CruiseFest 2011

[dbaumis]

Hotel Considerations

We are very pleased to announce that CruiseFest 2011, will be held at Mid America Motorworks in Effingham, IL next year.

We have not settled on dates yet, however, rest assured, it will probably be within the first two weeks of June.

Expect it to be bigger, better with more seminars and road tours!

Has anyone on the planning committee looked into a different hotel than the one we stayed at last year? We just came back from Funfest and stayed at the same hotel...it just seems to be run down and not very clean for the price we paid. I've heard the Comfort Inn is nice and clean but unsure of the cost.....just a thought.

 

[Yoda]

Has anyone on the planning committee looked into a different hotel than the one we stayed at last year? We just came back from Funfest and stayed at the same hotel...it just seems to be run down and not very clean for the price we paid. I've heard the Comfort Inn is nice and clean but unsure of the cost.....just a thought.

Don,
Thank you for your input :dance Honestly (as far as I know) the only thing that has been agreed upon and set in stone is CruiseFest 2011 WILL BE at Mid America Motor Works, Effingham, IL second weekend in June

As the planning comes together I will bring up looking into another Hotel We went with the one we had based on $$ so if folks are willing to pay a few more dinaro there would be a lot more choices

Again thanks for you comments

Bud

 

[87Bob]

I stayed a the Comfort Inn across the interstate the rooms were cleaner and nicer then where we stayed last June the Rate I paid was 125.00+ tax.

 

[Mike Terry]

Has anyone on the planning committee looked into a different hotel than the one we stayed at last year? We just came back from Funfest and stayed at the same hotel...it just seems to be run down and not very clean for the price we paid. I've heard the Comfort Inn is nice and clean but unsure of the cost.....just a thought.

Don I agree with you. Even if it a couple $$$ more as long as it is clean that is what counts. Hell that cookout they had for us last year sucked. I think the meat was not real meat, more like cardboard. I vote to move the rooms to some place else.

 

[Rob]

We stayed at the Day's Inn in June because Lori from MidAmerica was able to get us a deal there. Since MidAmerica has a working relationship with them, and because of the state of the economy, we felt that trying to get the lowest room rates possible was important.

I am however, not opposed to staying somewhere else. The first room I was supposed to stay in at the Day's Inn smelled like a wet ash tray, had too many spiders in it for my comfort, and the WiFi wasn't working. I ended up having to stay in one of the suites which was excellent, but I paid a higher price for it.

 

[Evolution1980]

The same family owns Rodeway Inn and Comfort Inn, which are right next to each other. My room for CruiseFest was in the first/front Comfort Inn building. My room for FunFest was in the second/rear building which wasn't quite up to par with the first building. Not saying that the bar was set very high with the first building. I wasn't thrilled with my room this time around, but then again, I'm not all that concerned about the hotels since I'm rarely in 'em. It's the reason I stayed at "Paradise Inn" last year. It was cheap and I got what I paid for, which wasn't much. I'd venture to say that with most of the hotels in the area, you'll get what you pay for.

 

[Mike Terry]

Because it is not the size of Funfest the room rates will not be inflated for the CAC event. Someone should call some of the different Hotels and see what kind of rate we can get. You would need to know a date that you would need the rooms and about how many rooms you would need to block. I am sure we could get the same or very close to the same rate and get cleaner and nicer rooms.

 

[Yoda]

Because it is not the size of Funfest the room rates will not be inflated for the CAC event. Someone should call some of the different Hotels and see what kind of rate we can get. You would need to know a date that you would need the rooms and about how many rooms you would need to block. I am sure we could get the same or very close to the same rate and get cleaner and nicer rooms.

Here!

Last year Lori DID contact numerous Hotels and listed the price for the committee to decide on. It was decided to go with the lower priced Hotel, end of story!

As for the "FREE BBQ" at last years CruiseFest, well it was offered by the Hotel owners to our group as complimentary. I didn't see anyone turning down the Hot Dogs & Hamburgers, as a matter of fact I saw quite a few going back for SECONDS and THIRDS...

There is nothing forcing anyone to stay at the Hotel chosen, there are many others to chose from.

WE WILL look at other options this year, probably move up in quality and price, then folks will complain about the increased price :W or what happened to the "FREE BBQ" or maybe the Hotel will not allow the tradition of BLENDER WARS... yes some Hotel do not allow such events because of Liability issues...

It is what it is... It was the first year for our partnership for CruiseFest with Mid American Motor Works, it will only get better, useful feedback is needed to improve and enhance the CruiseFest experience...

MAM will be working their butts off to make sure our members are taken care of, and CruiseFest gets better every year... Now if they could do something about the weather

Bud

 

[catbert]

Bud's right. There is nothing mandating that we stay at the "host" hotel. I'll be staying somewhere else next year.

 

[Scott Winebarger]

Here!

Last year Lori DID contact numerous Hotels and listed the price for the committee to decide on. It was decided to go with the lower priced Hotel, end of story!

As for the "FREE BBQ" at last years CruiseFest, well it was offered by the Hotel owners to our group as complimentary. I didn't see anyone turning down the Hot Dogs & Hamburgers, as a matter of fact I saw quite a few going back for SECONDS and THIRDS...

