Fathers and Brothers,

Recognizing there is some confusion and concern about available hotel space in Richmond for General Assembly, I write to provide a little context and clarification about the available options. First, let me assure you that Richmond has plenty of rooms. We have actually quadrupled the number of hotels we have contracted with compared to the start of registration last year, and we continue to work to add additional hotels. We are not running into the situation of the last two years when our headquarter hotels either had a failure in their registration system or refused to honor their contract.

Here is our present context: As we move from one host city to the next one, hotel capacities differ and we adapt to the available options.  In the case of Richmond, there are many suitable hotels, but the ones closest to the Convention Center (and most in demand) are not able to hold our entire attendance. Consequently, they sell out quickly which we understand is disappointing as more and more commissioners in recent years have desired to stay in the “headquarters” hotel – instead of staying in the overflow hotels that we have also arranged. 

In addition to the hotels nearest the Convention Center, we hold significant blocks at two larger hotels, the Omni (where some of our staff and I will be staying) and the Delta Marriott. We also have family-friendly options at the Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites, Holiday Inn, and the historic Linden Row.

To facilitate easy access to the convention center from these additional hotels, a shuttle will run one hour before and one hour after all programming. 

Also, I should mention that room availability depends on the dates you are choosing.  As usual, our contracted blocks of reserved rooms have more rooms available on “peak nights” (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, when most of our commissioners are present). Rooms remain available even if Sunday and Monday have sold out. Still, the hotels nearest the convention center quickly hit the limit of the total number of rooms available in their facilities for early arrivers.  

We at the Administrative Committee prepared for the Richmond General Assembly to be one where many hotels would be needed to meet the housing need. However, we did not emphasize this information when we made the list of hotels available and I apologize that dynamics related to the quick sell out of this year’s “headquarter” hotel took some of you by surprise. In reality, each of our hotel blocks may feel like a “headquarters” hotel with so many PCA people staying at each.

If you have any questions regarding room arrangements, please feel free to reach out to our immensely capable arrangements coordinators Angela Nantz or Ashley Davis at events@pcanet.org, or me at ac@pcanet.org. 

Blessings,

Bryan Chapell