SC - Profit was Opinions?

[Michael Newton]

> What you have going for you is that paid reservations have been the
> way you've been doing it for some time. Here in Ansteorra it wasn't
> until a few years ago that events started pushing *unpaid* reservations.
> 
> Paid reservations certainly would ease some of the budgeting guessing
> problems.
> 
I've done both paid and unpaid reservations dating back 20 years.  With the
paid reservations, I could better control the budget, but I often didn't see
much until the two weeks prior to the event.  I still had to plan for a
profit and my break even point, but I could better judge whether I was going
to make budget.

To get pre-paid reservations in Ansteorra, one needs to offer incentive ( a
price break being the common one) and have an event which pique's the
Kingdom's interest.


> What if you have bad weather and half the folks cancel? Can they get
> their money back? I think it's going to be a long time before Ansteorra
> can/will go to prepaid reservations. :-(
> 
> THLord  Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
> 
Travel distances, weather and the high level of blue collar membership in
Ansteorra work against pre-paid reservations.  

Very often it is 200 miles to the nearest event and often 400 to 600 to the
one you want to attend.  

The weather is highly changeable and event goers often don't know what the
general weather will be until a week before the event and the area specific
weather until a day or two before.  Add to that the weather change tends to
be extreme.  I've seen more than one Northern event with low attendance
because of massive thunderstorms around DFW (usually with the Trinity River
trying to flood).

And there is the nature of the job market.  I know a number of people who
don't know if they will have a particular weekend off or if they will still
be employed until a week or two before the event.  Very often, going to an
event is a last minute decision based on available time and money.

The nature of the Kingdom runs contrary to pre-paid reservations.

Bear