Category:Hotel

Basic Department Description

• Representing the convention’s interests for the hotel; liasoning.
• Managing any task pertaining to the hotel.
• Negotiating with the hotel.
• Staff/Job email - [email protected] (These are the forward facing “job” emails that get posted to the public and forward emails to your personal VF email. Your personal VF email is what you log in to and use to read and respond to emails.)

Yearly Responsibilities

• Create contract and negotiate terms. Write-up Banquet Equipment Orders for any banquet neets.
• Manage hotel room blocks.
• Establishing a good team to work with and share duties before and during the convention.
• Cooperating with hotel employees
• Managing the catering events with Tivolii’s, Carvers, or Hotel Banquet (Ice Cream social, GOH dinner, etc.)

Your Department on the Website/in the Conbook

A page on the website having all the information for available hotel rooms with rates and any other information regarding hotel policies and con policies.

• Rates & Room types
• What rooms have/don’t have (kitchenette, wifi, etc.)
• Parking rates for non-hotel-staying attendees
• Party block/Quiet rooms/specific blocks
• Hotel rules (smoking, damage, etc)
• Booking instructions by Phone/Online
• At the door sign-in instructions via Credit card, debit or cash + deposit
• Info on the restaurants on site

• Make sure to have someone look over the information before sending it to the respective lead.
• Send it to the respective lead.
• Make sure to test the contact page (website) that the form sends an email to you.
• Make sure that your email is listed on the contact page (website) outside of the form.
• If you have any future updates, make sure to send them to the Web Lead!
• If you spot any mistakes in your blurb for the conbook, make sure to contact them ASAP about it!

6 Months before con, what do you need to have done?

• Ensuring the hotel block is getting the minimum number it needs based on sliding scale terms.
• Having established necessary blocks for party, fursuit, etc.
• Start contacting the hotel restaurants for any needed catering/hosted events.
• Contact restaurants for dealers den food orders during Fri-Sat (Or get DD in contat with.)
• Check in with restaurants and Pub about a drink menu

3 Months before con, what do you need to have done?

• Do you have enough volunteers?
• Same as above
• Keep in touch with restaurant and pub for the above items and make sure all needed staff are working to organize times, any needed graphic design (Carver’s menu, Drink menu, etc.)
• You should start building a schedule for your team. (Use the Master Schedule for the year! Programming lead sets this up every year and it houses our event schedule as well as the work/team schedules for at con departments.)

1 Month before con, what do you need to have done?

• Make sure all restaurant and pub items are confirms or are being confirmed quickly.
• Send in your BEO’s to Hotel Lead. (Banquet Event/Equipment Order. This is what the hotel needs to set up for your room if applicable. Tables, chairs, etc. You also need a layout of how the room is to be put together with those items.)
• Make sure to contact Logistics to get any equipment from the VF storage locker to the hotel for your use.
• Make sure to contact IT to organize when your equipment and Tech needs can be setup in your department area.
• Send in any needed information to the Conbook for print.
• Have any food functions be settled (GOH Dinner, Ice Cream Social, etc.)

After the Convention/Before the Firing Party

• Make sure all your volunteers (and yourself) got inputted into the system for their hours.
• Update your guide with any new/relevant information/changes.
• A staff feedback survey will be emailed out and sent into the staff chats. Please fill this out ASAP!
• Make any staffing suggestions to the next years’ chair. (If you want to work again, staff who excelled and where, etc.)
• If VancouFur owes you money for department spending, PLEASE PLEASE send your reciepts to [email protected] & [email protected] and then fill out [[1]]

Break down of contacts

• Always have the contact of all your staff
• If you need help or assistance, the Admin and the Chairs are here to help you.
• Always have contact for the hotel (reservations, catering, sales, banquet, etc.)

Do's and Don'ts of the Department

• Making separate blocks for groups (party, fursuit, etc.)
• Make sure nothing is missing from the BEOs for each department.
• DO NOT LEAVE ANYTHING LAST MINUTE!

PLEASE REMEMBER

• PENTHOUSES: They have 1 room upstairs (no door) and a pullout couch. Bigger space, less beds. Make sure this gets put on the info sheets/applications etc!
• Always respond to emails/contacts, even if it is just to say “I recieved your email and will get back to you soon!” / “I don't know the answer but I am looking into it for you!”
• Be sure to contact the Chairs or Admin to make sure you have access to the materials you will need for the year like your Staff Email, Access to any folders/sites with materials, etc. (Be on the lookout for invites or emails to these things and check your junk mail too!)
• Make sure you TEST your new staff email (if any) and report problems immediately to the Chairs! (if you haven't gotten any emails in a while, do another test!)
• Make sure you keep all of your information up to date with the convention staff! Contact the volunteers lead to update your information if the volunteers spreadsheet is not available for direct editing!
• Do not WAIT for someone to contact you. If you have a moment to reach out, do so! Depending on who you are working with, the communication road may not be a 2 way street and you will have to do a lot of poking. Please be proactive!
• Do not edit any staff members’ documentation without permission!
• Keep all VancouFur related documents INSIDE the VancouFur Materials folders. Keeping things on your own gdocs and not inside the VancouFur specific folders makes it incredibly difficult to find needed information for all parties without hassling a lot of staff.
• If you need to make something private in the materials folder (Googledocs or wherever it moves to in the future) Make sure that the Chairs, Admin and Executives CAN STILL SEE IT. We need to know where you are and if your files are all hidden we cannot proactively offer help, guidance, or corrections. Otherwise, just keep things public/view only to prevent people from messing with your info.
• Make sure you know who your Executive is! They are there to help you and oversee the branch of departments you are in. Contact [email protected] / [email protected] to check or check the contact page on the website!