SwingFest 2008

[ncmd_couple 597]

Friday morning.

 

I guess this will be a bit of a travel log. Got to the airport at 6:00am on Thursday morning to the most unbelievably slow check in line at the airline. Then they said that we were too late to get our luggage on the plane. Then, the line at TSA was backed up half way around the airport! We got on the plane just as they were closing the door. The flight was good and short, only two hours. Upon arrival, we went to the baggage claim anyway. Boy were we happy when we spotted our first bag! Everything made it! So there is hope for the day!

 

We arrived at the hotel at 10:00am. Now, they had said that check in was at 4:00pm. So everyone should have been prepared for that, but obviously many weren’t. So we checked in understanding that our room would not be ready for a while because there had been another convention here and a lot of the attendees of that one didn’t check out the day before as expected. The hotel is excellent, very attractive, and when we got there finally, the room was great. Pools and beach are excellent. But make sure you bring either a lot of cash, your credit card has space. Drinks are at resort prices, i.e. expensive!

 

Check in for SwingFest was supposed to open at 11:00am, but they were about 15 minutes late. Now, I knew that this was their first event, so I was going to be tolerant of little glitches as much as possible. A lot of the problems that we experienced were really tied to the difficulty of registering early for this event. After this is all over, I am sure that the owner of this event will either get these things fixed, or slit his throat! But they did jump through hoops to fix things. Considering the confusion at first, it didn’t take long to check in at all.

 

Probably the biggest problems were caused by attendees. There was a long line at the event desk, and long lines at the hotel registration desk. Some people are just plain jerks! Standing at the registration desk yelling about their room not being ready and demanding comps was just plain rude, and it kept the clerk from doing his job, which was to get us in our rooms! What an ass. Of course the pay back was that I patiently worked with one of the clerks and we had our key and our room while that ass was still down their complaining. Also the hotel slapped on some restrictions that weren’t there before because some jerk called the hotel a couple of weeks ago trying to arrange for something and decided to try to make a threesome date with the young lady he was talking to.

 

The hotel is packed with swinging couples and I understand that the overflow has gone to other hotels in the area. Talked to one couple who is staying at the Roof Top, and they say that place is a real dive. All age groups, races, etc., and they have come from all over the world. We have met a lot of really nice people!

 

Ok, problems. The biggest problem has been one of unintended consequences. They originally set this up so groups could all have rooms together. So everyone had their room numbers weeks in advance. This was a good idea from a swing event standpoint, but a logistical nightmare for the hotel. This is what caused the long delay in everyone getting their rooms. As the cleaned the hotel from the previous event, the rooms became available as they worked. But unfortunately, as our reservations were tied to a specific room, not class of room, we had to wait until that specific room was available. Honestly, I wouldn’t have thought of this as a problem in advance either.

 

Also a couple of the seminars that were originally listed as included, now that we have arrived, are not. I haven’t checked into this yet, but I will let ya’ know what they say about it. Also there have been complaints voiced about the fact that there is no nudity at the pool. From talking to the owner of the event there are two reasons for this. The first is that when they started planning this event, the pool was positioned so that it is private. But since the beginning, a high rise condo has been completed and that privacy no longer exists. Also the jerk who hit on an employee made the hotel really clamp down.

 

A group had a meet-n-greet last night. We went for a little bit, but honestly, we had been on the go since 3:30am, had been sitting in the bar visiting and sipping beer for 6 hours waiting for our room, and we were pooped. So both of us were snoozing by 10:00pm. But the party was started. It could still be heard at 3:00am this morning, and people were in the pool.

 

Overall, this is a pure swinger’s event so far. But the day is young, and I will send ya’ another report tomorrow!

[SecretAsianMan 348]

Good luck & I hope y'all have a great time!!

 

Looking forward to a full report as the festivities continue

[2inSanDiego4u 181]

Overall, this is a pure swinger’s event so far. But the day is young, and I will send ya’ another report tomorrow!

 

Sounds good! We want to hear all about this event. Thanks for sharing!

