The Greater Nashua Gamers Meetup Group

Re: [boardgames-379] We've got a bit of a situation with Holiday Inn

From:	Tom D.
Sent on:	Monday, July 6, 2009 5:12 PM

People aren't going OUT to the Holiday Inn restaurant for dinner. That's NO factor there. They are THERE and decide they have to eat. Have you been a parent? I wanna eat and get to bed when I get to the hotel. lol But I _certainly_ would walk away from an already filled room full of gaming people! :-) You got to be kidding yourself otherwise. Its not a case of us vs drunks, to them there's no difference, they aren't going to wait to evaluate how nice we are. (WE know we are! :-) They just walk on and don't say a word to Paul or the management.

But, they have their billing system, they know where the money is and was going. You guesses are just that. Their's aren't guesses. They were making $200-$250 a Monday night on dinners with their captive audience of business and travel people. Its now zero, so Amanda is right, we haven't seen anyone lately. But THAT is the problem, becuase they DID before. And other nights are still near their usual level... down, but not near zero. When we were higher than that, no prob. But now we're below that so they are rightly concerned.

And its JUST concerned. Beth's list is nice, but it doesn't address their concerns, but it may help a bit. They don't really care how messy or loud we are. They really don't! (as long as we do CatchPhrase LATER in the night! lol) As Paul (our Paul, not theirs ;-) said, they ARE used to drunks! So we ARE better than that! And they love us for it. But this area DIDN'T suffer from drunks. It was a nice quiet area for folks of business guys to get dinner. I go there WAY too much ;-) so I know. That's why I knew the area was available! :-) They DO have dinner quests; they DO it on other nights; they DID make money before we graced them with our wonderful presence. :-)

I think it was Keith who mentioned we should have made a formal announcement, but that's what Paul wants to avoid. He just heard the bosses talking and snuck around and told me, thinking I could delicately mention it. (JEESH, _me_ delicate?? What a mistake! ;-) So I blew that. lol Sorry. He just wants us to know its been discussed and we could affect it beforehand. And I think Beth is right, don't go overboard. We don't need a box/can. (but bussing your own table/getting your own water is a liability issue for them, so don't bother, Paul IS there to serve) If you're not eating, just toss a couple of bucks on your table, sometime during the night. Like someone else said, get a drink at least, if not food. Paul will get it. And I tiptoed around the manager after talking to Paul and actually he DOESN'T care if its just tips for Paul, since he's doing the work! As long as he can show his bosses its a positive thing (they have to report tips too in the total) is just one big total to them.

I think if we can do that and maybe try to use the booths to free up the outer back tables that are visible, we're fine.

Ticket to Ride?

--- On Mon, 7/6/09, Paul <[address removed]> wrote:

From: Paul <[address removed]>
Subject: Re: [boardgames-379] We've got a bit of a situation with Holiday Inn
To: [address removed]
Date: Monday, July 6, 2009, 4:24 PM

Monday nights suck in the restaurant and bar business. Monday nights are not a night that people tend to go out. If the restaurant is getting less business from other customers it is not because our group is there. It is the same reason that they are getting less money from us these days. The economy sucks. Yes, I'm also one of the unemployed many out there. Customers are not walking away because of the group. If I was a family looking for a meal and was staying at the hotel would I walk away because people are playing board games? Of course not. As a parent, I'd much rather see that than a bar full of drunks. If I don't see a table available, do I ever walk away from a restaurant? Never. I walk up and ask for a table and only if the host(ess) says there is a long wait do I ever consider a decision to go elsewhere.

Any restaurant that turns down a large group of people, no matter how much they spend, on a Monday night would be crazy, expecially these days.

Having said that , all of the other things that people have mentioned are always a good thing to do on the game night or otherwise. Tip your bartender/server well, whether you order a mixed drink, cola, or water. Consider ordering appetizers or a meal if it is in your budget, since you do have to eat anyway. Clean up after yourself and be curteous of others around you.

It's all really just common sense after all.

All my best,
Paul

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