Stay-and-play tournaments?

All out of town tournaments that my kids have been involved with have had a "required" place to stay and I've had mixed experiences. There was one that was really out-of-this-world great, establishing the ballroom as a player and parent breakfast center, but most are simply for ease. It can be pretty good for bonding when you have your entire team staying at the same place, but I don't think there's any significant rate difference. I've heard some horror stories about tournaments that match up player rosters with hotel guest lists, but those are just hearsay. For the most part, I think it's impossible to determine if an individual player stays somewhere else as long as a large part of the team stays at a partner hotel.

There's no reason to pick on the club. Of the 9 tournaments my daughters have travelled to over the past 2 years, all of them had a similar sort of arrangement.

 

I manage my son’s U13 team - just on the administration side of things, paperwork, hotels, handling the money, etc. And we are actually going to this very tournament and already have hotel arrangements setup though them.

From what I’ve seen/experienced, these “stay to play” rates are maybe a little better or certainly no worse than you might normally get on your own. Only felt screwed over once, and that was more the exception then the rule…and it was somewhat my fault waiting to the last minute in that particular case…

For this particular tournament we have a 3-star name brand chain hotel, with nice pool area, very conventionally located, all double room (which is usually a necessary for team travel and can be problematic at times) for ~120 at night…which also includes breakfast, which isn’t normally included at these particular hotels (in form of voucher)…I consider that a fair rate…

 

We have been to many of these tournaments and I am not a fan. If it is the reality of the situation or not the natural thought is the host club is getting a kickback from the hotels which always leaves a sour taste. More importantly there are always logistical issues:

The tournaments typically outsource the assignment of hotels to teams. We have been to tournaments where our coach has also brought another team from the club but the 2 teams are given different hotels, often on opposite sides of town, making the coaches "commute" more difficult. The same can be said for parents with multiple kids on multiple teams where the teams are given different hotels, one kid is staying away from the rest of his team as opposed to the club finding a hotel for all of their teams attending the tournament.

One tournament we attended assigned each team a block of rooms, all of our block were a single king size bed with a sofa. Worked fine for me but parents that brought the whole family were put in a terrible position and there was no changing of room type.

Many times the tournaments will be within 2 - 3 hours drive and depending on the game schedule could easily have been driven Saturday morning but the hotels have a 2 night requirement.

We have been to many tournaments where there is family in the area we could have stayed with but these stay and play tournaments typically require each player to have a reserved room or there is no play. Again just leads to a feeling of a money grab.

Just my opinion but I had let our club know I wasn't a fan of these arrangements. I think it is one thing to have official tournament hotels, a referral list to hotels, etc. and even for the club to get a kickback is the way business is done but to require a specific hotel, that is assigned by the tournament, in order to register a team is going to far.

 

I don’t believe, in most cases, there is anything sinister or unseemly going on; in most cases, I believe it is an honest attempt to make it easier/more convenient on teams…

Many of these tournaments are quite large and see a massive influx of out of towners, all looking for hotel rooms. It makes perfect sense that the local hotel/hospitality industry and those running the tournament would want to coordinate with each other in order to guarantee adequate housing for everyone and to essentially set aside/lock in these dates in the hope that other large events don’t attempt to book that same weekend, in the same area (in a perfect world)…I would guess these arrangement are made months, if not years in advance, especially for the more established tournaments…

Maybe we have just been lucky, but I have never experienced the problems Keeper dad speaks of…for example, we always seem to have couple of players/families not staying at the official play to stay hotel; nobody has ever made an issue of it that I am aware of…

 

Usually no problem for us but we got put in a dump for an Indy tournament this Spring. There were numerous bed bug checks when we checked in.

 

We'll be there as well - good luck!

 

Sounds like it varies quite a bit from area to area or even tournament to tournament.

I have four kids playing, lots of out of town tournaments, and I hate the "stay and play." I cannot ever remember getting a better rate than what I could find on-line. As others have pointed out, there are many logistical problems using them. Many players have family in nearby areas and want to stay with them. Many families prefer to drive two hours each way to avoid the cost and having to stay in yet another chain hotel. It gets very old.

