THE MONSTER FINANCIAL "BASH"

After almost three years and 20 issues of HORROR-WOOD, we have managed to avoid putting out anything resembling an editorial…or, for us, a "dead-itorial." But the shabby treatment Ron "Monster Bash" Adams received at the hands of the management of the Holiday Inn at Monroeville-Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has changed all that.

Putting on a "Con" can be and often is an exhilarating and richly rewarding experience…after you’ve achieved it. But the preparation and actual management of a Con, the endless problems, the logistics snarls, the intrusion of Murphy’s Law into every aspect, can and does leave Con promoters ragged. These are things that happen no matter what the circumstances and are accepted by Con promoters, such as Ron Adams.

But when the hotel you’re using to host the Con, the same hotel you gave your business to before, just plain holds you up in broad daylight…well, that’s beyond the pale and deserves the light of public scrutiny. This holdup happened to Ron Adams just days before The Monster Bash 1999 took place from June 25 to June 27 at the Holiday Inn at Monroeville, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

We’ll let Ron Adams describe the scenario:

1. My (Holiday Inn) sales rep, Erin Novak, told me I was paid in full for last year’s convention (1998).
2. I asked her for the same space for 1999, she gave me a total bottom line price of $3300. I paid it and got a receipt. The receipt says "For Monster Bash 1999." No "balance due" is listed. This all transpired in June of 1998.
3. She came back to me and said the hotel did so well, that she would add to my package 20 free sleeping rooms for 4 days--comped, free. I was told numerous times through 11 months by my sales representative from the Holiday Inn that I was "all paid up."
4. One week prior to the show I was told I owed over $600 (a balance due!).
5. Three days prior to the show, I was told that was a mistake, I owed over $2,100.
6) The night before the show, I was told to sign contracts, I signed with the notation "under duress" (as per the lawyer).
7) The morning of the show I was told I also did not get the 20 free sleeping rooms promised. Only 4 rooms. I would have to pay for the rest. I was also asked to re-sign contracts without "under duress" on them, or the show would not happen.
They re-worked numbers from different directions, but basically I was told
everything for 1998 & 1999 was paid for in full and that has changed, just days before the event.

Can you imagine on the very eve of putting on a big convention being told you owed another two grand? Two grand you knew nothing about…but two grand you had to pay or no show?

The timing here is quite suspect…a massive extra billing just days before the Con, when Ron had no chance to find another location. Even if he had, he would have forfeited (unless he brought suit) all he had paid the Holiday Inn folks up to that point.

Our read of the situation is that the Holiday Inn management knew they had Ron Adams and the Monster Bash by the throat—all they had to do was threaten "No Con," and they could gouge an extra two thousand and take back nearly all the comp rooms they had promised.

This is sharp business practice at its worst, and it’s the sort of practice that can threaten fan Cons…since fan Cons aren’t supported by high-power corporations and thus can’t guarantee big prestige and guaranteed (captive) attendees, the convention hotels tend to treat them shabbily. We can understand why a hotel might prefer a Microsoft program developer convention to a monster film Con, but each deserves fair treatment—no more and no less.

Fortunately, thanks to letters and e-mails of protest sent to Holiday Inn's corporate headquarters (including letters from Sara Karloff and Dwight D. Frye), this tale has a semi-happy ending.  The Holiday Inn got back to Ron Adams after receiving the protests and lowered the extra amount he allegedly owed the hotel. "I settled for $500 just two days ago." Ron said on July 30th, just prior to HORROR-WOOD going to press. "But the release forms and money hasn't changed hands yet."

Hopefully, this kind of practice won’t beset future Monster Bashes or other Cons in the future. We’ll keep you posted.

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