The DDRS team has learned an important lesson about event planning and hiring. It turns out that when interviewing event planners, it actually is important to check background and references. When the referral came in telling us of the immediate availability of an event planner that had experience working with Four Seasons in Philadelphia, we jumped at the chance. They assured us they could get a great rates for our event, far better than we'd ever be able to negotiate with the hotel on our own. So we hired them.
This week, while firming up plans for the first-ever DDRS Awards Banquet, we learned some unsettling details. It would appear that all may not have been as had originally seemed. While we thought we'd booked at the Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia at Comcast Center, it turns out we'd been booked at the 4 Seasons Total Landscaping company. (Apparently that's a thing that can happen? Who knew!) Instead of getting the Grand Ballroom, we were offered a large tent in the side parking lot. While this wasn't quite what we'd had in mind, it was something with which we could work. I suspect the straw that broke the camels back was that instead of a sumptuous surf'n'turf dinner, we instead would have been treated to just turf. Literally, just turf. That's not food. That's what food eats. To add insult to injury, that open bar? Yeah, turned out to be an opened bar of Lava soap over by the outside faucet.
Needless to say, we'll not be engaging the services of that event planner again.
Unfortunately, 4 Seasons Total Landscaping's event policy prevents refunds on deposits for cancellations less than 14 days before the event (our negotiations never seemed to advance beyond the "what on Earth made you think we were a hotel?" stage). The remaining banquet budget would only cover either the lobby at the Motel 6 (in all fairness, it is a nice looking place, as Motel 6s go; and they do have free WiFi), or 3 large cheese pizzas from Dominos (with the correct coupon code), but not both.
It was a tough decision, but one that we felt we had to make for the long term viability of the series. We really have no choice but to change and scale back the awards banquet. Limited food and drink will be provided (we found a snack sized bag of Doritos and a can of Pabst's Blue Ribbon in the race trailer, so it's first come, first served). We'll have a small Winter 2021 Series Championship trophy ceremony before the start of the Touring Car Masters race on January 30. Come on out and congratulate the winners!
See you all at Maggiore!