What To Know About Making Your 2023 Room Reservation on Feb. 9th
by Kate Nixon
For those of you who are already looking forward to the 2023 National Arts and Crafts Conference, this Wednesday is the day! Starting at 9:00 AM Eastern on February 9th, collectors from everywhere can place a reservation for the 2023 Conference, continuing our long tradition of reserving rooms more than a year in advance.
Here are just a few things you should know before you reserve your room on Wednesday:
1. The Dates
Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa aerial photo taken on October 6, 2012 in Asheville, North Carolina – © 2012 David Oppenheimer – Performance Impressions Photography Archives
Here are two dates to circle in your calendar:
Reservations for the 2023 National Arts and Crafts Conference can be made starting at 9:00am (EST) on February 9, 2022. This date is later than it has been in the past. Due to staffing challenges which arose during the Covid-19 pandemic, reservation calls have been routed to the Omni call center in Omaha, where their agents book rooms for more than 50 different Omni hotels. After a transitional first year, Omni is implementing a new room reservation system and increasing training to remote agents, which requires extra time to train and implement the new program.
The 2023 National Arts and Crafts Conference & Shows will be held February 17th – 19th, 2023. The February 17th – 19th dates are the correct dates; our apologies for previous misprints suggesting otherwise.
2. Our conference is under group reservations and please CALL rather than book online
When contacting the Omni reservations call center at (800) 438-5800, please make sure to press #1 for group reservations. In order to get your room at the group rate, you must make sure your reservation is with the National Arts and Crafts Conference group.
Additionally, please make sure you call in rather than book online. Attendees have tried to book online and the wrong rates have applied; please call the Omni line at 800-438-5800 in order to make your reservation in the group reservations. Until the Grove Park Inn has hired additional reservation agents, the phone number will remain 800-438-5800.
3. Your room requests are just requests
When speaking with an agent, you can request one of the three sections: the Sammons Wing, where the seminars are held; the Vanderbilt Wing, where the shows take place; or the original Main Inn, located above the Great Hall in the center of the resort hotel.
A historic Main inn room at the Grove Park Inn. Because these rooms include Arts & Crafts style decor and furniture, they are often a popular option with attendees and it is recommended to call early to obtain the historic rooms especially in the Palm Court area of the hotel.
A modern Sammons-wing room located in the side wings of the Grove Park Inn.
The Omni reservation agent cannot guarantee any request, they can only book you a room at the Grove Park Inn.
Your information will be sent to the office of registration manager/director Kate Nixon to organize room requests, which will be filled in the order in which they are received. When making the reservation, you can request your bed preference (king, queen, or two doubles) and, if known, even a specific room number you may have had in the past. When a requested room has already been assigned to an earlier caller, every effort is made to assign the closest room matching the requested description.
4. Paying the deposit
When making the reservation, a credit card number is required to take a deposit to hold the room. The Grove Park Inn offers full refunds if the cancellation is made eight days before your day of arrival.
As always, if you have any questions about the process, please call our office at (828) 628-1915. Be aware, however, that we are not connected to the Omni Grove Park Inn’s computer system and cannot make any room reservations from our office.
For more information, please visit arts-craftsconference.com.