@ryaninteractive @hacks4pancakes One problem with conference hotels is that many of them demand a non-refundable deposit from the coference organisers a few years in advance. (This is what killed RWA—they over-committed on cons then got slammed by COVID19 in 2020, at the same time as an omnishambles of other fuckery that turned off their attendees). Worst I know of is in Japan conference hotels get locked down 5 years in advance. So it might not be 100% on the current conference organizers ...