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Online now: 2 members: Apps, TABLE SETTER 11; 64 anonymousDiscussion: SPA drops the ball.
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| May 21, 2014 Harri Men's 70 65 posts | SPA drops the ball. Hope you guys will allow me to vent...your comments are appreciated. The SPA tournament on May 29 - June 1, in Springfield Missouri has been cancelled...by SPA. "Not enough teams to (make a profit)." Do not know how many 65 & 70 teams were going, but heard is was somewhere between 5 & 7. Our 65 team and a 70 team from the St. Louis, MO area were going and the problem is we went through priceline.com (Name your own price)and have about 24 nights stay that are non-refundable. We use priceline.com because we can't afford to attend tournaments unless we can reduce the costs (we are blue-collar players). So here it is: SPA could have held the tournament for the 65's & 70's, at least. You may not want to ever use priceline.com, they have refused to help us and you never want to purchase ins. for rooms. I did and they refused to allow us to cancel or get a refund. Basically they all are more interested in "making money." If any of the other 65 and/or 70 teams still want to go, we can get the fields (with possibly a small fee). Would enjoy playing two or three games on Thu. & Fri. and then sitting down and having a few "drinks" with you. Paul |
| May 22, 2014 Ho 301 posts | Paul: Too bad you couldn't have made it to Barberton..we have 14 65's and 16 70's. But anyway, I called to check how many teams they had for ROUTE 66...TEN TEAMS TOTAL. I also heard only TWO 65's and THREE 70's. Ho |
| May 22, 2014 Perl 212 posts | I don't think the SPA dropped the ball. With the cost to rent fields, pay umpires, purchase awards and other costs if they don't get enough teams they are forced to cancel. It stinks that priceline wouldn't refund your money and you didn't get to play but I can't see how you blame the organization. |
| May 22, 2014 SSUSA Staff 3483 posts | Although we have no opinion of another association's decision to cancel an event, we do have an opinion regarding making your hotel accommodations through no-service discounters ... For our tournaments, we strongly encourage booking through SSUSA Headquarter and Host Hotel blocks because you have the resources of the SSUSA office staff available to you should something happen that causes either the tournament to be changed/canceled or maybe your team to not be able to attend ... It happens in almost every major SSUSA event, where someone calls us with a problem, and (usually) Fran picks up the phone, calls the hotel, and your problem goes away very quickly ... While the priceline.com and similar booking arrangements seem attractive on their face, the value you forfeit comes when there's something you would like changed, where they usually (always?) act as though you never existed ... Good luck on this one ... |
| May 22, 2014 paul0784 Men's 60 218 posts | We try to use Southwest most of the time because you can cancel and use the money within a year with no penalty. |
| May 23, 2014 Fred S Men's 85 297 posts | Same here and always deal directly with the hotel/motel and car rental where I don't charged till I actually stay |
| May 23, 2014 mad dog Men's 65 4191 posts | staff...maybe if your rooms were real discounts we could use them....i don't consider $70-80 a nite a good deal......i use priceline all the time and save myself a ton of money doing it....in your scenario...i'll spend (for 3 nites)$200-300 for a room vs $75-120 for that same stay with priceline..now add all my other expense i can't discount and with your way i'm up to $500 or more to play softball for 2-3 days......so how about getting us some real discount rooms before jumping in and doing nothing for us...... |
| May 23, 2014 Harri Men's 70 65 posts | Hey Guys I appreciate your comments. As far as the motels through priceline.com, they were 2 1/2 stars for $47 plus tax. This is a great help in reducing our costs, thus worth the effort (I think). When SSUSA and SPA offer motels at a discount, they obviously can't match those savings. And from the above statements, if they had 5 teams in the 65 & 70 age division...seems like they could have still played those games and been able to cover their cost, if not make somewhat of a profit. Sorry...but it still seems like decisions were made NOT in our best interest. Also, when you have to cancel a tournament, chances are you will never be able to get it to "fly" in the future. Again, I really appreciate all your comments. |
| May 23, 2014 SSUSA Staff 3483 posts | Harri ... Hotel rooms booked at the (Tournament Headquarters) Sands Regency Hotel through the SSUSA block this coming week (your age group) for the Rock 'n Reno Challenge Cup are $39 per night (plus applicable taxes) ... That seems reasonable to us in negotiating that rate for the players ... "Frugal" is a good thing ... "Cheap" is maybe not so good ... We still hope you find some recourse with your no-service discounter ... Good luck! |