There are certain tournaments who have contacted our team manager and threatened to kick our team out of a tournament if we did not take 8 or 10 rooms. I wish the tournaments would just charge a higher entry fee to cover the kickbacks and get rid of the stay and play.

 

Thanks, you too...

 

I sure don’t… tournaments rates are high enough as it is…this would simply make things more expensive for everyone…or most everyone…a guaranteed higher entry fee, which gets pass along to the parents anyway, AND a theoretically cheaper hotel room…sorry, no thanks…only once have we stayed at a “Stay to play” where I felt the rack rate was really any or much higher then what I would expect to pay for comparable accommodations on my own…not everyone wants or can (simply not enough rooms) stay at a ultra-budget hotel…

While acknowledge problems/issues do occur (most due to poor execution, then concept), and hardly willing to die on my the sword defending the practice, “stay to play” at many tournaments is probably a necessary evil…the classic damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation…Sponsorship money has dried up at lot of these tournaments; tournament organizers have to make up that shortfall somewhere…and if they have to do “stay to play” to break even or even turn a bit of profit (this ain’t a charity event after all), while still making it generally affordable to attend, then so be it…

 

One other thing that I think gets dicey is the question of "who is required to stay in the assigned hotels?" I have always wondered if the local teams are required to stay or is it just out of state teams? In some areas being out of state may be a shorter drive than some teams that would be considered local. Where I am in Chicago it is often a shorter drive to Michigan or Indiana tournaments then it would be to many tournaments in the suburbs but being out of state we are required to stay in the tournament assigned hotel.

In terms of keeping the costs down by going this route is only really helping those teams they don't require to stay in the assigned hotel and as a result a higher overall cost is transferred to the out of town teams. In my mind this policy may begin to restrict the out of town clubs that attend the tournament thereby reducing the overall size and competitiveness of the field. My feeling on out of town tournaments was the ability to see other teams, styles, etc. as opposed to the same 10-15 teams you see at every local tournament. How frustrating is it to get a tournament draw and see one or two teams in your bracket that you play in typical league play? We always felt it was a waste of a tournament entry fee and by mandating out of town teams to subsidize the local teams by requiring a certain number of hotel rooms be purchased I think tournaments are going to see fewer and fewer out of town teams.

 

Out of town teams will always incur a higher cost…its inherent in being “out of town”…in actual situations where logging is necessary, I am not sure I am convinced that everyone (100s of teams) trying to secure rooms on their own would actually result in a lower average room rate cost across the board…sure, teams that get in early might see better rates, but once word gets out and rooms start drying up, rates will go up…at least with stay to play things are contractually regulated and prices guaranteed, so the first team in, pays the same general rate as the last team in…of course, there are still advantages to booking early…

With or without stay to play, traveling to out of town tournaments is expensive…in terms of money, time and commitment…to be blunt, either you accept that expense or you don’t…this issue is hard not personalize and think of in terms of real dollars, but whether I pay $100 a night or $130 a night for a room isn’t going to make or break my desire to have my kids play in a couple of out of town tournaments a season…

KD, with you being in the Chicago area and me being in Downstate, we probably view the necessity of travel differently…we don’t see much comparable competition or variety unless we drive a couple hours, usually north or south…

 

If you are maybe two hours away from the tournament and you are being forced to do the "stay and play" contact the tournament and explain that you would like to be considered local and not have to participate in the stay and play. Tournaments often will change their policies for your team, if you ask. Or, ask the tournament if your team can reserve only four or five rooms rather than 12-16 -- simply explain that the cost to families is too high and that many families on the team prefer to save money at motels or stay with friends and relatives. Tournaments often will listen and adjust. This works especially well if your club sends a fair number of teams to a tournament.

When planning tournaments at team meetings we discuss which tournaments are stay and play -- it can make a big difference to some families depending on circumstances.

 

Great points…remember, whereas stay to play may help offset some costs, they are not the main revenue stream…the entry fees are…so unless a tournament is so inundated with applications from quality teams, most will not cut off their nose to spite their face….and will work with teams if the request or circumstance is reasonable…and if they won't, then just go to a different tournament...most tournaments are a dime and dozen, and don't mean shit...if one tournament won't work for a team/their parents, there are plenty of others that will...

