Today I have finally received my email from Lib Dem Conference Office confirming my accreditation for this months conference. The fact that it has taken so long, for someone who applied for early bird registration raises the question, how much extra would it have cost me to get there and stay there if I'd waiting until now to book flights and accommodation.
Here is the answer.
My flights were booked as soon as the availability for September became available. The additional cost of £113.85 is actually more than double what I paid. This is for the same flights on the same airline.
The accommodation I had booked back in January is as you might have guess fully booked seeing as it was so cheap and so close to the conference venue. I expect to see a lot of Lib Dems around the lobbies. Therefore I went unto late rooms to find the best deal. Now here of course I could have got cheaper, further out but I'm only 400 metres from the ICC where I'm staying. So instead of a 4 minute walk I'd be facing half an hour. So while I could safe £90 the standard is lower and it is not as convenient. For the equivalent class at about the same distance I save £6 which would be used up easily in fares back and forth for when I didn't feel like walking.
Total additional costs £107.85 with sore feet, c. £120 by taking public transport in and out of the city instead of half hour walk. £135 when you consider there won't be public transport when I leave the bars.
Therefore letting people know 2 weeks in advance that they are accredited for conference is not a very economically liberal way of doing so. When you consider that I am also attending this conference as a claimant (yes still looking for work) that additional cost would have been prohibitive, fortunately this time a little forward planning has saved me a fortune.
Some are still waiting to be accredited.
No comments:
Post a Comment