We are staying at a Renaissance Grand during the US Youth Soccer Convention. First, let me say that everything in the hotel room is nice. The beds are nice, the furniture in the room is nice, everything is upper scale.
But entirely unusable. Let me explain.
The desk I am writing this from is a nice, dark cherry with carved legs with inlaid wood veneer on the top. The chair I am sitting in is equally ornate and may be upholstered in Corinthian leather. But, here is where this all falls down. The table is too narrow to use a notebook computer. The chair is very heavy and hard to roll and the arms do not tuck neatly under the desk, so I am leaning over, typing on my keyboard. (yes, it is uncomfortable and is affecting the mood of this post)
The bathroom is similarly equipped. But the really nice vanity drains incredibly slowly and, of course, the little soap and shampoo do not fit on the tray. And finally, the coffee maker is in a tray that pulls out, but the switch to turn it on and off is on the front, behind the tray lip. And to make this worse, it shares the same armoire shelf as the TV, so there is no space next to the coffee maker to set down your cup. But, it is a nice coffee maker and makes a great cup of coffee!
Our Advice: When deciding the features and amenities of your tournament, make sure EVERYTHING FITS TOGETHER! For example, you may plan a great reception for your registration, but if there is no parking, it will be a bad experience for the coaches. Take the same approach with your web site. Does everything fit together or do you have a registration system that really doesn’t work with the schedule, etc. (While we are on that subject, take a look at the TourneyCentral.com site.)
Look at everything you provide for your guest teams and make sure that they are usable as a cohesive event, not a bunch of room furnishings that looks great but don’t play well together.