There is nothing forcing anyone to stay at the Hotel chosen, there are many others to chose from.

WE WILL look at other options this year, probably move up in quality and price, then folks will complain about the increased price :W or what happened to the "FREE BBQ" or maybe the Hotel will not allow the tradition of BLENDER WARS... yes some Hotel do not allow such events because of Liability issues...

It is what it is... It was the first year for our partnership for CruiseFest with Mid American Motor Works, it will only get better, useful feedback is needed to improve and enhance the CruiseFest experience...

MAM will be working their butts off to make sure our members are taken care of, and CruiseFest gets better every year... Now if they could do something about the weather

Bud

:L Calm down Bud...

The first hotel that was negotiated was only $20.00 a night more and it was at the new Hilton if I remember correctly. :duh
MAM does not use the Days Inn...lol

MAM will negotiate rates for us if we wish and can get some good prices but they need to know how many of us will be there before they stick their neck out.

 

[87Bob]

Everyone needs to calm down no one is faulting anyone for the choice of where to stay. But just for me I stayed at the Comfort Inn for Funfest at 125.00 per night. I agree that price should be considered but the condition of the Hotel needs to be looked at as well. Today in the hotel business many hotels are being run by foreigners. They live in the hotels and use family as maids and maintenance. They run the property into the ground and then move on. They suck every dollar out of it and by the time their done with it about all it is worth is to tear it down. OK I'll get off my soap box now. Where I stayed this year may just as bad as the others next year. Perhaps someone who lives close could go and check the general condition of the different choices before next years Cruisefest. I'll probably hate myself for this but I'll volunteer to do it. Lets face it I want to stay in a place where I don't have to be concerned about walking on the floor in my bare feet. If my wife decides to join me I don't want to be embarrassed at the condition of the hotel.

 

[JohnGrawcock]

Check the regular rates in the area

I'd suggest checking the regular nightly rates for the Hotels in the area before you call to tell them you are organizing an event. My experience has been that the special rates you get when trying to organize for a group are a premium rather than a discount.

There are many affordable hotels in the area. Their normal rates are pretty much half what they charge for Friday and Saturday the weekend of FunFest.

One place that I am familiar with is the Super 8. There regular rate is $59.99/night, it's clean, and conveniently located.

 

[Scott Winebarger]

Cruisefest will be here before you know it. We need to get an idea of how many will come for 2011. I am going to throw out some incentive.
We are shooting for 200 Corvettes this year, if we get half that (thats 100 Vettes for those of you that are math challenged)
:guitar I personally will guarantee a live band for this event and pay for it myself.
We already have quality for this event, a little quantity won't hurt.
The more of us that commit, the more Mid America can and will offer us.
Those of you that came in June got a taste of the hospitality.

I am not an event planner, not that computer savvy and I am really a mess with typing words in a forum but I will do everything I can on the ground at Mid America to help make this the Cruisefest that everyone remembers for years to come.

 

[Boeingdriver]

CruizeFest Band for Saturday Night!

Wow Scott, that's what I call stepping up!

This could be the start of a mini-Funfest with the draw of a Saturday night band. Your're right Scott. There's no reason we can't draw 200 cars for this event. Just for reference, Paul Koerner (C4C5 Specialist) drew 130 owners to his seminar last Saturday at FunFest. I know, I was there. He was with us last year for CruizeFest and will hopefully be part of the program this year. With MidAmerica rolling out the torch red carpet for us, I don't care if we have to hijack a NCM anniversary group at Bowling Green the weekend before, let's get 200 cars through the doors to support this event!

 

[bill81vette]

I'm planning on coming again!!!!!
to miss it would be unforgivable!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mike Terry]

I will be there again but I would like to get a little nicer place to stay.

 

[JohnGrawcock]

The best way to promote this event is to spread the word to all the Corvette owners/hobbyists you know about how good it was last year and invite them to join us this year. I intend to recommend it highly to my Corvette club.

 

[GerryLP]

It is baffling to me that as much as some of us are complaining about the BBQ, the BBQ itself was a huge success in that everyone was having a great time. At one point, we had close to 50 people on that little square patio, and if were not for the annoying flood light that kept coming on and off from time to time, and the lack of sitting area, it would have been the perfect function for a Corvette-owning group of enthusiast in which to get together. And where did Mike Yeager's brother went to party? With us!

GerryLP:cool

 

[Mike Terry]

Kenny Yager will stop by and drink a beer. It was cool of him to show up last year and bring and drink a few with us. I think everyone who came last year should contact people in your Corvette club and get them to come. I thinkl it would be cool to maybe do the dinner like we did last year at MAM and have a band afterwards or do a band on friday night and the Dinner on Sat. night like last year. Just an idea.

 

[GerryLP]

Kenny Yager will stop by and drink a beer. It was cool of him to show up last year and bring and drink a few with us. I think everyone who came last year should contact people in your Corvette club and get them to come. I thinkl it would be cool to maybe do the dinner like we did last year at MAM and have a band afterwards or do a band on friday night and the Dinner on Sat. night like last year. Just an idea.

The band we had at Colorado Springs was great and even inspired an encore performance from the Zoomprenes. :L

GerryLP :cool