Re: [guadec-list] GUADEC 2017 accommodation survey

[Sam Thursfield]

On Fri, Nov 11, 2016 at 1:24 AM, Ekaterina Gerasimova  wrote:
> The TC provides accommodation rather than cash to those who are
> sponsored for GUADEC (exception to the rule tends to be less than
> 1/100).
>
> We prefer to go for the cheapest option per person as that allows us
> to offer sponsorship to more people. We do normally expect 2 people to
> share a room although there are usually about 3 or so who take single
> rooms for reasons.
>
> The yough hostel is probably not what we'd be looking for, especially
> if it's shared bathrooms too. Anyone sponsored by the TC would be
> expected to check out on the last day of the hackfests or pay for any
> extra nights themselves.

Thanks for the info. Does the University accommodation seem
appropriate then? At £43 a night it's the cheapest non-hostel place
we've found.

I guess what we'd do is reserve 30 to 40 rooms there for travel
committee bookings and leave the rest up to the travel committee?

I've found a video tour of the uni accommodation here, you just have
to imagine that it's empty :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AiBxobxxbk

Sam
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Re: [guadec-list] GUADEC 2017 accommodation survey

[Ekaterina Gerasimova]

Hi Sam,

On 9 November 2016 at 18:07, Sam Thursfield  wrote:
> Thank to everyone who did the survey, we got 30 responses in the end
> which is definitely helpful.
>
> I've processed the results with state-of-the-art data analysis
> technology (i.e. Python) and got the following answers:
>
> Total responses: 30
> How many people would consider staying at the MMU Townhouses?
> 17 of 30 (56%)
> How many people would only consider staying at the MMU Townhouses?
> 5 of 30 (16%)
> How many people who would stay at the Townhouses could register before
> March 2017?
> 9 of 17 (52%)
> How many people who would stay at the Townhouses would pay £8.50 extra
> for breakfast
> 6 of 17 (35%)
> What nights would Townhouses guests stay?
>   thu27: 15 of 17 (88%), or 50% of total attendees
>   fri28: 16 of 17 (94%), or 53% of total attendees
>   sat29: 16 of 17 (94%), or 53% of total attendees
>   sun30: 16 of 17 (94%), or 53% of total attendees
>   mon31: 15 of 17 (88%), or 50% of total attendees
>   tue1: 13 of 17 (76%), or 43% of total attendees
>   wed2: 10 of 17 (58%), or 33% of total attendees
> How many people would only stay in the youth hostel?
> 3 of 30 (10%)
> How many people would only stay the hotel?
> 8 of 30 (26%)
>
>
> I'm not quite sure about is travel sponsorship fits into this.
> Obviously people who need sponsorship can't attend unless they receive
> it; but should I count such people in the survey results? I realise
> now that I should have added another question :-)

The TC provides accommodation rather than cash to those who are
sponsored for GUADEC (exception to the rule tends to be less than
1/100).

We prefer to go for the cheapest option per person as that allows us
to offer sponsorship to more people. We do normally expect 2 people to
share a room although there are usually about 3 or so who take single
rooms for reasons.

The yough hostel is probably not what we'd be looking for, especially
if it's shared bathrooms too. Anyone sponsored by the TC would be
expected to check out on the last day of the hackfests or pay for any
extra nights themselves.

