Market Day at Birka Hotel Update
The staff of Market Day at Birka XXX (2019) would like to bring all our potential guests up to date regarding developments at the hotel which hosts the event.
An abbreviated version of this information was announced in Royal Court at Birka recently, but we want to provide more details, and also to inform gentles who were not at the event, or who did not attend Court.
We want to reassure everyone – we will be at the same location in 2019, and expect arrangements to be substantially similar. We have a contract from the hotel in hand, which is currently being reviewed by the autocrat, the hotel liaison deputy, and the Seneschal of Stonemarche. Once it has been signed, dates will be announced. We continue to have an excellent relationship with the hotel’s local management, and the are eager to see us return next year.
You will see some changes however – most notably the name of the hotel. It is changing brand affiliations from Radisson to DoubleTree by Hilton. If you’re interested in the business details, a local new blog, Manchester Ink Link, has written an excellent summary here.
What you, as a prospect Birka attendee, need to know right now is that you cannot make a reservation now and have it transferred to the room block reserved for Birka, at the special Birka rate, when the room block is officially opened later this year. In past years the hotel staff has done this as a courtesy, however this year they will not do so. They have their hands full with logistical issues related to the transition, including moving to using the Hilton reservation system instead of the Radisson system. They simply don’t have time to make a lot of manual adjustments to reservations for us. Do not reserve now unless you want to pay full price.
We will, as always, have a block of rooms reserved for Birka which includes every hotel room in the facility which is not reserved under long-standing contracts with other clients. They have long term contracts with other businesses which pre-date us, and must be honored.
An announcement will be issued when we have a firm date for the room block becoming available.
We are also working to set up arrangements for room rates at other nearby hotels for those who aren’t able to reserve rooms at the primary hotel, or prefer another location. An announcement concerning these options will go out after the room block at our host hotel is released.
Thank you,
Lady Tomyris
Event Steward, Birka XXX