Matchroom Hotels requirements

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
How does it work with 4 players to a room that is common?
That's really common at the big league events. I was talking to an event coordinator at the Riviera (when it still existed and had league events) and she related a story from Housekeeping. It seems that in one room the players had made a nest from empty pizza boxes for a teammate to sleep in. The staff were amused rather than mad. The hotel was booked solid and that was one more mouth to feed and water.

Harrah's room for 4 (two queen beds) for the tournament is about $190 per night including taxes and fees.

Edit: you may want to check booking.com and such for other rates.

Edit 2: My quoted rate above does not include the "resort fee". That's $24 (plus tax?) per night per room. For internet. And access to the workout room. It seems to not include access to the pool which is $20 per visit the last time I looked.
 
Last edited:

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Holy Crap, not even two hours and already booked solid. Now I have to get on the resevere list
You have a real good chance to get in, especially since you got on the waiting list early. Last year some spots opened up five or six days before the tournament and at that point you are only competing with the players who are local or already going to be there. I was on the waiting list and could have entered but didn't feel like playing.
 

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
As for the hotel requirement, it's pretty standard. Derby City effectively has one.

You can't be sure what the promoter is getting out of it. Maybe just the convention space for free. Maybe free rooms for the staff. Maybe money back. Maybe a minimum number of room nights is required or the promoter has to pay a penalty. I've been involved with hotel meetings where the attendance was a big worry -- you have to trust the hotel when they tell you about bookings because you are potentially stuck for tens of thousands of dollars.

At some hotels, the tournament rate is actually a good deal.
 

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
My son entered last year, when he found out he had to stay at that hotel that would end up costing several $100 more than somewhere else he canceled the registration. You either need to expect to win, or not care much about money LOL
 
A trick that I have used in the past, is to go "outside" the event room booking and try to book a room at the hotel like a "regular" guest. This is a BIG numbers game that may work for you at larger hotels.

I had a professional/insurance meeting at a Vegas hotel which was going to "use" maybe 300 rooms, about 10% of the capacity, I was able to just call up and get a room during the correct time period at the standard rate which saved me about $30/night. Didn't ID myself as attending the insurance conference, just a guy from Atlanta coming to Vegas for a few days vacation.
 

JessEm

AzB Goldmember
Silver Member
How does it work with 4 players to a room that is common?
Take turns sleeping in 6-hour shifts. Unless it has 2 beds. Then it's easier.

If it's one large bed (King), two people could share.

*Disclaimer: I grew up with brothers.
*Disclaimer #2: I've never tried this as an adult.
 
Last edited:

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Do
Take turns sleeping in 6-hour shifts. Unless it has 2 beds, then it's even easier.

If it's a large bed (King), two people might be able to share.

*Disclaimer: I grew up with brothers.
*Disclaimer #2: I've never tried this as an adult.

Dolly Parton said she grew up in a large family and the kids would often have to sleep three to four to a bed — often one kid would pee in the bed in the middle of the night but she said it was OK because it was the only warmth they got in the winter.

Lou Figueroa
YMMV
 

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Take turns sleeping in 6-hour shifts. Unless it has 2 beds. Then it's easier.

If it's one large bed (King), two people could share.

*Disclaimer: I grew up with brothers.
*Disclaimer #2: I've never tried this as an adult.
What I meant is if MR is “enforcing” room rentals, what happens when 4-5 Filipinos share a room. Do they all say they are staying “on site” but only 1 has a paid room? And that is “legit”?
 

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
As for the hotel requirement, it's pretty standard. Derby City effectively has one.

You can't be sure what the promoter is getting out of it. Maybe just the convention space for free. Maybe free rooms for the staff. Maybe money back. Maybe a minimum number of room nights is required or the promoter has to pay a penalty. I've been involved with hotel meetings where the attendance was a big worry -- you have to trust the hotel when they tell you about bookings because you are potentially stuck for tens of thousands of dollars.

At some hotels, the tournament rate is actually a good deal.
DCC has each Filipino master of the table winner share their room with 4 other Filipinos. I'm not saying anything is wrong with that, just that is reality. So from the standpoint of "the hotel gets its room cut" it doesn't pan out.
 