> Let's conservatively estimate 120 people come to GUADEC next year
> self-funded, and 40 more attend with travel sponsorship.
>
> - 12 people would choose to stay in the hostel (10%)
> - 32 people would choose to stay in the Jury's Inn (26%)
> - 67 people would choose to stay at the University (56%)
> - 9 people would do their own thing
>
> Let's assume 40 more are booked into the University accommodation by
> the travel committee, so a maximum of 107 people would stay there.
>
>
> University
> --
>
> Our initial booking was for 150 rooms.
>
> Based on the survey I propose this booking for the University:
>
>  - Thu 27th: 84 beds (7 houses)
>  - Fri 28th: 96 beds (8 houses)
>  - Sat 29th: 96 beds (8 houses)
>  - Sun 30th: 96 beds (8 houses)
>  - Mon 31st: 84 beds (7 houses)
>  - Tue 1st: 72 beds (6 houses)
>  - Wed 2nd: 48 beds (4 houses)
>
> These numbers are below the estimate of 107 people, but we don't have
> much flexibility here so I think we have to be conservative. In March,
> we'd be able to reduce this booking by a maximum of 25% each night,
> which for the main nights means 72 beds minimum.  From March onwards
> all the rooms are paid and we lose money if any of them end up empty.
>
> We can expect around 50% of these people to register by March 2017,
> which is encouraging. So let's get registration going as soon as we
> can.
>
> I'm a little uncertain how the travel committee bookings work; the
> deadline for applications seems to be around May/June usually which is
> not ideal given the deadlines for this accommodation. Could be made
> earlier this year? That would make me more confident in reserving a
> block of these rooms for the travel committee.
>
> The University have said the minimum breakfast booking at weekends is
> 40 people. Based on the survey we'd be looking at 35 people booking
> breakfast, and the only option for breakfast is for GUADEC to pay up
> front for it and charge the money back at registration, We make a loss
> if we don't hit the minimum, and registration will be complex enough
> as it is, so I reckon we have to leave that out. There is a Co-op
> supermarket really nearby, and some cafés within a 10 minute walk.
>
> The canteen will be open for lunch, people can buy food directly from
> the & the minimum spend is only £270 or something which we'll easily
> achieve.
>
>
> Hotel
> 
>
> The hotel option seems popular too, and given the demand for hotel
> rooms in Manchester and the flexible terms the Jury's Inn offered I
> reckon we should go with that too. However let's reduce our booking to
> 80 rooms (still more than double what I think we'll need) rather than
> the 100 we proposed initially.
>
>
> Hostel
> -
>
> A few people like the hostel, I think that for 15 beds it's probably
> not worth doing a group booking, we could just let people book their
> own rooms 

Re: [guadec-list] GUADEC 2017 accommodation survey

[Sam Thursfield]

Thank to everyone who did the survey, we got 30 responses in the end
which is definitely helpful.

I've processed the results with state-of-the-art data analysis
technology (i.e. Python) and got the following answers:

Total responses: 30
How many people would consider staying at the MMU Townhouses?
17 of 30 (56%)
How many people would only consider staying at the MMU Townhouses?
5 of 30 (16%)
How many people who would stay at the Townhouses could register before
March 2017?
9 of 17 (52%)
How many people who would stay at the Townhouses would pay £8.50 extra
for breakfast
6 of 17 (35%)
What nights would Townhouses guests stay?
  thu27: 15 of 17 (88%), or 50% of total attendees
  fri28: 16 of 17 (94%), or 53% of total attendees
  sat29: 16 of 17 (94%), or 53% of total attendees
  sun30: 16 of 17 (94%), or 53% of total attendees
  mon31: 15 of 17 (88%), or 50% of total attendees
  tue1: 13 of 17 (76%), or 43% of total attendees
  wed2: 10 of 17 (58%), or 33% of total attendees
How many people would only stay in the youth hostel?
3 of 30 (10%)
How many people would only stay the hotel?
8 of 30 (26%)


I'm not quite sure about is travel sponsorship fits into this.
Obviously people who need sponsorship can't attend unless they receive
it; but should I count such people in the survey results? I realise
now that I should have added another question :-)


Let's conservatively estimate 120 people come to GUADEC next year
self-funded, and 40 more attend with travel sponsorship.

- 12 people would choose to stay in the hostel (10%)
- 32 people would choose to stay in the Jury's Inn (26%)
- 67 people would choose to stay at the University (56%)
- 9 people would do their own thing

Let's assume 40 more are booked into the University accommodation by
the travel committee, so a maximum of 107 people would stay there.


University
--

Our initial booking was for 150 rooms.