 

I don't disagree with anything you have said, in fact I strongly agree. That being said, our experience as been mostly around the college ID tournaments where there are fewer options. I think the problem comes in when they outsource the booking and it is done on a team basis rather than a club basis. In a normal situation where a club is sending 5 or 6 teams to a given tournament the club can pick a hotel, reserve a block of rooms, negotiate terms and amenities and keep all of their people in one location. Through the stay and play set up those 6 teams can quite possibly end up in 6 different hotels, with different price points, amenities, etc. and it causes logistic nightmares.

As you said it is hard not to personalize these things and I go back to the tournament that really rubbed me the wrong way. Boys college ID tournament (so all players were 15-18 years old) and our block of rooms only allowed for a king plus sofa room, not a convenient arrangement for anyone that had more than the player and parent making the trip.

 

Fair points and well taken…my son is only U13, so we are still a few years from ID tournaments…I can image those things can be lot more competitive (just to get in), expensive, crazy, and stressful…given that they are billed as and are supposed to actual be meaningful…

 

Short story about a positive with stay and play. This spring, my youngest was in a S&P tournament in Cinci, which was about a 4 hour drive for her team. There were at least 40 participating hotels and had to be something like 300 teams. At 6:45 am Saturday, the early games were cancelled due to weather and around 10:00, the tournament was scrapped. I had no problem with early checkout and didn't have a 2nd night charged. As I was thinking about it, those hotels had to have been stung on Saturday night, going from close to full capacity to near empty. I don't imagine they were filling rooms up during the day when everything had already been booked.

I was actually surprised that they let everyone go.

 

Three words… Event Cancelation Insurance….

Or maybe everyone in involved was just smart enough not to piss off so many people for such a short team gain/loss…but I tend to go with the first explanation...

 

I imagine most teams and clubs want to be in the same hotel. I imagine it makes it easier for everyone. Looks like lots of those hotels were sold out. Sometimes there are other big events in the area like softball tourneys or weddings. This way you are guaranteed a room. I have never been told I can't go to a different hotel, and have stayed with family instead of a hotel when we went to Minnisota last summer for a tournament.

 

CFS, are you still around and is your club ILLINOIS FC, if you don't mind me asking...I am actually asking for an on topic reason....

 

At the NPL and ECNL levels of play you basically give your credit car info to DoF (Director of Financing) an they book the hotels and airfare for you.

I have found this to be a cost savings however - at least on the airfare side. No complaints on the hotel end.

 

We have been to your tournaments a couple of times (it’s been a few years now) with a previous smaller club; my current club (SASA) sent several teams your way just last week (maybe you played one?)… …and your tournaments are great, well run, no complaints with regard to how things were handled at/on the fields, love the city/campus, very good memories mostly…but lodging, as I recalled was always kind of a pain and off putting…it always seemed to me that Champaign area hotels were pretty tuned into what was happening around town and always seem to jack their rates and policies on big event weekends…youth soccer tournaments included….

The worst rate I ever paid for a hotel room at a soccer tournament was for Fall Cup 2013...$229.99 a night, non-refundable, for two nights, plus fees and taxes came to $510 (I still have the email Confirmation)…for a crappy King room (for a family of 4) at the Fairfield Inn off I74…and at the time, felt lucky to even find that….didn’t even end up needing the Friday night once the schedule came out, but of course couldn’t cancel without penalty…you don’t soon forget a rate like that….

The year before we paid $130 for the Durry; not horrible, not great either and felt a bit jacked at the time…like I say, always felt like the hotels saw us coming…

I guess my point is as it relates to the overall topic is just because you’re not doing “stay to play” doesn’t necessarily mean you are doing your over-night participants any favors or saving them any money…and even though clubs may not actively get involved in setting up/providing official housing; bad experiences with lodging, even if it is in NO WAY their fault, it can still reflect back on them and tournament as a whole...

Once again, not meaning my comments/observations to be seen a bashing your club or tournament; your tournaments are great and even vital to maintaining a healthy downstate soccer culture for everyone…we’re all playing between the corn fields together after all…