Hotels

Acceptance into the Big South requires confirmed reservations at an approved hotel with minimum room night requirements. Please read the following FAQs for complete details.

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Hotel Reservations List of Hotels

Stay & Play FAQs

What is Stay and Play?
Stay and Play (S/P) is the housing policy for Big South entry requirements.To complete entry requirements for Big South, teams need to book hotel rooms in a tournament approved hotel (Approved Hotels) through THS in order to be accepted into the tournament.

How many rooms must a team book for acceptance into Big South?
To complete entry requirements, a team must book a minimum of 12 room nights on one contract with THS at an Approved Hotel (for example, 4 rooms booked for three nights each equals 12 room nights).

What is an Approved Hotel?
Approved Hotels are hotels that contract with Big South, through THS, to offer rooms for teams attending the tournament at a set price. The list of Approved Hotels is available here.

What is THS?
THS is a sports housing company that manages reservations for the room blocks at our Approved Hotels.

Who determines the rules for Stay and Play?
Big South determines the guidelines and procedures for the Stay and Play Policy. THS, then, implements the Policy.

How do I maintain accepted status?
A team must, at all times between accepting a hotel room contract and the finish of the Event, have a minimum of 12 room nights in order to maintain their accepted status into Big South.

What happens if I don’t have 12 room nights reserved?
If at any time your room reservation falls below the 12 room night minimum, THS will contact you and you will have 24 hours to correct the situation. After 24 hours, if the situation is not corrected, your hotel contract and your entry into Big South will be cancelled.

What happens if my hotel contract and tournament entry are cancelled?
All hotel deposits and entry fees previously paid are non-refundable. If you decide to re-enter Big South, you must start the entry process over and your application date (used to determine the order teams are accepted into Big South) becomes the date when you complete the new tournament registration and hotel reservations.

Why is THS contacting us about Stay and Play?
In their role of managing housing reservations for Big South, THS may contact teams directly.

Why is Big South using a Stay and Play policy?
Stay and Play Policy is the single most effective tool we have to encourage hotels to work with us to provide room blocks for teams at group prices we consider reasonable and to encourage hotels within walking distance of the convention center to provide more rooms.

Why is having hotel rooms close to the convention center important?
Many teams traveling to Big South want hotel rooms close enough to the convention center or playing site so they can walk back and forth, saving time, the expense of renting vehicles and the risk of transporting players to and from the playing site multiple times; parents want the same.

Why isn't the hotel I want on the Approved List?
We consider proposals from any hotel that wants to be on our Approved List. However, no one can force a hotel to offer a room block for an event; it’s a business decision by the hotel.

Sometimes hotels have other business booked that is not using the convention center on the tournament dates; so, they do not have rooms available to give us a block.
Some hotels offer rooms at rates we think are too high. (We've never had a hotel want to charge less than what we think is reasonable – it's always the other way around.)
Some hotels are just not suitable for youth sports teams or prefer not to do business with sports teams.

What if we are a local team and drive back and forth each day?
If your club/team has been one who has historically driven back and forth, you are already on our Local Team List and will not be required to book rooms -- please email us at info@bigsouth.us with your request We will then confirm your location is within a reasonable, drivable distance and place your club on the Local Team List. Please understand that a team's "local" status is determined solely at the discretion of the event staff. You may have to comply with the Stay & Play policy to gain entry into the event even though you feel that your team is within a reasonable distance to drive back and forth.

How does Stay and Play help my teams?
Benefits for teams from implementing Stay and Play include:

Lowest Group Room Rates for the Tournament Dates
- Stay and Play leverage allows us, through THS, to negotiate lower room rates for our blocks. Without Stay and Play, a significant number of hotels in the best locations would be available only at significantly higher rates than they are now.
- Stay and Play allows us to hold hotels to "Rate Integrity," meaning no group gets lower prices than we quote for the weekend of the tournament unless all our groups in the hotel gets the lower rates. Teams who reserve early don't have to worry about being ambushed by lowered prices later.
More Rooms Closer to the Convention Center
- Once the hotels see the benefits from the Stay and Play Policy (they know their block will fill up), they are more willing to allocate rooms to tournament teams, which, in turn, produces more rooms closer to the convention center and more rooms at a wider variety of hotels and prices than would otherwise be available.
Assured Availability of Rooms
- Teams save time and effort looking for hotels they want to use; we have all kinds of hotels on the Approved Hotel list that teams have told us they want to use.
- Teams are guaranteed they will get the room type (double or king) they reserve and that each team will be blocked together in the hotel. No more arriving later in the evening at your hotel and finding there are no doubles left even though that is what you reserved.
Greater Direct Economic Benefits for Teams
- As a result of implementing Stay and Play, THS convinced many of the participating hotels to offer a team comp room concession of 1 for 16*. Previously the team comp concession at most hotels was 1 for 50. Last year teams booking through Stay and Play at Big South produced $65,618 worth of comp rooms that went directly to teams in our Approved Hotels from this concession. We are working all the time to increase benefits like this for teams in our blocks.
- Our contract with the Approved Hotels requires the hotels to give our block users the lowest group rates** for the tournament dates. If a hotel offers a lower group rate to any group than we quoted**, whether to a volleyball group or not, our Rate Integrity clause requires the hotel to lower group rates for everyone booked in our block.
Great Variety of Prices in a Great Variety of Locations.
- THS contracts a wide variety of hotels for us to meet team needs. Last year our Approved Hotel(link) rates ranged from $79/night to $149/night, all within 20 miles of the convention center, and 10 within walking distance of the convention center.
Reasonable Hotel Rate Increases From Year to Year.
- Containing prices increases at the major downtown hotels with multiple year Stay and Play agreements contains prices at the outlying properties, too. Hotels want to be competitive and will, generally, not exceed the prices at the headquarters hotels. With Stay and Play leverage, price increases at the headquarters hotels are held to a reasonable level and have the domino effect of holding down price increases on all other properties, too, whether they are close to the Convention Center or not.
Lower Tournament Entry Fees.
- The city tracks verifiable room blocks to determine the economic value of the tournament to the local economy (the key word is "verifiable"). The higher the economic value of an event, the greater the willingness of the city to make convention center space available in the amount, at a reasonable price and on the desired dates for the tournament. This, in turn, helps to keep the costs of running the event in check and protects registration costs from major escalation year to year - for example, team entry fees for Big South have not increased at all during the time we've been using Stay and Play.
On Site THS Housing Specialist
- THS sends at least two of its housing specialists to be on site at Big South during check-in times to assist any team that has a hotel problem during check-in. The on-site person is available at a dedicated phone number 24/7 from 24 hours before the tournament starts until the tournament ends to resolve hotel problems teams might encounter.