Based on the survey I propose this booking for the University:

 - Thu 27th: 84 beds (7 houses)
 - Fri 28th: 96 beds (8 houses)
 - Sat 29th: 96 beds (8 houses)
 - Sun 30th: 96 beds (8 houses)
 - Mon 31st: 84 beds (7 houses)
 - Tue 1st: 72 beds (6 houses)
 - Wed 2nd: 48 beds (4 houses)

These numbers are below the estimate of 107 people, but we don't have
much flexibility here so I think we have to be conservative. In March,
we'd be able to reduce this booking by a maximum of 25% each night,
which for the main nights means 72 beds minimum.  From March onwards
all the rooms are paid and we lose money if any of them end up empty.

We can expect around 50% of these people to register by March 2017,
which is encouraging. So let's get registration going as soon as we
can.

I'm a little uncertain how the travel committee bookings work; the
deadline for applications seems to be around May/June usually which is
not ideal given the deadlines for this accommodation. Could be made
earlier this year? That would make me more confident in reserving a
block of these rooms for the travel committee.

The University have said the minimum breakfast booking at weekends is
40 people. Based on the survey we'd be looking at 35 people booking
breakfast, and the only option for breakfast is for GUADEC to pay up
front for it and charge the money back at registration, We make a loss
if we don't hit the minimum, and registration will be complex enough
as it is, so I reckon we have to leave that out. There is a Co-op
supermarket really nearby, and some cafés within a 10 minute walk.

The canteen will be open for lunch, people can buy food directly from
the & the minimum spend is only £270 or something which we'll easily
achieve.


Hotel


The hotel option seems popular too, and given the demand for hotel
rooms in Manchester and the flexible terms the Jury's Inn offered I
reckon we should go with that too. However let's reduce our booking to
80 rooms (still more than double what I think we'll need) rather than
the 100 we proposed initially.


Hostel
-

A few people like the hostel, I think that for 15 beds it's probably
not worth doing a group booking, we could just let people book their
own rooms directly. I'll check with the hostel about how early their
rooms normally fill up around this time and if we need to reserve any.


Does all this sound sensible? We really need to let the university
know our booking this week, so please get back to me with feedback
tomorrow if you have anyway!

I've attached the data & the script I ran it through, in case anyone
wants to reproduce my results.
Thanks
Sam
#!/usr/bin/python3
# Released in public domain under CC0 license:
# 

'''Analysis of GUADEC accommodation survey results.'''

import numpy
import pandas

IN_FILE = 'GUADEC 2017 accommodation survey.csv'


ACCOMMODATION_OPTION_LABELS = [
'hostel',
'uni',
'hotel_sharing',
'hotel_single',
'own'
]

NIGHT_OPTION_LABELS = [
'thu27',
'fri28',
'sat29',
'sun30',
'mon31',
 

Re: [guadec-list] GUADEC 2017 accommodation survey

[Ekaterina Gerasimova]

Hi Sam, you might be better of sending this to foundation-list as this
list is primarily used by volunteers and organisers :)

