At the last minute, you get offered a job at CHA. There are so many arrangements to make and so little time. Where do you start?
Of course the two biggest concerns are probably hotel and airfare (unless you live close enough that you don’t need either of those). So you will probably want to start with those to avoid any last-minute catastrophes.
Hotel may be the simplest of the two to arrange. As of this morning, computer searches showed that most of the CHA participating hotels still had rooms available for reserving for stays between Jan. 27th-Jan. 31st. The only hotels that were currently full were the Marriott and Hilton (the co-hosting hotels), the Anabella, Disney’s Grand Californian, and the Embassy Suites. All others had at least limited room availability.
If you would like to room with someone else instead of reserving your own room, start networking! Ask anyone you know that is going if they know someone who might need a roommate. Check out places that industry professionals congregate online, such as the Pub at Two Peas In A Bucket.com, to see if anyone wants to split a room. Arrangements frequently change at the last minute and someone’s roommate will have to stay home unexpectedly due to a family crisis or illness. A last-minute replacement can work out well for both parties!
Airfare – or rather, getting a decent price on it – can be a bit more complicated. You will want to spend some time comparing prices on various airlines, routes and even airports (if you have any options at all in your itinerary) to make sure you get the best possible deal in last-minute airfare.
You will especially want to compare airports. You may think that by going to a larger airport to originate your flight that you will save money. In fact, my research showed the opposite to be true. In addition to avoiding the hassle of parking and traffic at a large airport, connecting into one from a smaller airport can actually save you money. Surprised? I was to. Here is what I discovered:
For my travel I am flying from Jacksonville, FL to LAX, connecting through Atlanta on AirTran. I found if that flight was booked today, that I would be paying $183 for the one-way ticket from Jacksonville to LAX. If the person sitting next to me on the plane from Atlanta to LAX originated their travel in Atlanta, they would be paying $196 for their one-way ticket. I would be paying $13 less for two flights than they would be paying for the one where we sat side-by-side!
This comparison bore out one other routes connecting to that ATL-LAX flight:
$173 Orlando
$189 Flint, MI
$144 Dayton, OH
$149 Indianapolis
In fact, I could only find one route that it cost more to originate outside Atlanta. It cost $3 more to fly from Daytona Beach, FL, because the race activities will have started that weekend there and tickets are in high demand for that route.
I found a similar situation comparing Delta flights that connected through Atlanta. Tickets were cheaper when purchased to connect through Atlanta than to originate in Atlanta. I can’t imagine that Atlanta is the only city that this is the case for, so check out smaller airports. You might be surprised at the convenience also saving you money!
Once you are on the ground in California, you will need transportation to your hotel and perhaps to other destinations depending on your plans for the event. This could come in two forms, either as a rental car or an airport shuttle. If you intend to rent a car (and no one could pay me enough to drive in L.A. traffic), contact whatever rental agency you might be a member of or have a credit card membership with to arrange it. Otherwise, compare prices at online sites before booking. If like me you want to leave the driving to someone else, book an airport shuttle service after you’ve booked your flight. Primetime Shuttles has an excellent online booking site.
Once you’ve gotten the basics taken care of I recommend taking a deep breath! Then perhaps take a few minutes to browse through the previous entries in this CHA countdown for tips on things like packing for airline security and designing business cards. If you intend to order business cards, you will want to do that immediately and use overnight shipping from a place like Overnight Prints that specializes in fast turn-around (they did my cards and the quality is beautiful). Home printing of course means no concerns about shipping time but is perhaps a bit more time-consuming and hassle.
Don’t forget to give your wardrobe a once-over! If you buy one new thing for your trip, make comfortable shoes a priority and spend a bit of time breaking them in. I cannot stress enough the difference that comfortable footwear can make on your demeanor and productivity.
Best of luck to anyone putting together a last-minute CHA excursion! It certainly can be done, and it is well worth it if done well!
Comments are closed.