Myths and Facts

MYTH #1: Stay and Play is unfair because the big clubs get special consideration not available to other teams.

FACT: More than anything else, teams and clubs tell us they want to be together in the same hotel. To respond to this feedback, we are implementing a new Loyal Customer program. It is modeled on the well-known "frequent flyer" programs used by the airlines. The more rooms a team books at an Approved Hotel***, the more privileges the team earns, including early booking privileges for Gold and Platinum levels. By combining team and parent rooms together on one contract, every team has the ability to qualify.

MYTH #2: Teams can find cheaper rooms on their own.

FACT: Our hotel contracts guarantee the lowest group rates for the tournament weekends.** If a team or club gets a written quote for a lower rate at one of our Approved Hotels, either an email from the hotel or a confirmation letter, we will make sure the team gets the rate the hotel quoted.

Rate quotes must be in writing from the hotel.
An email quote must match the email from the hotel exactly
Guarantees apply to the same number of rooms as the quote

MYTH #3: Teams can get more comp rooms on their own.

FACT: At most Approved Hotels, for every 16 room nights booked through THS and utilized (one room for one night = one "room night"), the 16th room night is free*. If a team or club is quoted a more generous comp rooms concession than we quote, give us the written quote and THS will do their best to get it matched.

Comp concession quotes must be in writing from the hotel.
An email quote must match the email from the hotel exactly
Rate obtained applies to the same number of rooms as the quote

MYTH #4: Stay and Play prohibits individuals from redeeming their Hotel Rewards Points.

FACT: While THS can't redeem rewards points from a hotel for the person who has the points, an individual can redeem her own points for a room in an Approved Hotel, but it cannot be counted towards a team’s tournament entry minimum requirement or toward the Loyalty Customer Rewards room nights.

MYTH #5: Our team can get cheaper rooms at Expedia, Hotels.com, Hotelplanner.com and other web sites.

FACT: There are usually only 2-5 rooms available at the super-low rates quoted by 3rd party online sellers, and the rates are not available to groups. Usually you have to prepay the room in full at the time of booking with a "no refunds" policy. Also, websites like hotelplanner.com add extra booking fees on top of the rates after you book.

MYTH #6: There are lower rates inside 30 days before arrival.

FACT: When THS is unable to fill a hotel block, hotels have the right to do what they can to sell their remaining inventory. Like airline flights, people booking very close to the event sometimes get a lower rate – or a much higher rate - depending on the number of rooms the hotel has remaining in inventory. Our rates are always going to be the overall lowest available group rate.** HOWEVER, if you get a written quote from an Approved Hotel that is lower than what we quoted, we will honor that rate.

Rate quotes must be in writing from the hotel.
An email quote must match the email from the hotel exactly
Guarantees apply to the same number of rooms as the quote

MYTH #7: I can't get a hotel that is not on the Approved List.

FACT: Big South considers proposals for any hotel we find acceptable for our attendees. But, we cannot force a hotel to be on the list – it is their decision. For various reasons, a hotel may decide not to offer a block of rooms for the tournament.

MYTH #8: I lose ability to go to multiple events and use that as leverage to get better rates at one hotel brand.

FACT: Let THS know what you need! THS works with hotels all around the country frequently and has excellent relationships in many cities. Let them help you book anything you need.

*Certain hotels excepted; some hotels require a 3 night stay per room. See Approved Hotels list for information.
**Applies to rooms booked through the hotel only. Does not apply to rooms booked through a 3rd party reseller.
+Applies only to rooms booked by one team on one contract. Clubs cannot combine rooms for two or more teams to qualify for the Loyal Customer program.
++Within 30 days of the tournament start, rooms returned to the hotel from our block may be sold by the hotel at lower rates.

What's new at THS

Designated Customer Service Manager - A real person to handle hotel reservations problems you may have
24 hour Return call Guarantee
All clubs that confirm 200 or more room nights at an event (based on previous season) will have one point of contact at THS
Facebook- an instant way to communicate to teams when rooms open up at a hotel, new hotels are added, events go live, etc.
YouTube- The "show me how" of using THS website

What you get for using THS

Lowest group rates for tournament weekend guaranteed
Most generous comp policy
New Loyal Customer rewards program
Expert assistance in selecting the best hotel for your needs
Onsite Housing desk that has a dedicated cell phone number that goes out to EVERY ATTENDEE, not just team contacts
Tournament Cancelation Insurance. If the event cancels for any reason you will not be charged by the hotel.
Guaranteed you will have a reservation when you show up
Online and personal assistance with hotel reservation issues before, during or after a tournament
A personal online team/club profile to view all of your reservations
The most experienced sports housing service in the county