Done! Registering this early is a first for me ;-) Did someone say somewhere that there is a special HUBB rate at the hotel?

Excellent! Nice one Paul, and I've just seen your booking come through. Hotel rooms? HUBB UK discount? Absolutely and very nice rooms they are too. Just phone the hotel reception for the gen and to make your booking. It's a real first-come-first-served thing but as you are an early bird you should be on a winner :thumbup1:

Hotel Accommodation
 

Just adding to Sam's reply.... these are the details published on the event page:

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There are a small number of double and twin bedrooms available in the hotel for anyone not wishing to camp or stay off-site. The rooms will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis for minimum stays of three nights paid in advance. We've negotiated a discounted room-only rate of £80 per room per night on the Friday and Saturday and £60 per room per night on other days, with a maximum of two people per room. If you'd like to book one of the rooms with a full payment for at least three nights, please contact Donington Park Farmhouse Hotel directly on 01332 862409, quoting "HUBB UK" as your reference.
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I have started to badger my boss for the holiday sheets for next year. We choose on a rota system, I get 6th choice so not holding out much hope for getting the dates but I can live in hope. In my favour I dont think the schools are off then so I might get lucky. It will be at least September before he gets off his a** and does something about it I would think, thats the problem with a boss that does not like holidays thinks everyone else should be the same.

And we're off...
 

Nooo!! Just a touch of serendipity - right place at right time, and absolutely certain to still be here bier hanging around and looking forward to it again :clap:

(Suggestion for 2014 - how about a rule - minimum of 2 or 3 vehicles to turn up in the shows for judging to take place...
http://www.smileys4me.com/getsmiley.php?show=3587 http://www.smileys4me.com/getsmiley.php?show=3587 http://www.smileys4me.com/getsmiley.php?show=3587

Early Birds Leading The Way
 

It's been exciting to see all the registrations coming in over the last few days. A good number of people are volunteering (thanks!), Paul Holroyd, Paddy Tyson and Steve Mercer (back by popular demand) have stepped up to give presentations and the Adventure Travel Zone is already taking shape with bookings from Frogs Island 4x4, Overland Magazine, Adventure Overland UK, Rally-Raid Products and, in the last hour or so, Zen Overland.

The event page gets updated every time a new presenter, author, film-maker, trade stand, club, forum or magazine registers, so it's worth checking back on a regular basis to keep tabs on what's new.

For those of you that use Facebook, don't forget to click the "Like" button near the top of the right-hand column on the event page. Apart showing that you, err, "Like" the page, it's a huge help in spreading the word within the overlanding community.

:)

Sam, I did contact the hotel and was told of the HUBB rate of £80 per night, three nights for £240. To reserve a room they required THE FULL AMOUNT which would be non-refundable. I can't agree to them having £240 of my money for eleven and a half months when many other hotels would be happy to just take my Visa card details. I really wanted an hotel within walking distance so I'll have to keep looking (or resurrect my tent for a further set of sleepless nights)

Room rates
 

There are several issues here...

The hotel requiring the full amount is what we were expecting and is the same as for the last event. You'll note that in our description of the arrangements we said, "...full payment for at least three nights..." I'd agree that just taking a credit card would be preferable, but that's just how they work and to a large extent I can understand why.

The agreed room-only rate for Friday and Saturday is £80 per night, but for Sunday to Thursday it's £60. So the total figure you were given was wrong - it should have been £220.

The third thing is this business about payments being non-refundable. Although it's not unusual for hotels to have that policy, I wasn't aware it was the case at Donington.

I'll query the non-refundable issue and report back. Will also remind them of the rates they should be giving people!

Iain

Even allowing for the slight discrepancy with the overall price, that's still a lot of dosh for me to lose for a year and for them to gain interest in their bank account. Sam and Birgit could have lived for a month like royalty in Mexico on that sum :confused1:

Clarification on hotel rooms
 

I've had a reply from Donington Park Farmhouse Hotel...

They've apologised for quoting Paul the wrong rate and will make sure it doesn't happen again.

Regarding their refund policy, they've said the following:

"You will find that most Hotels will offer the benefit of a cancellation policy to rack rate priced rooms, but not to special offers. So the customer has the choice of committing to a reduced rate or paying a higher rate with cancellation protection. This is the same in this case, but we will always refund the payment if we are able to re-let the bedroom on the same terms. The idea is not to make money out of someone’s misfortune, but to ensure that we are actually paid for the reduced rate that we are offering."

Paul - re: your last post about it being a lot of dosh etc.... while I don't disagree, I think it's one of those "you pays your money, you takes your choice" kind of situations.

Thanks Iain, I also got an apologetic reply too and offered my credit card details rather than pay in full. We'll see what the response is but I shall look elsewhere. Shame as it's SO convenient. Who wants to catch a taxi to somewhere else at 1130pm?

Glad you got a direct reply too.

I guess that's always going to be the trade-off.... convenience of location/facilities vs convenience of price/payment.

A little while ago I booked a couple of rooms at a hotel in Fort William for me and my sons. At the time, peak season availability was running out fast. We're heading up to walk some of the West Highland Way later this month and will be wild bivvy-ing. Therefore wanted comfy beds and showers to look forward to at the end of it. I had the choice between paying a higher rate with full refund option and only a card to secure it or a lower rate with full payment in advance and no refund. For a variety of reasons, even though I didn't really want to "be without" the money, on that occasion I chose the lower price. At another time in another situation, I might very well have chosen differently.

Horses for courses.

Yep, I have declined their offer and maybe try them around the turn of the year in case they still have rooms available. If the worse comes to the worse I always have the tent. I just can't face having that sort of money tied up for a year especially after the dosh I've spent on restoring my R100GS-PD. Also we're off to Spain in ten days - the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander with a cabin eachway cost an eyewatering £950. Next week I collect my rebuilt wheels from Hagons, a further £400ish. At my age I have to watch the tenners. My State Pension for three weeks would just cover the three nights at the Donington Hotel :( But thanks for trying on my (our) behalf.

That's our bookings sorted. Really looking forward to the next event.
Margaret

A success story. How cool is this. I've just been reading an email from Overland Junkies.com. So chuffed that I've asked for permission to quote them:

'We are still getting trade as a result of the HUBB UK 2013. Took another booking this morning. Many of the people that came to see us have already travelled with us in the short time since the HUBB and many more are coming with us in the future. Next year's arrangements mean that we will be somewhere in North America at the time of your event so we won't be able to join you this time around. But lets see if we can make a plan!'

Big shame they can't be with us in 2014 as a result of their business shooting ahead but, well, that's part of what HU and the HUBB UK are all about eh. Nice one guys. :thumbup1: See you another year we hope.