The following is the travel/accommodation information for the planned third meeting.
Date: October 29 and 30. Place: IBM Austin Research Laboratory, Austin, TX. (http://www.research.ibm.com/austin).
Hotel: LaQuinta Inn & Suites (http://www.lq.com/lq/properties/propertyProfile.do?ident=LQ937).
- 11901 North Mopac Expwy. Austin, TX 78759 Phone: 1-512-832-2121
The rate is slightly different on the 28th ($76), 29th, and 30th ($67). With the 15% tax is ends up "about" $88. These are the instructions I got from LaQuinta to help you make the reservations:
- In order for members of your party to place their reservations, we suggest they call our Central Reservation Center at 1-866-527-1498 and identify themselves as members of the CCC party, Reservation Bloc confirmation number 0937GRFWOK. For your convenience, all final details pertaining to the group should be coordinated directly with the above hotel.
- Please advise members of your party that all requests for reservations within the bloc should be prior to 10/7/2009 in order to ensure we are able to accommodate them at the rate that was originally quoted.
- On 10/7/2009 any rooms in your bloc, which remain unfilled will be released for sale to the general public.
The rate includes continental breakfast and free internet access.
The hotel is across the street from IBM. An easy 5 minute walk. I will create a map when we are closer to the dates in question. Given that, it is likely that participants will not need to rent cars -see point below for Airport/Hotel transit.
Air Transportation: Austin Bergstrom Airport (AUS) is well connected, American, Southwest, and other airlines have many flights into it.
Airport/Hotel: The "super shuttle" provides transportation from the airport to the LaQuinta hotel for $20 each way. You can make reservations online at: http://www.supershuttle.com/.
Local dinner: We will likely arrange a dinner for the group locally. I will look into getting some type of bus to take us from IBM (cost estimate for bus from Carey Limousine/Bus Company: $406.75) to the restaurant and back. Some of the nearby places that can accommodate a large group well are:
North by Northwest, "American" food and brewery. http://www.nxnwbrew.com/ (this is a nice restaurant with an excellent beer menu as well. they want $800 for the private room, plus whatever we order on the menu which is likely to be $30 to $40 per person based on prices I see, so total is 50*40 + 800 = 2800 + tax/tip ~ $3500)
Chuy's, "TexMex" with lots of attitude. http://www.chuys.com/ (no data yet... no one answering my calls -not a good sign)
County Line, "Texas BBQ". http://www.countyline.com/ (this is a very Texas place, they have an "all you can stand" meal which includes a boat load of BBQ and side dishes for $27 per person with 8% tax and 20% tip, so $35 all told. there are also $24 and $20 meals with less variety. Total would be 35*50 = $1750)
Z-Tejas, "sophisticated Texas". http://www.ztejas.com/ (nice place, but they want a minimum $3500 + 18% = $4130, they provide us with the patio all to ourselves, with 3 servers, and we can order anything off the menu -- too pricey I think)
Many more... I thought these three would be a reasonable start. I will get price ranges and add them to this document.
Prices for internal IBM cafeteria for various catering options:
Breakfast (Bagels or pastries & Coffee) $5 per person
- Lunch (Italian or Mexican buffet) $16 per person
- PM break (fruit, cookies and beverages) $5 per person
So it is likely we need ~$25 per person per day.