Need Help!

[Guest John W. Harvey]

To All:

In addition to all my work with the AACA, I am the National Management Director for the National Monte Carlo Owners Association........ yes...... Chevrolet......... yes, they are real cars........ OK, enough jokes already!

Anyway, we are in our 24th year of operation. I am having difficulty finding new venues for our annual Convention/Monte Carlo Nationals. We will be enjoying our 23rd annual event this June. However, I don't have a location for 2009 yet. Our history and references are good. That is not the problem. The problem is finding new locations. Without going through the list of where we have been, I'm hoping that I can tell you basically what we need and a geographic location.

Our event is always held right at the host hotel. Thus, a local park etc. is not in the mix. We need a hotel that has at least 125 rooms, a 1000 square feet room for our registraton/auction/merchandise sales. We also need a large room for our awards ceremony on Sunday morning (theater seating for about 200). Hotels aren't very hard to find that meet that criteria....... the problem is finding a hotel that has about 2 to 2.5 times as many parking spaces as they have rooms. Example: 200 rooms = 400 to 500 parking spaces. Yes, the trailers and tow vehicles are the problem. Each year, the trailer problem gets worse......... OK, no more jokes about the Monte Carlo!

I would like to find a nice venue in northern or southern Illinois. I will consider the St. Louis MO area and also the Southern part of Wisconsin.

If I come up empty there, I will consider other areas that are somewhat close to those area.

I have come up empty with the Springfield area, the Collinsville area, and now the Rockford area.

Any suggestions/help would be appreciated........

John

[mrpushbutton]

Come to the Detroit area. We need all the help (business=$$$) we can get right now.

[Guest John W. Harvey]

I need hotels........ not cities......... thanks anyway.

John

[aacalifeer]

John

In the N. Illinois Area try Pheasant Run Resort

( http://www.pheasantrun.com/ ). The VCCA was there in the past with excellent hospitality. First class all the way.

In Ohio you might check out Wright State University's Nutter Center area. There are lots of Hotels in the area. A few years ago the Model A Ford Club hosted their National Meet there. They bring in 1000 + A's annually. The Greene County Visitors Bureau could offer assistance.

Best of luck with the search.

[Oldsfan]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: John W. Harvey</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I have come up empty with the Springfield area</div></div>

You have? The OCA held a Nationals in Springfield in 1998. It was at the Crowne Plaza. They have a huge parking lot. There is a strip mall across the street, and restaurants within walking distance - apparently many more restaurants than when we were there 10 years ago - we lived at the Steak'N'Shake.

I recall the rooms at the Crowne Plaza as being a little pricey, but I also recall them as being very nice. I didn't stay there. There was a Holiday Inn or something adjacent to the Crowne - might have even been attached. It was an older hotel with a courtyard pool, but it had all been enclosed under roof. Looking at satellite maps, it appears this may have been torn down and replaced by another hotel. There were other hotels in the area as well.

The Crowne had a cool registration area on the ground level to the left of the main entrance - it was kind of like bank teller windows. Very professional looking. The club used the large parking lot to the north for the show field. OCA shows typically run 400 to 600 cars. They used a lot to the south, south of that adjacent Holiday Inn, for swap meet space. I don't know what they did about trailer parking - we typically have that off site.

http://www.cpspringfield.crowneplaza.com/DesktopDefault.aspx

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=crown+plaza&near=Springfield,+IL&fb=1&cid=0,0,8616977910614297408&sa=X&oi=local_result&resnum=1&ct=image

Paul

[Guest John W. Harvey]

aacalifeer,

Thanks I will check them out.

Oldsfan (Paul), I was working with Jeff Berg from the Springfield tourism for about a month. He put our needs out to bid. He told me that the weekend we needed in 09 wasn't available. I don't know, but I'm guessing that the Crowne Plaza would be a bit too pricey for our group. Thanks anyway.......

John

[Peter Gariepy]

Contact the local convention and visitors bureau to give you a hand. They can provide you a full list of hotels, their capacity, and their contact information.

Peter

http://www.visit-springfieldillinois.com/

http://www.discovercollinsville.com/

http://www.explorestlouis.com/