BEA Posts:



You're registered, you've books a flight (if you're coming from far away), and you have a general idea how much you want to spend.  Sadly even if you go with the BEA Traveler Discount, things will still be mighty expensive if you stay in a hotel.

There's a couple of things you can do.  Get your own room (heck of a lot of money), share with a few others or look into alternative means (stay with a pal in the city, commute into the city, hostels, look for a couch to crash on...).  Having gone to about a dozen different conventions over the years, most of which involved hotel room time, I think this is a good option.

Be Wary of the Fickle Roommate
Know your room-mates.  Either room with bloggers you know or convince the bloggers you know to room with you.  I would suggest instituting some sort of deadline for when a roomie can drop out--and a penalty if they drop out the day before the convention.  No one likes showing up thinking their budget is one thing and finding out that because someone dropped out it just went up a couple hundred dollars. 

Nominate Someone to be In Charge
This will either happen organically (which is what happened with my group) or its something you need to decide on early on.  This person will be in charge of making sure the room is booked, arrival/departure times for everyone, everybody's cut for the room charges and ensuring no one breaks any rules.

Nominate someone reliable and doesn't mind verbally slapping people down if they break the rules.  If there is a timeline you have to keep--KEEP IT.  You may sound like Drill Sergent Tightass, but someone has to be in charge.

If you are the person in charge, then you should be the first to arrive at the hotel and the last to leave at the end of stay.  You should be in charge of the hotel room keys (I suggest collecting them each night before everyone falls asleep to make sure none go missing--they charge for that in some places).  You will ultimately be held responsible for damage done to the room, disturbances or problems so KEEP CONTROL.

Communication is not just key, its mandatory
Coordinate arrival and departure times beforehand and then re-confirm the day/night before everyone begins to drive/fly.  Have everybody's cell phone numbers and ensure they have yours so you can keep in touch about delays or problems.  Make sure they bring their cell phone charger so that if the phone is dying they can plug it in.  The absolute worst thing that can happen is if your group breaks up (which it will) for different activities and no one can get a hold of anyone else.  Coordinate meeting times/places after BEA closes so you can at least touch base before meandering off towards where-ever (publisher party, dinner with other friends, whatever).

Share Expenses
Not just the room charges, but also invest in a couple 24pks of water bottles, go snack shopping together and get the discount for bulk items.  Y'all will be starting the day in the same place so split cab fees (though I still prefer walking).  Split a pizza for dinner instead of buying individual slices or buy a half dozen bagels instead of one or two for breakfast.  Any possible way you can share costs do it.


Create Boundaries Early
Find a way to keep everyone's stuff as separate as possible--believe me I've come home with other people's clothes and personal items before because they got tossed in the wrong bag by accident.  BEA means there will be a lot of extra items to bring back to the room (even if you are really careful) and this doesn't include if you go out to The Strand or other shopping.  Bring name tag stickers so you can mark the tote bags and such easily on the outside.  Or colored pieces of paper to stick inside books to denominate who's who's.

Also, and this should be done beforehand, discuss things like 'drinking' or 'smoking' or allergies.  Best case scenario you're with people you trust and know, who share a similar world view to you.  Worst case you are with a bunch of compulsive strangers.  If you have a specific need or desire, make it clear.  This goes back to communication.

As of right now I haven't found too many places that are giving the hook-up to attendees to announce they need a roomie.  If you follow the hashtag #BEA11 on twitter you'll see folks mentioning the need on occasion and Rhiannon @ The Diary of a Bookworm has a page up on her blog so people can connect.  Otherwise if you know other places please say!