Why aren’t there enough rooms in the Unified Symposium room
block?
Each year we contract more rooms than are reserved. There are
enough hotel rooms in total to meet demand. However, the hotels
are not within walking distance to the SAFE Credit Union
Convention Center.
Why aren’t ASEV or CAWG members or exhibitors given a priority in
booking rooms?
The majority of CAWG and ASEV members that attend do not stay
overnight in Sacramento during the conference. Most of the rooms
are utilized by exhibitors. The UW&GS attendee profile
includes CAWG and ASEV members as well as sponsors and exhibitors
who collectively represent our customers who invest in this
successful event.
Additionally, managing online housing on a preference-basis for a
group of attendees such as members or exhibitors is not practical
or simple to orchestrate. The net result would also still
not provide rooms downtown for everyone that wants one.
Why aren’t there more rooms at the downtown hotels?
We make every effort to obtain the maximum number of rooms we can
and have been able to increase the total available inventory by
negotiating multiple rate tiers with the Hyatt and Sheraton. Most
everyone that needs a hotel room wants one downtown. This
expectation is understandable. However, the inventory of total
rooms available in downtown Sacramento is a smaller number than
the number of people wanting these rooms.
If the Hyatt or Sheraton in downtown Sacramento are sold out
before the UW&GS housing opens, does that mean that the
UW&GS has all the rooms?
No hotel will offer all rooms in its inventory to a conference.
However, these two hotels provide a significantly higher number
of their total inventory than the industry standard for a
conference room block. How much is available and at what rate is
based on supply and demand. This is similar to any other product
in a marketplace (perhaps like grapes or wine). Hotels pre-sell
some rooms to online entities (e.g.: Hotels.com or Expedia). They
also reserve a certain number of rooms for their preferred guests
and walk-in business.
The established success of the UW&GS is advantageous in
negotiations but our repeated success is also assurance that
hotels can sell some rooms at higher rates each year.
What if I cannot book a room at one of the UW&GS contracted
hotels I prefer?
There are more than enough hotel rooms in Sacramento available.
If you are not able to reserve a room at one of our hotels after
housing opens, please visit the Visit Sacramento
(Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau) housing page for
additional hotels to consider. You may also consider contacting
one of our hotels closer to the conference week as there may be
cancellations. You can request the UW&GS rate but the hotel
may or may not offer this rate after the room block is
closed.
Do the show organizers earn a commission or percentage of the
rate on the hotel rooms booked?
No. We negotiate the lowest rates possible for our members and
exhibitors attending the symposium. We do this by not receiving
any portion of the hotel room revenue. We do earn one
complimentary room per 50 booked at our two headquarters hotels.
These earned rooms are used to offset our housing expenses for
our staff, contractors and invited speakers and in total they
only reduce our related expenses.
Why isn’t the Unified Symposium held in another city where more
hotel rooms are close to the event?
This has been considered for years and continues to be. It seems
so simple to just find another venue that better serves our and
your needs but it is not. The organizers are committed to
continue to hold the event in California.
The only alternative venue that can at least accommodate our
current session room and exhibit floor space needs is in San
Francisco. We have evaluated many options with very limited
outcome. The convenience of close proximity between the hotel
rooms we need and a convention center is not significantly better
in other cities. Where we can add more nearby rooms, the
additional hotels we could consider have significantly higher
rate ranges and “nearby” is not as close as our two headquarters
hotels in Sacramento.
Additional concerns for our exhibitors and attendees with an
alternative venue include significantly increased fees and costs
in regard to: (a) union labor, (b) parking, (c) meals and (d)
hotel rates. We are not assured that our repeated successful
attendance would prevail with such a change in economic impact
for you.
UW&GS Representation or Misrepresentation – Please Exercise
Caution!
The Unified Wine & Grape Symposium (UW&GS) encourages you to
exercise caution for any solicitations for discounted hotel rates
or directory listings which often include advertising
solicitations. There are many show directories that target
attendees, sponsors and exhibitors from other shows including
ours. These solicitations are often mailed and appear to be from
the Unified Symposium, CAWG or ASEV and they are not.
Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, LLC Web Link & Logo License
Agreement
UW&GS will grant to you a personal, nonexclusive,
nontransferable license to hyperlink (“Link”) your Internet
website to UW&GS’s Internet website, and/or use UW&GS’s
Web link logo (“Link Logo”) as part of your Internet website
subject to the following terms and conditions: You must accept
all terms and conditions in this Agreement.