Stream: social
Topic: Atlanta meeting lodging
Dave deBronkart (Aug 04 2019 at 17:47):
Given the $199 rate [corrected - HT @Peter Jordan] for the Atlanta hotel, I looked into Airbnb, and wow - lots of properties within a couple of blocks for less than $100/night.
I got a place in the Peachtree Towers condo, around the block from the conference - dozens of units are available in that building.
The potential drawback is that it was built in 1962 so there is no thermostat in each unit - just fan speed. But evening temperatures in late September are normally moderate, so I'm hoping the climate emergency will be mild.
Dave deBronkart (Aug 04 2019 at 17:49):
Rats, that was supposed to be a separate thread - can't fix it in the mobile app. Will fix later.
Peter Jordan (Aug 04 2019 at 19:57):
Discounted room rates for Atlanta Marriott Marquis are currently USD $199, see http://www.hl7.org/events/working_group_meeting/2019/09/. Following a bad experience in Baltimore last year, and probably one too many Netfix & BBC documentaries, I've decided not to stay 'off-piste' at US venues any more.
David Hay (Aug 04 2019 at 20:50):
The 'bad experience' being the shooting outside your hotel?
Dave deBronkart (Aug 04 2019 at 22:54):
@Peter Jordan there's no question I'd stay at the venue if funds weren't an issue. In this case I'm pinched, and of course having an apartment with full kitchen and "en suite" laundry is hard to beat for economy, at 60% less than hotel list price. (I'm saying this for others, not to convince you!) My 5 nights including all fees will be $474; same at $199/night would be $995+taxes = ~$1200.
Yay for choices, I say.
Peter Jordan (Aug 04 2019 at 23:33):
Absolutely @Dave deBronkart ! Over the past few years, I've certainly been grateful for those options when self-funding to attend HL7 and SNOMED meetings. Fortunately, HL7NZ is funding my accommodation for this one - particularly as I've never been to Atlanta before. At the last WGM in Montreal, I stayed at a cheap and comfortable YWCA just down the road from the meeting venue. However, for a foreigner anyway, the USA these days is a different proposition - it's an awful long time since I traveled extensively in the US on a shoestring budget and even back then I had some close encounters.
Dave deBronkart (Aug 04 2019 at 23:37):
I would certainly prefer to attend a WG meeting in Auckland or even Rotorua :-)
Grahame Grieve (Aug 04 2019 at 23:50):
Rotorua smells worse than Atlanta
David Hay (Aug 05 2019 at 01:24):
Only to the uneducated nose...
Dave deBronkart (Aug 05 2019 at 16:10):
Gentlemen! I have been to Rotorua so I'm all too familiar with its waxing and waning sulfury smell. :-)
btw, interesting happenstance: I spoke at the HINZ conference there in 2017, and was interviewed about e-patient thinking by the Rotorua Post, local edition of the NZ Herald. By coincidence also on the front page were ...
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... innkeepers Ryan and Julia Portsmouth, who earlier that year had helped save their newborn son's life by being actively engaged in his care, sometimes against direct and blunt resistance. Happily in the end the clinicians listened, and ultimately even instituted a new protocol for cases like their son's. True e-patients - empowered and engaged!
When the Portsmouths saw us both in the paper they reached out and we had a brief meet-up mid-conference. What a thrill to discover more specimens of patient engagement "in the field," as they say.
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Seriously, I can only barely imagine (as described in that article) giving CPR to my newborn who has stopped breathing. What a wonderful thing that they helped her survive. See, the whole thing that motivates me in this work is not to "overthrow" anything, it's to help healthcare achieve its potential.
Yunwei Wang (Aug 26 2019 at 18:44):
For those who have not booked your Atlanta hotel, you can try Hilton Atlanta which is cross street from conference Marriott.
@Peter Jordan Last year, I stayed at Sheraton which is cross street from Hyatt Regency's back door and much cheaper.
Marc de Graauw (Aug 30 2019 at 08:01):
I booked Sheraton yesterday for USD 545 / 5 nights
Last updated: Apr 12 2022 at 19:14 UTC
