A Room at the Inn?
If you are expecting a poignant post-Christmas column, I am sorry to disappoint you, for one of the many aspects that drew me into the Arts and Crafts philosophy is that it doesn’t involve religion or politics.
Besides, the Grove Park Inn demolished their 1913 stable decades ago.
The rooms in this column are those at the Omni-Grove Park Inn for the February 17-19 National Arts and Crafts Conference and Shows. And they require some explanation.
First, contrary to what you may have heard or been told, we still have some rooms available at the GPI for the conference. But since this is our 30th anniversary celebration, complete with nearly $10,000 in prizes and gift certificates, they have been going fast.
Some reservation calls, especially those made on weekends, are automatically routed to the Omni call center in Omaha, where their agents book rooms for more than 50 different Omni hotels, each with their own 52 weekend events each year. Naturally, the possibility of receiving inaccurate information about our one weekend conference increases when your call goes to Omaha.
In contrast, the staff at the GPI not only knows what an Arts and Crafts Conference is, they also know the three different sections of the hotel (see photos and captions below). While they cannot answer questions about our agenda, they can book your room package, which includes your conference registration fee.
So, I strongly urge you to call the GPI at (828) 252-2711 between 9:00-5:00 Monday through Friday, and ask the switchboard operator to connect you with either Kelly Curtis or Michelle Emile in Group Reservations. These two wonderful women have been personally handling our Arts and Crafts attendees for several years, and know many of you by name.
And to make sure Alex, Marla or I mail you a Pre-Conference Packet of Information, either call us at (828) 628-1915 or send us an email (acconferenceinfo.net) with your mailing address. The packet includes information on workshops, tours, special events and your name badge form.
A note for those of you who may not have attended a previous conference: please, do not be confused by the fact that the GPI begins taking reservations for the February 16-18, 2018 (that is not a typo) at 9:00am on Tuesday, January 3rd.
If you have a specific room request for 2018 in any of the three sections (Main Inn, Vanderbilt Wing or Sammons Wing), when you make your call on January 3rd, make sure the agent includes your specific request on your reservation record. We will fulfill the 2018 room requests in the order they are made, just as we have for thirty years, so be as specific as you can, right down to the room number, if possible.
Finally, Alex works very hard to update our website Arts-CraftsConference.com, so that is always the best place to start looking for the answer to your questions. But if you cannot find it there, send us an email or give us a call, and we will help you out.
Until next Monday,
New Year’s Eve advice: stay home, stay warm, stay safe.
Bruce
Top: The 1913 Main Inn (right) and the 1988 Vanderbilt Wing (left), where the shows take place.
Center: The 1913 Main Inn (left) and the 1984 Sammons Wing (right), where the seminars, evening social hours, and Small Group Discussions take place.
Lower: How the rooms looked in 1913.