president's message
A Report on Our Academy's Activities
By James J. Pollifrone, DO, FAOAO
AOAO President
As my year as President winds down, I want to take this opportunity to thank the AOAO Board for their time and energy serving as the decision making body of this organization. Your Board has been actively involved in many of the issues facing our profession and working to keep a presence among our osteopathic and allopathic peers. This Board has affected many changes over the past few years and despite some of those changes being major, we continue to see financial viability and success in our endeavors. This Board will continue these efforts long after my term has ended.
Besides the issues we have faced with regards to training, there has been a concern among our practicing membership that deserves attention. Not all members have been able to obtain a hotel room at our recent conferences, or obtain their room at the conference rate. Our goal is to select an attractive venue and reserve the appropriate number of guest rooms without putting the Academy at risk of paying financial penalties to the hotel.
The popularity of our educational offerings, as well as inconsistent attendance from year to year makes this especially challenging. There is no perfect science to this process. Our staff works diligently to monitor our guest room usage after contracts are signed up until the date of the meeting. There are many variables that affect this process: location, city wide activities, time of year, hotel availability, etc. Hotels are seeing occupancy levels increase as the economy improves and while we may want a room block that would accommodate all of those who attend our meetings, the hotel will research and see that not all of our members have stayed in the hotel in the past. When members book through a third party (Expedia, Hotels.com), these rooms are not applied to our contracted room block. Some members also wish to stay loyal to hotel companies for points, and will stay at their preferred hotel instead of the host hotel.
Hotel penalties for falling short of the contracted block can be significant, therefore we always try to achieve the right balance between protecting the AOAO from those penalties by not over contracting and yet securing enough rooms to meet member demand.
Factors affecting your ability to get a room at the host hotel or the AOAO group rate:
- The AOAO block fills before the deadline.
- One night of the contracted block fills, making it impossible to book your entire stay.
- Calling to make reservations after the cut-off date or deadline.
Tips for making sure you can get a room and conference rate at the host hotel: - Book early! Book early! Book early!
- Be sure to make your reservations directly through the host hotel and not a third party and let them know you are staying for the AOAO conference, otherwise your stay will not be applied to the AOAO block!
- If the online reservations link does not allow you to reserve a room, call the hotel directly.
- Contact the AOAO administrative office if you have difficulty.
The Board, along with the assistance and advice from the AOAO Director of Meetings, makes every effort to partner with hotel companies who will work with us when room availability becomes an issue. If you encounter these issues when scheduling your hotel room for the next conference, don’t hesitate to contact the Academy office at 800-741-2626.
It has been my pleasure to serve you as President. I look forward to continuing as Chair of the Evaluating Committee and to the direction this Academy is headed in the future.
