Tiki Central / California Events / Tiki Oasis 6, May 4-7, 2006 **New Info pg. 7**
Post #195512 by Otto on Sun, Oct 30, 2005 12:27 AM
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Otto
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Sun, Oct 30, 2005 12:27 AM
Dear Tiki lovers, I have some good and bad news to share with all of you. First the good news, Tiki News does plan on producing the Tiki Oasis for the 6th time in 2006. We have set a tentative date of May 7/8 weekend, more details will follow as soon as we know. Now the bad news: It is with great sorrow that I bring you the following information. As many of you know the Caliente Tropics was taken over by new management and owners just weeks before our 2005 event. This was extremely stressful for us as we didn’t know what to expect for our yearly event... There was even a time when we thought the whole show would have to be cancelled! Luckily the hotel felt that a commitment was made to our event and decided to still give us the green light. The experience working with the hotel in May 2005 was mixed – they had some good solid staff that was very helpful over the weekend and overall the event was a success for the hotel and for all those involved. When the event was over they seemed interested in continuing the yearly event which we were quite pleased about. Unfortunately over the last few months the staff that we worked with at the event were ‘let go’, our payment from the hotel was considerable less than in past years (even though we sold more room nights this year) and we could not get them to give us a final commitment on our May date. We have heard reports throughout the year of the hotel becoming less about ‘Tiki’ and more of a budget place to stay. This was something that really concerned us and we were starting to wonder the state of the hotel a year after becoming the ‘budget place’ to stay in Palm Springs. The other thing that did concern us is the lack of interest, on the part of the Caliente Tropics, in the Tiki community. It has become obvious to us that the Caliente tropics owners and management can care less about the Tiki Community. The new management openly scoffed at previous managements plans to improve the Tiki decor and court the Tiki audience. Every October we finalize our plans for Tiki Oasis and it seemed like the hotel was stringing us along with little to no response when we repeatedly asked them to solidify our date. Once we did get an ‘offer’ from the hotel it was for dates in July-August and not our annual May date! If you know Palm Springs, you know it is 120 degrees during the summer and most of the city is EMPTY because the weather is so unbearable! We tried asking for ANY date in May and were willing to not take our usual Mother’s Day weekend that we had for the last 4 years but the hotel refused saying this was considered ‘in season’ even though everyone in Palm Springs knows Mothers Day weekend is one of the worst weekends of the year for hotels. Of course we feel slighted after hosting a successful event that truly benefited the hotel (giving them a sold out weekend last year with no effort on their part - Casey and I had done all the work already). Through these negotiations with the hotel management it is clear that they do not care about Tiki Oasis OR the Tiki Community. We will not go into the details of this – but you can imagine how shocking this was and forced us to make this decision. A little history: Pete Moruzzi, Sven, and I started the Tiki Oasis event as a fundraiser to support the previous owners who had bought the hotel and renovated it and saved it from getting leveled like the Kon Tiki in Phoenix. The event not only gave the hotel a boost in the arm for one weekend, it raised national and international awareness of the hotels existence resulting in increased vacationers year-round. In return the previous management supported Tiki fans and other Tiki events. (Thanks Casey!) Since the owners and management of the tropics hotel are no longer the type of people we can support we can no longer continue to have our event there. We regret having to pull support from the tropics hotel itself but we feel it is only a matter of time before the owners either run it into the ground or renovate in an effort to increase profits. Therefore we cannot support the future demise of the tropics. We want to formally apologize to M Modern, The Vagabond Inn, The Royal Sun, and the city of Palm Springs for having to move our event away from Palm Springs for 2006. Stay tuned for details on Tiki Oasis 2006! If you plan to visit Palm Springs we would like to recommend these hotels: Famous 50s collector and former Seattelite Ruby Montana owns the http://www.coralsandspalmsprings.com/ Indianola Movie Colony Hotel - 726 North Indian Canyon Drive others http://lautnermotel.com/ [ Edited by: martiki - New info - 2006-02-02 10:55 ] [ Edited by: martiki 2006-02-02 10:55 ] |