Friday, March 9, 2012

Buffalo Bill'd: Page at the Old Ball Game

/me waves back

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Wookiegate Hotel: Consider It Dan collusion allegations or something

Wookiegate? What's up now?

** This is a continuation/re-post of the thread that 499'd on Sunday. **

A Wookileaks Exclusive: How Trey stayed at a hotel for $84, while VMT/CID scalped $129 rooms to phans for $300+

In 2009, Phish partnered with Valley Music Travel to take care of hotel/shuttle arrangements for Festival 8. Valley Music Travel is a subsidiary of CID Entertainment, or ConsiderItDan, which is also taking care of hotel packages for Phish's 3-day Atlantic City run this summer.

Documents obtained by PT show evidence of extreme hotel price-gouging by VMT/CID, with tacit approval by the band.

1. Among the hotels in the Festival 8 travel package were the Renaissance Esmeralda in Indian Wells, CA and the La Quinta Resort & Club. VMT offered three-night packagesthat included 2 fest tickets, shuttle passes and a room for roughly $1,599 at those two hotels. (I can confirm the price of the LaQ package, and know that the Renaissance price was similar.)

2. Subtracting the price of 2 fest tickets ($199 apiece) and shuttle passes (sold individually for $90, but assuming some built-in discount into the package, we'll call them $80 each), the cost of the hotel was $1,041, or $347 per night.

3. Documents obtained by PT show that Trey stayed in the Renaissance Esmeralda from 10/23-11/2/09 at a rate of $84 per night. View the document here.

4. Another document shows that Valley Music Travel (as well as Goldenvoice) obtained a large block of rooms at a rate of $129 per night. View the document here.

5. Another document shows that the standard price of hotel rooms at the Esmeralda, booked outside of packages, was either $179, $199 or $209. We'll average this, to be generous, to $195 per night. Plus taxes that comes out to around $226 per night. These rates were no longer available once the hotel sold out, with VMT/GV controlling a massive block of rooms in time for the fest's official announcement. View the standard-rate proof here.

Conclusions:

* VMT was allowed to control the best hotels around Fest 8, and sell rooms at a PROFIT of around $200 per night, per room. (Purchased at $129+taxes, sold for $340ish.)

* The VMT purchase of rooms caused them to be re-sold for roughly $120 more, per night, than the rooms cost on the open market. (Were available at $226 including taxes, sold for $340ish.)

* Trey paid $250 less, per night, than the phans who custied up and purchased rooms from Phish partner VMT.


http://www.w00kileaks.org, lol. Just tryin to chill at my hotie, bro.