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Interesting post on Facebook Group about Stay to Play
- Thread starter nikkilugi
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- May 16, 2016
- 946
- 93
Not going to the Sparkler in Colorado any longer, but curious if they will discount the event room rates, now that demand for hotel rooms has plummeted, and going rates for that week are 25 to 50% lower than the published event rates.
- May 29, 2015
- 3,815
- 113
Stay to Play has many benefits ... none of those are for the parents though.
All of those can be accomplished by other measures. It is just a cash grab and an effort to pass the buck on "who to blame".
Charge what you need to charge to run your tournament. Don't look for ways to hide the costs or collect extra from other sources.
Teams and parents know what they need for accommodations. Let them handle it. If you have a deal worked out to promote a certain hotel, fine. If you have a meaningless code that helps hotels track numbers, fine. Don't make me buying hotel space a requirement to play though.
When my daughter played, we always nixed any STP tournaments that popped up on our schedule.
Edit: Am I the only one who is having a hard time following the initial comments posted from social media? I can't tell what side the person is on (or if it is more than one person).
All of those can be accomplished by other measures. It is just a cash grab and an effort to pass the buck on "who to blame".
Charge what you need to charge to run your tournament. Don't look for ways to hide the costs or collect extra from other sources.
Teams and parents know what they need for accommodations. Let them handle it. If you have a deal worked out to promote a certain hotel, fine. If you have a meaningless code that helps hotels track numbers, fine. Don't make me buying hotel space a requirement to play though.
When my daughter played, we always nixed any STP tournaments that popped up on our schedule.
Edit: Am I the only one who is having a hard time following the initial comments posted from social media? I can't tell what side the person is on (or if it is more than one person).
Last edited:
- Mar 7, 2016
- 242
- 28
As a coach this is my teams personal opinion on stay to play events
Please stop screwing people over! all for financial gain without actually providing anything beneficial for the extra charges! Some “fodd” for thought you are not our employer and the distaste for this aspect of ball runs far and wide. As a coach I can not agree with anything posted here.
my personal favorite part new for 2020 is the new insurance protection fees in case of bad weather cancellations. And also now a non refundable deposit when you first book. So stay to play really doesnt offer you anything. it costs more money with no insurance which i thought was the main reason for it to begin with in case of bad weather. Now we have to pay an extra fee to get that.
- This is purely to get another cut for money plain and simple.
- We already have umpire fees put into the registration fee. Also part of the actual fees tourney hosts pay to the park or association that is then passed onto teams. We host a tournament each year.
- This is pure garbage, even at the largest tournaments we have never had an issues finding a place outside of stay to play, they tell you to book early to suck you in.
- Im speechless on this one, zero convenience here.
- They could give a crap less and are irritated anytime they see ball teams plain and simple. Do you blame them? it means more work.
- All this does is lock you in from being able to leave early due to bad weather. Especially if they cancel. So now instead of having a chance at maybe getting a night back and leaving early you feel obligated to stay.
- I can say %110 these are NOWHERE near the best prices. My wife is a HR director in charge of recruiting for Medical fields and got better pricing by a long shot just by being an awards member. hell even priceline beats their prices and all hotels offer block rates that beat their prices with just a phone call. can this lady lie any more?
- This can be done by averages for out of town teams entering a tournament, no need to poll the hotel numbers since most semi local teams are exceptions to the stay to play requirements.
- Refer to post 8 exact same thing. Huge reach here to make a buck.
- What does this have to do with forcing teams to stay certain places? Without stay to play they get the exact same thing at a better price.
Please stop screwing people over! all for financial gain without actually providing anything beneficial for the extra charges! Some “fodd” for thought you are not our employer and the distaste for this aspect of ball runs far and wide. As a coach I can not agree with anything posted here.
my personal favorite part new for 2020 is the new insurance protection fees in case of bad weather cancellations. And also now a non refundable deposit when you first book. So stay to play really doesnt offer you anything. it costs more money with no insurance which i thought was the main reason for it to begin with in case of bad weather. Now we have to pay an extra fee to get that.
I wonder what would happen if teams started to say "We will come to your tournament but we will find our own hotel thank you very much. If you won't allow that then we won't come."? I imagine if enough teams did that it could have an impact. BTW... This is also a thing in club soccer.
Hotels are getting a message with lack of traveling. Bring back buy one night get one night free pricing breakfast included.
I am going to highlight the above again.
If you don't like it; don't play. Take your $$$ elsewhere. There are LOTS of options out there.
If you REALLY don't like it; then start your own tournament or tournament series.
Or bring sanction XXX and provide yourself and other teams the service you want. That is generally what happens. Someone cares enough to actually do something about it beyond making various whining noises.
I am looking at our schedule for the last few seasons. We got value for money from several tournaments - we go back to those and drop those that didn't. Stay-and-play is considered - but hey, if we are getting value, then what they are charging is worth it. If not - well we just go somewhere else.
@JumboJack - some teams have success in bucking the STP requirements. It is always a gamble but if you wait to enter the tournament until all the "best" STP options are available, you can sometimes appeal to the TD or organizer about increased cost, distance, etc. and they will let you out of it. Also, some have started offering the option to buy out of STP - they do not advertise it but you can offer to buyout and sometimes you will get lucky and actually save some money.
@marriard - I agree with you. If you do not like it, do not play. However, anytime you have an issue with a tournament, the best course of action is to the let the TD or organizer know about it so they can improve their event. The organizers that care will work with the booking companies to make certain that the STP requirement is not overly burdensome or expensive for the teams. Quite honestly, the booking companies remove a headache for the organizers by tracking data, providing reports, comping rooms or providing them at reduced rates, etc. However, that same booking company with a bad booking agent can create issues for the organizer as well.
Just an example but for a regional event, the costs got really out of hand for one event. That organizer made the booking agent match any team's 8 to 10 room or more booking if the price was significantly lower and accept it into the STP requirement. The booking had to be made through the hotel itself and not another online booking agency was the only catch. I find that reasonable and some teams managed to take advantage of it and saved some money.
If the person that posted this FB post is a tournament organizer, they have lost touch with reality and who keeps them in business. I also would not be surprised if the quality of their events are lacking as well.
@marriard - I agree with you. If you do not like it, do not play. However, anytime you have an issue with a tournament, the best course of action is to the let the TD or organizer know about it so they can improve their event. The organizers that care will work with the booking companies to make certain that the STP requirement is not overly burdensome or expensive for the teams. Quite honestly, the booking companies remove a headache for the organizers by tracking data, providing reports, comping rooms or providing them at reduced rates, etc. However, that same booking company with a bad booking agent can create issues for the organizer as well.
Just an example but for a regional event, the costs got really out of hand for one event. That organizer made the booking agent match any team's 8 to 10 room or more booking if the price was significantly lower and accept it into the STP requirement. The booking had to be made through the hotel itself and not another online booking agency was the only catch. I find that reasonable and some teams managed to take advantage of it and saved some money.
If the person that posted this FB post is a tournament organizer, they have lost touch with reality and who keeps them in business. I also would not be surprised if the quality of their events are lacking as well.
