SPECIAL NOTICE

October 30, 2009

TO ALL CASTEXPO EXHIBITORS AND ATTENDEES:

PLEASE BEWARE!

CastExpo show management has recently received many phone calls and e-mails from the membership complaining about the number of phone calls they are receiving daily from housing brokers and travel agencies offering discounted room rates in Orlando. The Casting Congress and CastExpo website for the past two years has warned that we do not endorse nor utilize housing brokers and assume no liability.

In these tough economic times housing brokers are scouring the internet looking for these shows as potential customers. Attendees may be looking for breaks in the housing costs.

Be aware that many times these housing brokers do not actually have the rooms they are selling. You get to the hotel and find out that you do not have a room reservation, and in many instances, you have given your credit card number to a perfect stranger to guarantee the room.

Show management has booked a number of hotels in price ranges from $200 down to $89 a night. Shuttle service will be provided for all attendees who book within the AFS block. If you book outside the block, shuttle service will not be available and you may incur additional transportation expenses. We are sure that after a long day walking the show floor you will appreciate an air-conditioned motor coach to transport you to your hotel.

Approximately 8,000–10,000 people attend CastExpo, yet AFS/NADCA only books 3,000 room nights on peak. We have often wondered where the other 5,000–7,000 attendees are. If we were able to book all attendees within the block we would be able to negotiate better room rates in future cities when they look at our show history.

Not only do we want to protect our members, we also want to ensure that we are not put into a position of attrition where we will have to pay for the unsold rooms we have blocked.

We ask for your understanding and consideration by booking your rooms within the housing block. If you need assistance or would like to speak to someone regarding your housing needs, please contact Lynn Smith at 800/537-4237 x. 223 or by e-mail at lsmith@afsinc.org.

Sincerely,

JERRY CALL
American Foundry Society

DAN TWAROG
North American Die Casting Association