Team travel question

[junkball]

Question for travel teams - does everyone always stay in the same hotel? If so who decides and is there some standard set on what type of hotel?

I ask because I got all sorts of crap about staying on my own last week because I didn't want to stay at the same place everyone else was at. It was a dive and for $30 more I could stay at a hotel I was 1,000 percent more comfortable in. Everyone else stayed in a Days Inn for $69, I chose the Holiday Inn Express for $99 that was less than 1/2 mile away.

Also, I travel a lot for work and get lots of Holiday Inn Express points and combined with work travel and softball, can usually pay for 10-12 nights a year.

 

[JAD]

We usually try to book a block of rooms at the same hotel and give parents the option. We have some parents who will drive home if it is 2 hours or less, and some parents like to find better deals on Expedia. There is a group or 4 or 5 of us who like to stay at the same hotel for the "coaches meetings" that occur in the evening at the swimming pool or parking lot. Coolers and cigars are plentiful at these meetings....and as mentioned in another thread, some of them become EPIC!

 

[murphdog]

the girls like to all stay in the same hotel. If it's a true away tournament we get a room block and all stay together. I can pretty much stay at any Marriott on points but will pay and stay with the team if the best choice is another hotel chain.
My DD would not be happy to be the only kid staying at a different hotel

 

[Brett]

Our team usually selects a hotel and gets some sort of a deal but I'm with you. I travel for work and use points to get better deals at better hotels. Usually we will go and hang out at the team hotel then sneak away and head back to our hotel. Plus it's good cause my DD doesn't have as many distractions knowing the other kids are up running around. None of the other parents seem to mind. I wonder if your coach gets his/her room cheaper based on the amount of ppl that stay. That's the only reason I see them caring.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

A lot of tournaments dictate where you can stay. But, if they don't, stay where you want to. What kind of flack are the giving you?

 

[Classof2020]

We usually stay at the team hotel but I would definitely do what you did too if they picked a dump. But I also know the girls from families that consistently did this in the past couple seasons do miss out on bonding time with the team. I would stay where I wanted but take my DD to pizza with rest of the girls or bring her over for some pool time if possible.

 

[Rocketech1]

Most of the tournaments we play have a "stay to play" policy meaning that if the team lives farther than say 75 miles from the fields they have to book a certain # of rooms at local preferred hotels, otherwise tournament fees will be increased for your team. Luckily most of the tournaments we play in are within the 75 miles of our home base.

It's interesting, during rec all-stars all of the families would stay at the same hotel and everyone had a great time hanging out after games, going to restaurants together, etc.. In travel ball, its a different animal. Some families split up and stay at different hotels, some eat at different restaurants, etc. I don't know if the families are just not that close with each other; its more competitive now and less of a social scene; or our team dynamics are dysfunctional?

 

[junkball]

1. We do not do play-to-stays on purpose
2. The grief I am getting is mostly the "rich guy" or "too good for us poor folk" crap. Yes our team has several girls whose families are financially stretched by travel ball. I have helped two of them by paying part of their dues and giving them equipment their kids needed for no cost like shoes that my daughter outgrew with lots of life left, bats and pants.

I don't think I am better than them, i just have a certain comfort level that i am willing to pay for. Now if the Holiday Inn Express was $100 more per night...I may join them.

 

[Acroyear]

You can't miss out on the hotel stays! Some of the best mama-drama can be watched at the hotel stays.

 

[Ken Krause]

We always would get a block of rooms and encourage everyone to stay there. I'd bring a guitar, and with one group so would another guy, and we'd order pizzas and the parents would hang out singing oldies while the girls ran off and did whatever. Those were some of the best times. If a family wanted to stay somewhere else I wouldn't give them grief, but the whole point of going away was to have that "togetherness" experience.

I do recall one time I chose a cheaper hotel to help out one family that was money-challenged when we were going to Northern Nationals. Then that family ended up bailing, everyone else hated the hotel and we were spread out all over the place. No good deed goes unpunished.

After that I let me assistant coach handle the hotel booking. Gotta love Happy Hour at Embassy Suites if you can get back in time.