Partners in Team Travel (PITT)

.....not new? Of course its not new pal, been there done that.

Its time for the TB teams to join together and use our strength of numbers and $ to dictate whats best for us, period!

Fish

 

We have been around about the same amount of time and I am sure some have been around longer but some are reacting like this is a new change in how things are done. I doubt you will be able to organize a group, it would be like trying to herd cats. The choice is simple, express your reason for not attending their tournament to the host and find one that doesnt do it.

 

I believe it was Rising Stars that began this practice where you had to stay at Disney in order to be in the tournament four or five years ago. My daughter's team pulled out of the tournament.

 

Excuse me if this sounds naive. Let's make believe:

Say I'm the TD for a very well run tournament. I have a hundred or so teams that participated in last year's tournament and expect the same number this year.

I send out a request for bids (for lack of a better description) to hotels, restaurants, attractions, in the area. Ask what they can offer, donate as awards, prizes for raffles, offers of entertainment, whatever it takes to spice it up a bit, make it a little more affordable, etc.

Contact the Visitors Bureau as was suggested in a thread a while back.

These are not unreal opportunities. I believe it's there for the asking; just need someone who knows how to do it.

Didn't intend to mention any names but the Cardinal organization is well respected for the quality of their tournaments. They have clout! They could probably get a volunteer marketing person to jump start it. Heck, there are probably alumni who are studying Marketing, PR, etc., in school right now who would jump at the chance of giving back to the sport. I don't see a problem getting volunteers to make calls to those businesses and presenting to them a pre-planned proposal.

What's there to lose? Nothing! What's to be gained? Plenty!!

 

$5.00

The hotels are paying Pony ( and the Jay-Cee's ) $5.00 per room per night...

Do the math....
Approx 100 teams, 12 rooms a team, average 5 night stay... $30,000.00

 

Just clearing the air a bit

As the host for the ASA state, I have to respond about the millions of dollars I gained from hosting this years state tournament. Heck I am thinking about retirement from my real job!
PITT was contracted to handle getting rooms reserved for the ASA State. We did receive 1, that's right, 1 comp room for an umpire for the ASA State. The rest were paid for by me. As far as I know, there is no compensation for the ASA State as there were not that many teams who stayed overnight.
The greatest advantage to using a booking agent is securing rooms for you team. That is the main reason for using them in Raleigh.
PONY used to come in and book all the hotel rooms the weekend of the Classic. No one could find rooms.
Trust me, I spent several hours on the phone today with 10 hotels in Cali today trying to make sure we had a place to stay in August. I would have gladly paid a little more for someone to handle it for me. (Still $99+ a night)
They didn't use a booking agent. I was left to handle it myself. I probably spent $50 in long distance phone calls not to mention my time.

 

Thanks for the explanation, but to make things just a little clearer since you are going through a booking agent to help the teams are you saying that you would not charge a penalty to a team that has been offered a house to stay in for free? Surely you would agree that this would certainly be in the best interest of the girls as long as there is no penalty for taking this very generous individual, who is trying to help the girls, up on their offer. In this economy we need all the help we can get. We are all here for the girls, right?

 

....math is money! So if NC TB gets together as a co-op, then that $30,000.00 goes to us!

Fishbuddy

 

....penalty? What a joke!

And the booking agent, he's getting paid by the hotels not the Orgs. AND he's working on the side of the Orgs.!

If we in NC step up together we can take control of our spending out of the hands of others.

Now I want to hear from the first poster that what I'm saying does not makes sense.

Softball showcases are a monopoly and they know that they have our nutter butters in the sling, but when crap goes on year after year that we have a problem with it s time to sh*t or get off the pot!

So what are you willing to do?

Fishpappy