The Fairmont Royal York is the "party" hotel. Parties are only allowed on the first and second floors. The elevator lobbies and the halls are not party space. Please, if you see people in the hall or the elevator lobby; invite them into your party to help keep the hall clear.
Please do not post anything on hotel walls, doors, in the halls or in the elevators, etc. Be careful when decorating your rooms - the walls should look as good when you check out as when you check in. The convention will be looking at supplying some areas in the elevator lobbies on which people can post party flyers. It is also recommended that you announce your party in the daily newsletter and place a flyer on the party board in the Convention Center. You can leave party information for the newsletter in the boxes near the distribution points.
Convention Operations will be the primary interface between our members and the hotel. If you need something, please contact them. If the hotel has issues concerning your party, Convention Operations will be the convention's liaison with them. Con Ops is on the Main Mezzanine in Confederation 5 and Confederation 6.
Please DO NOT heat food in the rooms. Rooms in most hotels including the Royal York are equipped with heat sensors and setting them off WILL set off the sprinkler system.
An example from Kurt C. Siegel, Safety Officer for ConJose:
A couple that was staying in the local Holiday Inn in Schenectady had a rice steamer with them, and had it plugged into the bathroom outlet. They had the steamer on the floor outside of the bathroom, and when they took the lid off of the steamer, the steam rose straight up to the sprinkler head over the bathroom door, and melted the 135 degrees (F) fusible link, causing the head to open.
The room was in the exact center of the newly renovated fourth floor of the hotel. It took us 15 minutes to get the water shut off, and at a discharge rate of about 120 gallons per minute, the water spread across the hall, to rooms in either direction, and ran down through the rooms to the first floor.
In other words, just a really bad scene.
You will be responsible for any liquor served at your party. It is illegal to serve alcohol to minors unless you are their parent, and it is up to you to card your guests. The minimum drinking age in the Canada is 19.
The Royal York will sell ice at a cost of $10 CDN for a 24" x 16" x 6" bus pan. This is for the convenience of both people hosting parties and for people who are not - if parties get their large supplies of ice through the hotel, the hotel ice machines for guests will have ice for those who are using lesser amounts. Ice will be available starting Wednesday evening and running through Monday.
To order ice, contact hotel room service, explain you are running a party, and order as many bus pans of ice as you want. The ice will be charged to the room.
Three bus pans should be enough to start for most parties.
A note about bathtubs: The hotel has requested that coolers or keg buckets be used to hold the ice. These can be placed in the bathtubs in order to conserve space but you should still take steps to protect the bathtub from rubbing by the container. To protect your tub, line your bathtub with something soft (towels are good) and then with something nonporous (trash bags are good), then add your ice and soda. When dumping the ice containers please be careful to keep the towels under the location where you are pouring to prevent accidental scratching of the tub. It is important that the bathtub be left in the same or better condition than when you checked in to the room.
Part of keeping the staff happy is tipping; their salaries are figured with the assumption that people will tip them. So tip generously and often. This will improve your personal service and the service level to the whole convention. Suggested tips are $1.00 CDN per pan to the bellman, at least $2.00 CDN per day per bedroom, and $15.00 CDN per day per parlor for the maids. If you leave a mess for the maids, more money will help as they clean it up. If you create a spot on the rug, at least $5.00 CDN is appropriate for the care and tending needed to clean each spot.
Cleanliness is very important. The hotel is not our house so please be considerate and be more careful than you would at home about messing things up. If you have a big party, we encourage you to bag most of your own trash. Yes, the maids are there to clean but if they only need to vacuum, make beds, and other general cleaning, that will help them get through their designated floors within something close to reasonable time, allowing them to take care of everyone. And if we keep the maids happy everybody wins.
Remember, if your room is damaged during your stay YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE to reimburse the hotel for fixing that damage. A nice tip will go a long way toward making sure the room is in top condition when you leave it.
It is prudent to plug all appliances into the GFI outlet of the bathroom that services the hair dryer. It is also prudent to use a construction grade heavy-duty power cord (15 amps). Per the National Electric Code, in the past hotels used 10 amp circuits. Which is why there are now dedicated outlets for hair dryers (as well as for GFI ground fault interruption electric shock protection).
If you have any other questions please ask. We will work to get you an answer to your questions as soon as possible.
Enjoy, and we look forward to seeing you at Torcon 3!
Richard Ney partymaven@torcon3.on.ca
The Royal York's "Hospitality Suite Guidelines Royal York Hotel" states "Please be advised of the following guidelines relating to hospitality suites:
"These guidelines have been developed to ensure the comfort and safety of all of our guests, and we thank you for your cooperation. We hope that your stay with us is enjoyable."
Note, these are guidelines. For example I (Murray Moore) was in the hotel's First Floor east end, location of the bid suites and the con suite, the first Thursday of this month between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Suites' doors were open. (But not as crowded and noisy, of course, as they will be in the evenings during our dates.)
Torcon 3 agreed to none of these guidelines in our contracts signed with the Royal York. The hotel has agreed to bring concerns caused by our members to the concom, unless action as defined by a reasonable person must be taken immediately to protect property or life.
Torcon 3 has floors 1 through 9. The party floors are the far-east end of the First Floor and all of the Second Floor. On the first floor the NASFiC and Worldcon bid parties, the Fan Lounge, and the con suite, occupy the eastern-most end. The Second Floor is a complete party floor.
Bringing Party Supplies into the Royal York Park your vehicle at the hotel's east end. Please be discreet when bringing party supplies into the hotel. Hotel management says staff should not object unless you are blatant in pulling up in a catering truck, or a delivery truck from Costco.
If you have too much stuff to carry, ask the bell captain for a cart. Tip appropriately. You can carry your party supplies by hand up the stairs to the Lobby floor or you can use the small elevator designated for the use by handicapped guests
After you unload your party supplies you must remove your vehicle and park it elsewhere. You can not go into the hotel and leave your vehicle.
Once inside the hotel, to your right is a bank of three elevators to take you to the higher floors of the hotel.
For food supplies and other types of stores not listed ask the concierge. The concierge is very knowledgeable of the closest store that will meet your needs.
Kinko's
505 University Ave
Toronto, ON M5G 1X3
(416) 979-8447
Costco
50 Queen Elizabeth Blvd
Etobicoke, Ontario
(416) 251-2832
Hours:
Monday - Friday 10 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Saturday 9:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Sunday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Home Depot
193 North Queen
Etobicoke, Ontario
(416) 626-9800
Visible on the right side from Highway 427 southbound just before the intersection of 427 with the Queen Elizabeth Way, and opposite Sherway Mall.
Leaside
101 Wicksteed Ave
Toronto, ON M4G 4H9
(416) 467-2300
Last updated: 26 August 2003
Send comments or suggestions to PartyMaven@torcon3.on.ca
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