Dec KM indicates extreme paranoia over booking hotels NOT on the list

by truthseeker 67 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  zev

  They WTS does not want you to bring food or coffee in the commerical logo

  container,EX.No Starbucks coffee in a Starbuck cup.They want you to transfer in to a brown bag.

  So no one knows whats in the bag.

  I will look at the OKM. Is that in print? The plastic and paper bags I use have to be generic now?
  What kind of a cult would care that I got my coffee at Dunkin or Starbucks or McDonalds?

  i never heard any such thing or saw any action taken about people going "out" for their refreshments or food.
• 

  Stephanus

  It's just because you apostates are all starting to get a bit obvious - don't walk into an assembly carrying a submarine sandwich with "Jehoagie" on the wrapper, and no-one will bat an eyelid...
• 

  jgnat

  i never heard any such thing or saw any action taken about people going "out" for their refreshments or food.

  There were several announcements made before our last convention that we were NOT TO PURCHASE FROM LOCAL VENDORS. Apparently, the facility was putting some pressure on to allow the vendors to open up during the convention.
• 

  SirNose586

  There were several announcements made before our last convention that we were NOT TO PURCHASE FROM LOCAL VENDORS. Apparently, the facility was putting some pressure on to allow the vendors to open up during the convention.

  We've been hearing the same message. "Don't go out and eat!! Stay put!! If you don't, then the EEEEVUL vendors will come and make you spend your donation money on food!!
• 

  willyloman

  I see this differently. The WTS is merely doing what all large organizations do when they hold a convention, securing discounted convention rates from a list of hotels and making the names of those hotels available to attendees.

  The difference is in how this info gets filtered down to the rank and file. If I am a member of some secular group, I'd get a postcard saying here's a list of hotels near the convention site that offer discounted rates for our group and I'd pick one and make a call. With the dubs, the difference is that the Society thinks the average dub is an unsophisticated and poorly read traveler who needs step by step instructions to make a hotel reservation. It also suggests they think the dubs are a mob when it comes to group activity (witness the infamous seat saving stampede at the 6 a.m. opening of a District Convention at any large arena, or the detailed instructions about behavior while a guest in a hotel). So they feel they have to be very clear, i.e., "do not call before this date."

  This goes back to the time when the typical dub was, in fact, an Armageddon Okie, showing up for the convention with 8 people crammed into a sedan with cooking utensils in cardboard boxes in the trunk, a group of misfits staying at a hotel for the first time in their lives (thank you, GaryBuss, for the imagery).

  The fact that they keep repeating these instructions every year shows how little the Governing Body is in touch with the rank and file, or else it shows a lack of respect for the typical dub and indicates the WTS thinks the "friends" haven't changed much in 50 years.
• 

  Justice-One

  With the dubs, the difference is that the Society thinks the average dub is an unsophisticated and poorly read traveler

  Because they want him that way.
• 

  MinisterAmos

  "Armageddon Okies" heh heh!

  Want to really find out what's up? Check expedia for the room rate a week before and a week behind the assembly.

  If you factor in the special internet rates I bet a single room could be had for less at ANY of the contracted hotels. The problem is that the JWs want to fill the place with spirituality and boot the infidel. That is why they guarantee to occupy the (almost) whole place. They are not shopping cheap rates for the Bros. no matter what might be "suggested". Read very carefully and you will notice that they NEVER use the words "best rate". You will see veiled references like "don't pay more" and "special rate" but nothing to suggest that those are the "best" rates available. Like I mentioned, just search a hotel on Expedia.

  Just to be truthful and fair, the elders DO offer the financially disadvantaged the opportunity to apply for assistance. I ASS-ume that an R&F family might have been given one of those freebies one time as a result. (Mid 40 JW Single Mom with four kids working as a dish washer in a buffet restaurant got turned down in my congo after she applied. Request was never even sent to housing as a matter of fact. She wound up driving the 200+ miles round trip all three days)
• 

  Scully

  1 Why are the Society telling us not to use hotels on the list?

  Hotels not on the list have likely not given the WTS what it wanted during negotiations (in terms of room rates / # of gratis rooms, etc), so they are boycotting non-cooperative establishments.

  2. Does the Society get a kickback from this, i.e. free rooms for their guest speakers and Bethelites? If so, why aren't the publishers made aware of this?

  I had heard of some arrangements for international delegates and higher ranking WTS officials to have the free rooms.

  3. If no hotels are available after calling ALL the hotels, why can't a publisher find a hotel of their choice?

  4. What happens if I stay in a hotel not on the Recommended Lodging List? How does this affect the Society directly or indirectly?

  It's all about control. The WTS does not want a JW giving business to establishments that didn't give the WTS what it wanted during the negotiating phase - it wants a boycott of these businesses, and when a JW books there anyway, it weakens the WTS's future negotiating power with the business. The hotel will say "Well, we had X# of JW families stay here last year anyway for the convention, even though you didn't negotiate a special rate with us, so why should we give you any special considerations?"

  That being said, if you don't broadcast that you are staying at a non-WTS-approved establishment, nobody will be the wiser.

  In all the time I have booked a hotel, it took me no more than 10 minutes. Why does the Society need a whole page, inc. boxes and paragraphs to make a reservation? Why the paranoia over staying at a hotel not on the list.

  Basically, the WTS assumes that its members are imbeciles. There has been enough anecdotal evidence, from this discussion board alone, but also from letters of complaint to the WTS regarding poor behaviour on the part of WTS delegates at hotels, to justify this level of condescension. JWs come in all stripes: the hillbilly redneck types of Gary Busselman's "Armageddon Oakies" to the affluent, well-read, well-travelled, and well-mannered folks, and every variation in between that you can imagine. The WTS has to address these comments to the lowest common denominator, and assume that there are some people among the R&F for whom the annual DC is the highlight of their paltry existence. To the rest of us, the amount of detail in the instructions is unnecessary and a complete insult to our intelligence.
• 

  vomit

  You lucky b@starts. You got to stay in Hotels.
  In our DC only the rich stayed in Hotles. The rest were bound to either B&B`s or Tents... Thoes were the days(only 10 years ago).
• 

  zev

  one other thought came to mind thinking about this mess.

  if the "society" makes a contract with the hotels, why don't they stipulate to the management, "take no reservation for any jw calling no earlier than xx-xx-2007?"

  that would keep all the elders and m.s.'s from booking boat loads of room before the letter is read to the rank & file.

  it would at least keep things "honest". as far as you could keep a completely dishonest arrraingement "honest" when dealing with the leaders of a completely dishonest cult.

  my 2 cents.