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Housing "Pirates"
and "Poachers"
When we secure sleeping rooms at hotels for our conferences
(commonly referred to as room blocks), we research the properties to
make certain that our attendees will be adequately accommodated. The
room block is established to ensure that rooms meet our standards
and are offered at a discounted price.
We have been informed that registrants are often contacted by fax,
e-mail or most often by phone with offers for cut rate housing. The
intent is to convince you that the offer is made on our behalf, or
that the soliciting company is a viable alternative to going through
our service provider. This is not true. Housing for the Convention
is handled exclusively by Convention Housing Management (CHM).
How it works
Room poaching is a practice carried out by third-party companies
that act as travel agencies, wholesalers or destination management
companies to solicit registrants for room reservations.
The poacher might inform registrants that the hotel room block is
“sold out,” and that if you do not book with them immediately, you
may not get a room. Additional deceptive tactics include
distributing forms or promotional materials that appear to be issued
by us.
- Room poachers make it more difficult for us to meet our room block
commitments, and expose us to penalties and increased room rates for
our events.
- Room poachers often don’t deliver on promises to customers. When
customers arrive, reservations are non-existent or the hotels are
not conveniently located. Sometimes the rooms have been cancelled
and hefty cancellation fees have been placed on the customer’s
credit card.
- Poachers often represent themselves as being affiliated with us by
illegally using our logo.
How you can help
Don’t be misled! If you are contacted by anyone asking if you need a
room for the Convention, please get as much information as you can
and pass it on to our housing service provider. Contact CHM at
800.563.6493 or chm@chmrooms.com.
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