooms we have available between the Westin and the Radisson.
Please wait for the next announcement (expected the first week in December) before booking onto the new waitlist or overflow hotel. These portals have been closed for now while we sort through this new phase of the bookings.
Once we have confirmed all of the above, we’ll announce the reopening of the booking portal with any rooms we have available.
For any further questions regarding this, please DO NOT contact the hotel directly.
Instead, please reach out to our booking company, with this subject line: “FE Westin/Radisson Hotel Issue”
The email address our booking company has set up for responses is: HotelOps1@gmail.com
We thank you for your patience, and we wholeheartedly apologize for these delays and the stress it has caused many of you (and us too). This was not the message we wanted to write. We would like this mess to be over as much as you do.
Thank you so much for your understanding while we all work through this unprecedented hotel situation.
Sincerely,
The Furnal Equinox Team