The extra $1500 will go a long ways…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promotional_model

Isn’t this precisely what the denial community ‘claims’ scientists are doing? Living high off the hog… enjoying campaign and chocolate?

Oh to be a silly rich denier.

@Greg: If the $179 hotel option was the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway, then no, that hotel is not near the conference site. It’s some distance up Van Ness Ave. (I don’t recall without looking at the map which cross street, but it’s well north of California St.), comparable in distance to the various hotels offered in the North Beach/Fisherman’s Wharf area. That hotel has long been offered for those attendees who are willing to accept a long daily walk in order to get cheaper digs. The difficulty with the Fisherman’s Wharf options is that they aren’t that much cheaper than hotels in the Union Square or SoMa areas. And no, most AGU attendees (apart from commuting locals) are not going to drive between their hotel and the meeting site–that second parking spot gets expensive really fast. So does taking a taxi every day.

I’m not sure why they don’t offer more options in SoMa. Part of it is historical (SoMa used to be a very sketchy neighborhood, especially west of Fifth St., but has gentrified considerably in the last decade). Part of it is the elevated freeway (the westernmost part of I-80) that runs a couple blocks to the south, although there are some attractions on the other side (PacBell Park and the Caltrain station) that should have attracted a few hotels.

But I think the real problem is that the agency AGU contracted with to find hotel rooms for conference attendees doesn’t know their market. Many business convention people are happy to play tourist on their days off, so they find a location in Fisherman’s Wharf convenient for that kind of thing. They are also more willing to charge cab fare to the company. But AGU attendees are not typical convention goers. One of the urban legends is that many of the local high-end call girls plan their vacations for AGU week, since few AGU attendees are both interested in and able to afford their services. Likewise, most conference goers want to be reasonably close to the conference site–as I noted above, the social aspects are important for many conference attendees. And we tend to walk or use BART as much as we can.

“I’m sorry, Mister Watts, but I saw you hoist a tea spoon during the presentation about the Dynamics of Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park. You are now a member in bad standing (MiBS). Hand over the spoon, and follow Security to the nearest exit.” — Dr. Margaret Leinen

Too bad I wasn’t there for that conference!

There are prob some options like that in SF priced up just a bit

Anyway, a hotel at the conference site is 179.

Eric: yes, I know. I usually have evening meetings almost every night, and wouldn’t miss them.

But consider that some of the hotels in AGU list are up near North Beach, whose travel times by car (Google) are 14-30 minutes. It’s not clear why that’s vastly better than taking the BART somewhere. Not that many hotels are on the same side of Market as Moscone.

Of course it’s nice to stay right near the conference.
It’s just that for somebody with a car, driving into SF and leaving it sitting there for 5 days is not a plus, and one really has to think about the nonlinearities of distance versus time, given BART, and whether one does anything at the hotel besides sleep.

I picked Richmod as an example, since closest to Chico.
But one could do OK in Oakland as well, and be closer.

But anyway, for anyone coming to SF on a tight budget, seriously think about hotel options outside of the Moscone area, but near a BART.