The
Four Nations Chess League does not accept
responsibility for the content of other websites, to
which this site links.
This
website includes information on participants in the
Four Nations Chess League in respect of name, grade,
title, nationality and sex (team registration
lists), as well as telephone number(s), email
address(es) and postal address(es) in certain
circumstances (team captains/managers, management
board members, arbiters etc).
Participants wishing this information not to be
included on the website should contact the webmaster
to have it removed, but should be aware that in this
event they will not be permitted to play in the
league.
Barcelo Hotels have set up a bedroom booking
facility for the 4NCL on their website which, as
well as allowing captains/players to book online
rather than by telephone, also compares the
agreed 4NCL room rates with the currently best
available online rate. This will allow
captains/players to select the lower of the two
rates (although we are assured by Barcelo that
in the vast majority of cases the 4NCL rate will
be lower than the best available online rate!).
To use this facility, please follow the
instructions below:
On the home page use the section titled
BOOK A HOTEL
Select hotel and arrival date, number of
rooms etc
In the box for the Promotional Code type in
CHESS
Then click on CHECK
AVAILABILITY
This
will then give access to the 4NCL rates. Follow
the on-screen instructions for making bedroom
bookings. Please note that it is important to
use the Promotional Code for two reasons: (a)
The 4NCL rate will not be displayed without the
code (b) If the code is not used bedroom
bookings cannot be tracked back to 4NCL-related
bookings, meaning that the 4NCL will not receive
the agreed commission on room bookings.
FURTHER GUIDANCE:
All the hotels will expect to take credit
card details at the time rooms are booked,
in line with practice at most if not all
hotels in the UK.
Captains/managers/players booking rooms
should mention the 4NCL National Chess
League to the hotels' reservations staff.
This will ensure that the get the agreed
rates, and will also allow the hotels to
keep a record of rooms booked overall, which
is important because the commission the
league receives from the hotels is
calculated on the basis of rooms booked -
the more rooms are booked, the more
commission the league receives to e.g.
increase prize money and keep entry fee
increases down.
At the Barcelo hotels, to make your
room reservation please call 0870 161 0797
(lines open Mon - Fri 9am - 9pm, Saturday -
Sunday 10am - 6pm). Please quote CHESS when
making your booking. You can pay by
Access/MasterCard, Visa, Switch and all
major credit cards. On receipt of your
booking you will be sent a confirmation
showing your reservation details and amount
payable at the host hotel. All reservations
must be made through the central
reservations office; please do not try and
make a booking direct to the hotel.
Please note that the 4NCL block booking
will be released four weeks before each
weekend, so people would be advised to book
rooms before this deadline if they want to
avoid taking pot luck with room availability
thereafter.
All the hotels will expect final lists of
room occupants no later than seven days
before the relevant weekend, failing which
there is a risk that the rooms will be let
go.
We have
evening buffet and mid-day packed lunch
arrangements with many of the
hotels/conference centres. In many cases,
however, these need to be booked beforehand
at the time rooms are booked to allow the
hotels/conference centres to plan ahead.
Players will not necessarily be able to turn
up on the day and expect to avail themselves
of the evening buffet or mid-day packed
lunch arrangements. We therefore recommend
that players check with the venues
beforehand as to whether special
arrangements are in place for evening
buffet/mid-day packed lunch arrangements
and, if so, whether pre-booking is necessary
or not.
At Barcelo venues the pre-booked dinner rate
is £13.00 (see DBB rates above). Otherwise
the rate is £15.00.
The hotel websites all give details of how
to get to the venues.
None of the hotels allow food or drink to be
brought in for personal consumption, and in
practice take a very dim view if this
happens. Such behaviour threatens the
league's relationship with the hotels.
BARCELO:
Bedrooms which have been booked on an
individual basis may be cancelled up to
2.00pm on the day before the weekend.
Different arrangements apply for block
bookings - see below.
DE VERE:If the
booking is cancelled within seven days
of the day of arrival 100% cancellation
charge will apply unless the
accommodation can be resold.
Different arrangements apply for block
bookings - see below.
And finally, you’ll like this one, ... All
players are expected to be ambassadors for
chess and to behave in an appropriate manner
in the hotels. Again, poor behaviour
threatens the league's relationship with the
hotels.
As many
of you will know, the issue of
block-booking (block-overbooking)
followed by late bedroom
cancellations has been an issue for a
number of seasons, and has also been
commented on from time to time by our
various venues. Matters came to a head
at our last weekend at De Vere
Staverton, when there were so many
late cancellations that from a position
of thinking that they had sold 200
bedrooms, the venue finished up with
only 150 bedrooms sold. Some individual
examples given were:
One
captain who was originally holding
ten rooms released all but two of
them two days before the weekend.
One
captain who was originally holding
fourteen rooms released four of them
three days before the event, with a
further three no-shows at the
weekend itself.
One
captain who was originally holding
twenty rooms reduced this to seven
rooms two weeks before the weekend.
This had
three main consequences:
Staverton lost at least £2,500 in
bedroom bookings (not to mention
lost food and beverage takings)
because the cancellations happened
so late in the day that they were
unable to resell the rooms either to
other chessplayers or to higher
margin non-chess business.
The
4NCL lost at least £250 bedroom
commission, receipt of which is as
you will know important in keeping
entry fees down.
Players who would otherwise have
stayed at the venue were forced to
find accommodation elsewhere given
that so many cancellations happened
so late in the day.
As a
result, De Vere and Barcelo intend to
change bedroom booking procedures for
the future as follows:
When captains call or email venues
with their room requests, they will
be expected to provide a telephone
number, email address and credit
card details. Fourteen days before
the weekend in question the number
of rooms being held at that point
will be treated as the definitive
booking for billing
purposes (fourteen days has been
chosen as a compromise between
giving the captains a fair chance of
finalising their teams and the
venues a fair chance of reselling
the rooms in the event of
cancellation). Any shortfall between
the rooms held fourteen days out and
the rooms paid for at the weekend
itself will be charged to the credit
card at or shortly after the
weekend.
Captains can reduce or increase the
number of rooms they require at any
point before the fourteen day
deadline, and of course can confirm
the rooms at any time before the
deadline.
Should a cancellation need to be
made at short notice through
illness, bereavement or similar
circumstances venues will apply
discretion when considering whether
cancellation charges should apply
(and I am always happy to be
involved in any conversations where
captains feel that a sensible
outcome has not resulted).
Captains who block book 10 rooms or
more have the right to cancel one
room without penalty so long as this
is done by the Thursday before the
weekend.
Venues will endeavour to send out a
reminder to block bookers in advance
of the two week deadline that they
need to finalise their room numbers,
and Neville and/or I will try to do
the same.
The
above arrangements will apply to
bookings of more than
four bedrooms.
As
regards the 4NCL's bedroom allocation at
weekends, both De Vere and Barcelo have
reconfirmed that even once any balance
on the allocation has been released back
to the general public, any 4NCL
room bookings made after that date will
still receive the discounted 4NCL room
rates so long as there are still rooms
available.