On 2 November 2016 at 13:19, Sam Thursfield  wrote:
> Hello
>
> We are looking at accommodation options for GUADEC 2017 in Manchester
> and we would like some feedback from you!
>
> Manchester's hotels fill up quickly in summer so we are going to do one
> or more group bookings now to ensure we have enough rooms for everyone.
>
> There are 3 potential locations we've found, each with its own
> drawbacks. I've put some details about each place here:
> https://wiki.gnome.org/GUADEC/2017/Accommodation
>
> If you are hoping to attend next year's GUADEC, please take a minute
> to fill the survey here: https://goo.gl/forms/DYcnQLiBBZSSQlH23
>
> If you prefer not to use Google Forms, just reply by email. The
> questions are as follows:
>
>  Which accommodation option(s) would you choose for GUADEC 2017?
>
>   [ ] Youth hostel (4-bed dorm, £33 per night)
>   [ ] University Townhouse (single room, £43 or more per night)
>   [ ] Jury's Inn Hotel (sharing a twin room, ~£51 per night)
>   [ ] Jury's Inn Hotel (single room, ~£94 per night)
>   [ ] I would organise my own accommodation
>
>  How early could you register for the conference & pay for
>  accommodation?
>
>   ( ) By 1st March 2017
>   ( ) By 1st June 2017
>   ( ) By 15th July 2017
>
>  Which nights would you expect to stay at GUADEC 2017?
>
>   [ ] Thursday 27th July 2017
>   [ ] Friday 28th July 2017 (core day #1)
>   [ ] Saturday 29th July 2017 (core day #2)
>   [ ] Sunday 30th July 2017 (core day #3)
>   [ ] Monday 31st July 2017 (BOF/workshop day #1)
>   [ ] Tuesday 1st August 2017 (BOF/workshop day #2)
>   [ ] Wednesday 2nd August 2017 (BOF/workshop day #3)
>
> The reason we're pushing this now is that the University accommodation,
> which is very nice and is right next to the venue, would require us to
> finalize the booking and pay in full by March 2017. If we made a big
> booking there and got the numbers wrong we would face a big financial
> loss, for example if we book 100 rooms for 6 nights and everyone only
> wants to stay for 5 nights, then GUADEC loses £4300. The other two
> options give us much more flexibility, but at a cost of being further
> from the venue and requiring people to share rooms.
>
> If anyone has other data that could inform our decision then please
> share! I think we haven't done group-booked accommodation for some
> years, but it has happened for example in A Coruña -- if anyone has
> numbers on how many people stayed each night at previous GUADECs
> it would help us a lot!
>
> Thanks
> Your friendly GUADEC 2017 local team
> ___
> guadec-list mailing list
> guadec-list@gnome.org
> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/guadec-list
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[guadec-list] GUADEC 2017 accommodation survey

[Sam Thursfield]

Hello

We are looking at accommodation options for GUADEC 2017 in Manchester
and we would like some feedback from you!

Manchester's hotels fill up quickly in summer so we are going to do one
or more group bookings now to ensure we have enough rooms for everyone.

There are 3 potential locations we've found, each with its own
drawbacks. I've put some details about each place here:
https://wiki.gnome.org/GUADEC/2017/Accommodation

If you are hoping to attend next year's GUADEC, please take a minute
to fill the survey here: https://goo.gl/forms/DYcnQLiBBZSSQlH23

If you prefer not to use Google Forms, just reply by email. The
questions are as follows:

 Which accommodation option(s) would you choose for GUADEC 2017?

  [ ] Youth hostel (4-bed dorm, £33 per night)
  [ ] University Townhouse (single room, £43 or more per night)
  [ ] Jury's Inn Hotel (sharing a twin room, ~£51 per night)
  [ ] Jury's Inn Hotel (single room, ~£94 per night)
  [ ] I would organise my own accommodation

 How early could you register for the conference & pay for
 accommodation?

  ( ) By 1st March 2017
  ( ) By 1st June 2017
  ( ) By 15th July 2017

 Which nights would you expect to stay at GUADEC 2017?

  [ ] Thursday 27th July 2017
  [ ] Friday 28th July 2017 (core day #1)
  [ ] Saturday 29th July 2017 (core day #2)
  [ ] Sunday 30th July 2017 (core day #3)
  [ ] Monday 31st July 2017 (BOF/workshop day #1)
  [ ] Tuesday 1st August 2017 (BOF/workshop day #2)
  [ ] Wednesday 2nd August 2017 (BOF/workshop day #3)

The reason we're pushing this now is that the University accommodation,
which is very nice and is right next to the venue, would require us to
finalize the booking and pay in full by March 2017. If we made a big
booking there and got the numbers wrong we would face a big financial
loss, for example if we book 100 rooms for 6 nights and everyone only
wants to stay for 5 nights, then GUADEC loses £4300. The other two
options give us much more flexibility, but at a cost of being further
from the venue and requiring people to share rooms.

If anyone has other data that could inform our decision then please
share! I think we haven't done group-booked accommodation for some
years, but it has happened for example in A Coruña -- if anyone has
numbers on how many people stayed each night at previous GUADECs
it would help us a lot!

Thanks
Your friendly GUADEC 2017 local team
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