Parties

Parties at Albacon (and other traditional SciFi Conventions) have a long and storied history. But that is not important right now. What is important is that you know how we are handling parties at Albacon 2016 and what is permitted and what is not permitted.

There are generally two major types of parties:

  1. Open Parties: These are parties that have an “open door” and all convention attendees are welcome to drop in to these parties. Alcohol is prohibited at any open party.
  2. Closed Parties: These are parties that are “invitation only”. Alcohol is permitted at closed parties. The door to a closed party must remain closed unless someone is actively entering or leaving the party.

So the major aspect that determines if a party is Open or Closed is whether it is an “invitation only” party or whether all convention attendees are welcome. OK, the reality is that the real determining factor is the presence of alcohol. It is not that hard to get an “invitation” to many of the “invitation only” parties 🙂

Note that even Closed Parties are not permitted to serve alcohol to any person under the drinking age in NYS (21 years of age) or that appears to be intoxicated.

Anyone hosting a Party at Albacon, either Open and Closed, must notify Albacon of their intentions by filling out the Party Request Form at the bottom of this page. This is to facilitate coordination among parties and insure that everyone has a fun time. If Albacon discovers a party that did not contact us, we reserve the right to shut such parties down and / or permit the hotel to do such.

The hotel configuration has rooms that open onto both the hotel hallways and the enclosed pool area. We will be using the pool area for Meetups and other less formal events during the day. In the evening and at night the pool area will provide access to parties (the pool itself closes at 9:00 PM). Hotel room doors to the hallway MUST remain closed for all party rooms, whether the party is open or closed. This is for noise control to the remainder of the hotel.

We are planning on blocking all of the poolside rooms for Albacon attendees. Only certain of these rooms will be assigned for parties as they are more isolated from the rest of the hotel. All of the open parties will be grouped together to make “party hopping” easier.

In order to facilitate the blocking of party rooms, all parties, both open and closed, are required to fill out the following Party Request Form. This will allow us to collect information about parties and appropriately block rooms for parties. If we all get this right, we will have a great set of parties and the hotel will not have any noise complaints. Everyone will be happy. If we get this wrong, the hotel will come around shutting down parties and we will have to find a different hotel for 2017.


PARTY REQUEST FORM! Use only after a reservation has been made with the hotel. You MUST fill out this form if you intend to host a party at Albacon 2016. Any party that has not FILLED OUT THIS FORM and registered with Albacon will be shut down by the convention and/or the hotel.

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