Embassy Suites-Arch Madness

[Dubl R 1]

Wow, I just tried to book a room at the embassy suites for Arch Madness, and the website says they have no rooms available for a Friday thru Sunday stay. Rather disappointing considering this is our team hotel...anybody have any info if BU has reserved a block of hotel rooms that can be accessed?

[Da Coach]

Wow, I just tried to book a room at the embassy suites for Arch Madness, and the website says they have no rooms available for a Friday thru Sunday stay. Rather disappointing considering this is our team hotel...anybody have any info if BU has reserved a block of hotel rooms that can be accessed?

This is clearly a marketing decision and they have blocked out rooms for anyone arriving on Friday. IMO, there is no possible way that entire hotel is booked this far in advance. In fact, if you arrive on Thursday, March 1, and stay through Saturday, then they show plenty of rooms available, including that Friday date.
I think they are trying to force fans to book 3 nights. Here is what their website shows for those dates, and note that they have jacked up their room prices to almost double what they have been in past years.



I would suggest waiting. I suspect they will release more rooms, and maybe lower prices as the dates get closer.
Regardless, though I have no problem with the concept of actual supply and demand governing availability and prices, but I hate when hotels play games like this, so I will be booking elsewhere. I have stayed at the Embassy Suites the past several years since they moved there from the Renaissance Grand Hotel (now renamed the Marriott Grand), and it is nothing special. In fact, I've stayed at numerous different Embassy Suites hotels around the country, and it is possibly the worst Embassy Suites I have ever stayed in.

The MVC website does show that they have arranged fan room blocks at other local hotels-

SUPPLEMENTAL FAN ROOM BLOCK
The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission has secured additional limited room blocks for Valley fans at downtown St. Louis hotel properties for the 2017 State Farm MVC Men's Basketball Championship. These rooms, which are not part of the institutional fan block at team hotels nor available at the same rates as those hotels, can be secured beginning on Monday, January 2, 2017. Valley fans can go to www.explorestlouis.com to book rooms through the "2017 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Supplemental Fan Block." Room rates at participating hotels will vary according to availability.-

http://www.mvc-sports.com/sports/2017/5/12/ARCH_0512171840.aspx

However, I looked around that explorestlouis.com website, and I didn't find anything about MVC fan room blocks. If anyone knows more, let us know.

[Dubl R 1]

Yeah, I also looked where they said the fan block rooms were and I found nothing as well.

[Da Coach]

Using the hotel search Kayak.com, virtually every other hotel in downtown St. Louis shows availability for those dates (Friday, March 2 to Sunday, March 4, 2018 ), and most have much lower prices than the Bradley team hotel, the Embassy Suites-

https://www.kayak.com/hotels/St.-Louis,MO-c13298/2018-03-02/2018-03-04/2adults?sort=distance_a&fs=location=5.0mi|St.+Louis%2C+MO|38.62722,-90.19778

If you reset the search for a wider radius, you will also find less expensive hotels across the river in Illinois, and in the St. Louis suburbs.

[Da Coach]

Wow, I just tried to book a room at the embassy suites for Arch Madness, and the website says they have no rooms available for a Friday thru Sunday stay. Rather disappointing considering this is our team hotel...anybody have any info if BU has reserved a block of hotel rooms that can be accessed?

This is clearly a marketing decision and they have blocked out rooms for anyone arriving on Friday. IMO, there is no possible way that entire hotel is booked this far in advance....

I would suggest waiting. I suspect they will release more rooms, and maybe lower prices as the dates get closer....

I notice now that the St. Louis Embassy Suites Hotel (Bradley's team hotel) has plenty of rooms available for the weekend of the MVC Tournament, including 2-day stays from Fiday to Sunday, which just a couple weeks ago showed were sold out and unavailable. In fact, the prices they now show are lower than most other downtown hotels for that weekend.

http://embassysuites3.hilton.com/en/hotels/missouri/embassy-suites-by-hilton-st-louis-downtown-STLWAES/index.html