Auto Assembly 2014 – Major Hotel Accommodation Announcement

Dear friends,

We are sorry to inform you that the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, home of Auto Assembly, is on the cusp of reaching a complete accommodation sell out with it’s accommodation over this year’s convention weekend. As such, please kindly spare a minute to read this message so we can advise you how best to enjoy the convention.

The Present Situation

At the time of writing this message, rooms at the Hilton for Saturday 9th August 2014 have completely sold out. However there is still some availability on the following dates;

• Wednesday 6th
• Thursday 7th
• Friday 8th
• Sunday 10th
• Monday 11th

Room availability on these dates is now exceptionally limited and we anticipate a total sell out in the following days.

Please note no further rooms shall be allocated to Auto Assembly, or any other event. The only way in which rooms may become available is if the hotel receives cancellations but should this happen, the newly freed rooms will go on general sale, as it would be unfair for any one event to be given priority.

Potentially there may be limited rooms on sale on third party websites but these cannot be recalled by the Hilton for convention use, as the Hilton must meet and pre-existing contractual requirements it may have with its affiliates which is understandable.

Wider Hotel Room Shortage Issues

In addition to the Hilton selling out under the weight of Auto Assembly and the Festival of Quilts, our chosen overspill hotel has limited availability, as do others in the nearby area.

This is not all because of Transformers and Quilt fans – this is due to a major touring event which is scheduled to take place in the LG arena, (just across the lake from the Hilton). That event was not announced until approximately 6 months after AA2014 was booked, so we sadly could not have taken it into consideration. To top things off, there is also now a major fashion trade show taking place at the NEC as Auto Assembly comes to a close, meaning we are suddenly faced with a very popular weekend around the Hilton.

Naturally, we hope you will all appreciate that this is an unprecedented event and that we are doing our best to make sure nobody misses out on finding a room so they can join us for this year’s convention.

What to do next (yes, we have back up plans!)

If you don’t have anywhere to stay yet (or haven’t booked for the convention and are worried about not being able to find a room) then please don’t worry – Team Auto Assembly has your back! This is what you need to do.

1. If you only require a room for any of the dates showing availability which we have listed above, then you should try to book with the Hilton first as you may still get in. Do this using the AA discount code found within your confirmation emails and on the ticket purchase confirmation page of our website that you will have been taken to when you originally booked.
2. For those who are unable to book a room at all at the Hilton, the Auto Assembly Committee have produced a list of nearby alternatives which are within walking distance. We have already spoken with these hotels and several of them still have availability. Some of them are very cheap too (especially if you are coming in a group) so you will have extra money to spend over the weekend. Details of nearby hotels and hotel information generally can be found elsewhere on our website at https://www.autoassembly.org.uk/auto-assembly-2014-hotel-accommodation/
3. If you cannot find a room within walking distance, again there is information on the above page about further options which are slightly further afield, but still within a very short train or taxi ride.

Both Birmingham City Centre and Coventry are under 10 minutes away by train, with return tickets costing as little as £3.00. These options are especially great for people on a tight budget as there are some very cheap deals to be had in exchange for the short journey and we have managed to identify ample rooms in the immediate vicinity of the City Centre to cater for all your needs should you wish to choose there for your stay in August so we are certain that you will have no difficulty in finding anywhere to stay.

Helping hand

Please rest assured that we have no intention of leaving people out.  Whilst we cannot book your rooms for you, we will help as much as we can should anybody require extra assistance; particularly our international attendees who may not be familiar with the local area.

You can contact us at roombookings@autoassembly.org.uk and we will always get back to you as soon as possible.

We are actively looking into other ways to try and help you including, but not limited to, taxi share advice, public transport routes, coaches and bag stores. Whilst we can’t confirm any of these things right now, we thought it was important to let you know that we are continuing to work hard for you.

For those of you who are currently planning on travelling to Auto Assembly 2014 alone, we have set up a dedicated area on the Auto Assembly Forum for those of you who may be interested in considering room sharing as an option as well. This may make finding accommodation even easier, more affordable and could help you find new friends for your latest trip to the convention or even for some of you, your first year with us at Auto Assembly and you can find this here:- https://www.autoassembly.org.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=22

Thank you

We do want to take a moment to thank all of our attendees. Your patience and understanding in this unprecedented time is most appreciated and your continued enthusiasm for YOUR convention is the force that drives us keep making it happen.  We promise to carry on doing everything we can to support you, as you are supporting us.

We also wish to say thanks to the no-nonsense volunteers at roombookings@autoassembly.org.uk who, in their first year of operation, have successfully helped many families and attendees to make and modify their reservations at the Hilton.

Finally, we wish to place on record our sincere thanks to the staff of the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel, especially our liaison Helen Lees, who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to accommodate as many Auto Assembly attendees as possible. When our initial block of rooms sold out within 2 hours of going live, the Hilton released another to us the very next day. And then another and another… We have been provided with literally hundreds of rooms over and above our quota even though there is another event taking place at the hotel. For this, we cannot thank the Hilton enough.

More updates and information will follow in due course.  Please please please try to book your accommodation as soon as possible to avoid disappointment – we don’t want any of you missing out to people attending other shows. They don’t even have robots!

Til all are One

The Auto Assembly Committee