[bc-gnso] Concerns about the Hotel in Dakar

[Marilyn Cade <marilynscade@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks to Mikey for the resurrection of the ALAC Report, and the 
[miscommunication] by ICANN staff to the Minister. The letter is not on the 
ICANN site because it is being 'readdressed'. I spoke to the Chair and Vice 
Chair last night. A different approach will take place including an apology to 
the Minister for the letter. ICANN will address the complaints, themselves.
First, I need to hear from the BC folks who did stay at that hotel. 
I know that one member moved, and Chris and I had offered to have another BC 
member move into one of our rooms, but that didn't happen. Can those of you who 
were at the hotel look at the report from ALAC, and give me [off list] your 
quick experience?
Re the letter: --the complaint is about the lack of due diligence of ICANN 
staff, and once it surfaced, how the ICANN staff [meetings staff] handled the 
complaints/or did not. 
For now, ignore the unfortunate staff letter to the Minister. That will be 
addressed by the Chair, with an apology.
However, the responsibility of ICANN to address their decisions and endorsement 
of the  hotel remains. 
Do any of the affected BC members want to share any of your experiences? 
I feel very badly about this for our members. As you all know, originally, 
Chris, Bene and I were at that hotel. When I moved us due to bad feedback, I 
had also alerted the members we knew who were there that we were moving 
ourselves. The cost of moving was rather excessive. But, I didn't realize that 
ICANN was putting people that they were funding at that hotel.  So, our 
outreach to members was limited accordingly. 
There is a longer term issue in that ICANN continues to accept venue hotels 
with very limited room availability. We continue to find that the venue hotel 
is booked out before the host site even goes live, which is a future challenge. 
On that front,   Ayesha and I participated in the Meetings public session and 
raised several issues. 
And, in that meeting, I did raise the concerns about the experiences of those 
at that hotel. I cannot tell you that the Board members present demonstrated 
much awareness of the serious nature of the concerns, not did they ask any 
questions to learn more. 
BUT, the focus  we all take should be the ALAC report and any augmentation, or 
just general agreement, if that was also your experience. 
As noted, there should not have been an ICANN staff letter to the Minister, and 
that is separately addressed. I am pleased that the Chair and Vice Chair are 
both now aware, and addressing that misfortunate misdirected staff 
communication.  We don't need to say more on that front. I was disappointed to 
hear that they were not briefed on site; but I gather that 'gap' is also now 
addressed with staff. 
Accepting and endorsing hotels is the responsibility of ICANN staff -- and 
requires  due diligence, and accountability. 
if you were at the hotel and want to share your concerns, please email me and 
copy Bene, who will compile and help me to generalize the experiences. 
Marilyn Cade,BC Chair 
P.S. Mikey, thanks for putting the doc up. 
==================
> Subject: Re: [bc-gnso] a pretty scathing report from At Large about Hotel 
> Almendine in Dakar
> From: mike@xxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2011 11:55:07 -0600
> To: bc-gnso@xxxxxxxxx
> 
> 
> i threw a copy up on my server -- here's the link;
> 
>       http://www.haven2.com/clay-to-guirassy-23nov11-en.pdf
> 
> mikey
> 
> 
> On Dec 1, 2011, at 10:32 AM, Smith, Bill wrote:
> 
> > 
> > And now the report is no longer on the ICANN site.
> > 
> > On Nov 30, 2011, at 5:10 AM, Mike O'Connor wrote:
> > 
> > hi all,
> > 
> > i remember several of you mentioning that it was pretty rough going at the 
> > Alemendine.  i had no idea *how* rough.  here's an astonishing report from 
> > the At Large documenting the situation with a poll and pictures.
> > 
> > http://www.icann.org/en/correspondence/clay-to-guirassy-23nov11-en.pdf
> > 
> > they raise some pretty interesting points -- and offer suggestions on how 
> > to move forward.
> > 
> > m
> > 
> > - - - - - - - - -
> > phone  651-647-6109
> > fax   866-280-2356
> > web  http://www.haven2.com<http://www.haven2.com/>
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> > etc.)
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> - - - - - - - - -
> phone         651-647-6109  
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> Google, etc.)
> 
>