The Committee for Boston in 2001
Box 1010
Framingham, MA 01701

Dear Boston-area supporters of our bid,

We wanted to write you in particular, because we know this is hard.

Our dream was to run a spectacular Noreascon 4 here, in a city we all love. As you can see from the rest of the material with this letter (which we've sent out to all supporters), we have concluded that we can't successfully bid and run a Worldcon in Boston in 2001.

This is probably disappointing to you. It certainly has been to us. Boston in 2001 has been bidding to hold the best Worldcon ever in Boston - one of the best sites ever - since 1992.

We have not made this decision lightly. We've gotten the help of outside hotel experts; we've researched other groups rates; we've worked closely with the Boston Convention and Visitors' Bureau (a very helpful organization); and we've talked with knowledgeable hotel people.

They've all confirmed that Boston is in the process of pricing itself out of the convention market. (October's defection of MacWorld to New York wouldn't have been possible if Boston wasn't suffering from New York-style prices!) Our informants tell us that our offers were, in fact, moderately good (for one thing, they offered us "only" a 6% per year increase, while their goal is 10%). The only substantially better room rates have been commercial meetings which subsidize room rates out of $900 registration fees, or groups which booked before rates climbed.

In spite of this, we've looked at every possible site (and gotten formal proposals from three of them). We've budgeted the various possible Worldcons we could run in them. And we just don't see how we can run one with membership rates fandom can afford.

What can you do? Well, two things:

First, you can provide political support for the building of more hotels and a new convention center here in Boston. We need 4,000-5,000 more rooms (roughly four more hotels as big as the largest one in town now) to make prices more sane. As you know, it's hard to build new hotels in Boston, in part because of our complicated, ponderous politics. When Boston rates are again competitive, there will be another Boston bid, and many of us plan to be working on it.

More immediately, you can help us bid and win Orlando. While we can't deliver the best Worldcon ever here in Boston, we can still deliver it to you in Orlando. (And the cost of five nights in a hotel in Orlando plus airfare for two is still less than five nights in any of the Boston sites!) And you can help us run it -- and help us make it the kind of Worldcon we all want to be involved with.

Sincerely,

The (Boston) Committee for Orlando in 2001

Boston for Orlando in 2001
PO Box 1010
Framingham, MA 01701-1010
USA

or email us at info@noreascon.org

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