What's the latest fandom convention craze? Twilight conventions. They are in just about every major city in America. Some are fan run (and not for profit). Some are run by for-profit entities. But only one company can say they run the "Official" Twilight conventions, and that's Creation Entertainment (the same company responsible for Star Trek, Stargate, Xena, Firefly, Supernatural, and Farscape conventions).
Creation's Official "Twi-Tour" has stops all across the continental United States, and also has a few in Canada (and even Hawaii). They have a Twilight convention going on every single month between now and March 2011. In fact, there's already a Cincinnati, Ohio date scheduled for August 2011!
What can you expect from an Official Twilight convention? Some of the usual events include Q&As, autographs, and photos with the celebrity guests, a Twilight themed ball/dance, games, trivia, karaoke, a centerpiece contest, a costume contest, a best dancer contest, special opportunities to dine with guests, charity auctions, performances, and more. (Please note that some events do cost extra, depending on what ticket you purchase.)
While ticket costs can vary from location to location, the following are typical prices for the various ticket options for the Official Twilight conventions:
1. Gold Weekend Package
- Approximately $270 (includes all three days)
- Usually includes some autographs, the best reserved seating, free admission to the ball, free entry to special musical performances, and various "surprises" or exclusive items
2. Preferred Weekend Package
- Approximately $170 (includes all three days)
- Usually includes preferred seating and some autographs
3. General Admission
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On March 25th, 2010, UNITE HERE (the hotel workers union) began a boycott of the Westin San Diego at Emerald Plaza (400 W Broadway). This boycott has come in response to a failure by the hotel’s owner, Columbia Sussex Corporation, to agree to a fair process, free of intimidation and coercion, whereby workers may decide on forming a union. Instead of agreeing to such a process (as other San Diego area hotels have done), Columbia Sussex began an anti-union campaign that flies in the face of these principles. In light of the company’s failure and the ongoing boycott, we ask that you discontinue any future use of the hotel until a just resolution is reached – please do not eat, sleep or meet at the Westin San Diego at Emerald Plaza.
Across the United States, cooks, housekeepers, banquet staff and other hotel workers at Columbia Sussex hotels take great pride in serving their guests and doing their jobs well. But Columbia Sussex has “rewarded” workers at four union hotels in Sacramento, Crystal City, VA, Baltimore and Anchorage for their hard work by imposing a variety of cuts, including layoffs, benefit reductions, pay freezes, higher costs for health insurance, and/or work speed-ups. These cuts have been the price of Columbia Sussex’s expansion, squeezing working conditions and compensation, to pay off $1.1 billion dollars in debt that the corporation acquired to finance the purchase of 14 hotels in 2006. .
Joan Finnsson, a Sacramento Hilton Banquet Server of 25 years, said: “They didn’t listen to anything we said. It was their way or no way. They wanted to take our union heath care, our union pension, our union work rights, and replace them with their own. Now many of my coworkers have lost their health insurance because of the required hours for eligibility are so high, many cannot afford the company’s health insurance and we all have lost our pension.”
As a potential customer of the Westin San Diego at Emerald Plaza, you have an influential voice. By changing the location of your meetings and room bookings from this Columbia Sussex property, your organization can help bring about much needed fairness at the hotel; you can also avoid being placed in the midst of a labor dispute.
Too often, otherwise well-planned events end in disappointment because organizations are poorly informed about the nature of a labor dispute, or expect a speedy resolution. Columbia Sussex has already shown a resistance to the fair process their employees deserve. The only way to ensure your event’s success is to move it to a hotel that is not under boycott.
Thank you in advance for your careful consideration of this important matter.
Below are links to news articles covering the Westin Emerald Plaza/Columbia Sussex boycott.
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/survival/article_93bc5f72-390f-11df-9930-001cc4c002e0.html
http://www.euroinvestor.co.uk/news/story.aspx?id=10960405&bw=20100325005320
http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/pid/detail.php?sid=44662&pid=10027
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