My girlfriend works in the travel business.
During the past two or so years, hotels took the gas pipe, it's a miracle entire chains did not go under.
If she books rooms for a large group, hotels will do a few things for the group, but we're talking a large number of rooms, not a block of 20.
Granted, a group like the toy soldier show is renting out function rooms, but hotels would prefer to rent those rooms to weddings, anniversaries, sweet 16 parties, corporate functions, etc, etc where food and more to the point, booze is involved, not just renting a room full of tables.
Pretty sure that's why Andy packed that show in afew years ago; the new owners of the hotel wanted crazy money to rent out the function rooms, so he wisely walked.
This is the problem Matt from HB ran into with our local toy soldier show; the one hotel he was dealing with for years would never commit to a date 6 months out, which sucked for Matt as he wanted to let attendees of the Spring show know what date the Fall show would be on the post card he sent out/the flyers he had laid out in the lobby for the Fall show, a true captive audience.
They'd rather hold out/wait for a party to come along and rent the rooms for a function.
So he moved the show.
Then he moved it again.
Now it's ancient history.
A well known promoter here on the East Coast is running into the same issue, hotels don't want one day rentals on a weekend for a toy soldier show, which is why he's running shows now at VFW Halls and Bingo Halls and other such top shelf locations, which sucks for the dealers as they have to then find a hotel in the area with no discount for taking a block of rooms, hotels don't want his business.
As she said, the days of "greatly reduced rates/free this/free that" are over.
Hotels are like any other business; they exist to make money, not give extreme discounts.