Zerksies

Well-known member
I’m on the waiting list
 

Attachments

  • 4D8BF941-A342-4B39-A8B5-C5BA1FBF99E9.png
    4D8BF941-A342-4B39-A8B5-C5BA1FBF99E9.png
    101.3 KB · Views: 85

Hungarian

C'mon, man!
Silver Member
I'm looking at playing in the US open this year in September. I get a notification from matchroom this morning about registering. I go about registering and i get a notification about requiring me to stay at Harrah's for the duration of the event. What a complete crock of crap. I live 30 minutes away. I'd rather sleep in my own bed. I'd rater not pay another $750 for the hotel and that didn't include the taxes or resort fees.
I don't think you've sussed it out completely. I find it hard to believe you can't stay at your own home.
 

JAM

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Interesting thread. As one who tends to go with the side of the pro player, I do understand the push for competitors to stay at the host hotel because, as most know, the host hotel is going to benefit financially by the amount of attendees to the event. The promoter—in this case, Matchroom—offers this as a selling point to host hotels, and it's a good one. Of course, locals don't have to lodge at the host hotel, and I am glad those who are affected decided to read the small print.

Staying at casinos, like this and Turning stone, are fun, having everything and everybody all under one roof. It's like a pool mecca, and if you 're a pool enthusiast, you are guaranteed to have fun, fun, fun.
 

APA Operator

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What I meant is if MR is “enforcing” room rentals, what happens when 4-5 Filipinos share a room. Do they all say they are staying “on site” but only 1 has a paid room? And that is “legit”?
The promoter's contract with the venue specifies "Y dollars/night for up to X" people per room, where X is usually 4. The venue enforces up to X names on the reservation list. It is up to the promoter to police more than X actually staying in the room if they want. Bigger organizations negotiate many years in advance, to get preferable rates and perks, like waiving of the resort fee. Sometimes my teams will rent an Air B&B and get one room at the venue to rest in during breaks. If the promoter is iffy on meeting their commitments the venue might also get a list of event participants from them and cross-check it against those who booked outside the event block, then count those who "went around" toward the commitment number. Every promoter, big or small, just wants the best deal they can get for the participants.
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I wouldn't stay at Harrahs if you paid me.
You outta see some of the dumps we stayed in gambling back in the 80's/80's. Harrah's is pure paradise in comparison. To me a hotel is a place to shit/shower/shave. Its not like you're living there.
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
It's a Catch-22. For big events that require use of the grand ballroom of a hotel, pool's business model doesn't work without the kickback to the event producer that comes from the promise to fill an agreed to number of room nights at the hotel. That's the event producer side of the coin. The player side of the coin is that there will almost always be somewhere else to stay that's cheaper, and it's tough enough to earn an income as a player, so why not stay elsewhere and save some money?

Should players understand that event producers need to make these deals with hotels in order to make the economics of event production work and support them by staying in the host hotels? Should event producers understand that if players can't keep expenses in check that fewer of them can make financial ends meet? The answer to both questions is yes.

The players can support the event producers, and they usually do, by staying in the host hotel. The event producers can support the players by adding events, growing added money and by producing some special events with no entry fee available to all who earn an invitation based on their play. Matchroom is adding events, growing total added money and has four events with no entry fee (Premier League Pool, World Pool Masters, World Cup of Pool and Mosconi Cup) that pay out more than half a million dollars in prize money in those events alone. Matchroom has recently created both an Asian Tour and an Australian tour, as well, extending pro pool's international reach. More than any event producer, Matchroom is supporting its players and growing the sport.

Of course, our sport doesn't offer a good living to many, and the economics don't work for as many players as we'd prefer. For the countless players having Fargo of under 725, the economics of participation in the major events are super-tough, but Matchroom events seem to sell out in a single day, which suggests that the many who represent either semi-dead or dead money are essentially hobbyists who are investing their money in a way that, financially, is illogical and virtually every single one of them knows it but they still embrace participation. Still, as a group, they make events better by being there.

High profile pro pool was bleeding to death when Matchroom, in 2019, became producer of some major championships, reenergizing the World 9-ball, bringing the US Open to a new level, and adding the UK Open and the European Open to pool's calendar of majors. Matchroom has pro pool on a nice track and the day may come when middle of the pack players can make ends meet, but we're not nearly there yet and unless the players support the most innovative and aggressive event producer we've seen in pool in a long time, Matchroom will be less likely to succeed in its ambitious plan for our sport.
 
Top