[Pepper & Drew 384]

Oh this is great! We're getting a blow-by-blow It's like getting a trip report from DennyP's. Keep the reports coming.

 

Pepper

[sweet_tna 680]

Some friends of ours (and fellow board members) are down there for Swingfest, too. I haven't heard from them, so I look forward to your travelogue.

 

=)

[JustAskJulie 2,595]

Hopefully you will be having too much fun to report often, but do share when you can... we'll take no report as a good report (until you tell us otherwise).

[vegaskid 7]

A blow-by-blow report would be nice. We were going to attend the Las Vegas one but it was cancelled.

[des1re06 200]

Hope you're having a great time! Check-in day is always a madhouse.

 

 

Talked to one couple who is staying at the Roof Top

 

Yeah, this is what bothered us when we called to get information. They couldn't guarantee where we'd be and we couldn't stay in our RV and attend.

 

Looking forward to hearing more.

 

Mrs. D

[ncmd_couple 597]

Well, I have quite a bit to write about yesterday. I will probably sit down and do that between dinner and the parties that start at 9:00. Good and bad, but they are trying to correct their mistakes, which I have to commend them for, they are truly trying I think. But there are some unhappy folks about some things, but honestly, they party goes on! The pool was packed when I crashed at 3:00 this morning. I'm going to try to attach a couple of pics. Sunrise Friday morning. Pool party Friday afternoon. Bigger party going on at the moment!

 

S

[2inSanDiego4u 181]

Jay Leno was making fun of Swingfest 2008 on his show last night. The first thing he said was that there are 5000 couples there and that he'd hate to be the one to have to clean up after it was over.

[ncmd_couple 597]

Actually, it has been one heck of a party for the last two days, and isn't over tonight by a long shot. But even after the day long party at the pool, the place is pristine. The attendees are using the trash cans and are being extremely polite. I was concerned Thursday evening, but I am glad to report that my concerns were unfounded. I don't really expect that the rooms are worse off by much. The attitude of the hotel management and staff has relaxed a whole lot also. Of course the fortune that they are making off of this weekend probably had something to do with that. I'm killing a few moments while "L" changes to go out for the evening, so I will write some stuff.

 

Security. Every entrance to the hotel grounds is guarded with at least two security guards. And if you don't have the right color pass for the day, you aren't getting in. As this is a total hotel take-over, including the convention center. You have to pass security to get into the convention center even coming from inside the hotel. Then you have to pass security again on each floor, and again to get to the area where parties are going on. This evening I was in front of the hotel grabbing a smoke before dinner. An older couple approached and the young lady stationed out front asked to see their passes. The lady explained that this is where they had a special day or something, and the security guard told her that the hotel was closed for an event. The woman insisted, so she directed her around to the convention entrance where the registration desk for the event was. As the couple left the guard turned to me and I said, "she is in for one hell of a shock!" The young female guard made a big smile and laugh.

 

Now, even with all of that security, it is not obtrusive unless you have hidden your pass. Then there is a very polite, "excuse me, may I see your pass." The funniest thing was this afternoon when two Florida State Police Troopers went walking through the lobby. You should have seen the look on their face, it was priceless!!!! There are over 5,000 women all over the place wearing their sexy club wear. Quite a site to behold! I noticed last night when the pool party started around midnight, that all of the security in the pool area disapeared except for the security at the two beach entrances and the hotel entrance. They have backed off after dark.

 

I have mentioned before that this hotel is expensive. But for that, the service is the very best. If you call for something, towels, something doesn't work, you need a fridge, what ever, you better put some close on when you hang up the phone because two minutes later there is a knock at your door. And a few minutes after what ever you have asked for is taken care of, you get a call to confirm that you got what you needed or what ever was broken was fixed. The food in all seven restaraunts is fantastic! And their best restarant, the Holliday Prime, I have never received better service, had better food, or paid as high a bill, in my 50 years. If you come here, eat their once. But one piece of advice. You and your partner order one side, one entrey, etc., then split it between you. The portions are hughe! "L" ordered the lobster, that thing weighed 3.5 pounds! My prime rib? That steak was cooked to perfection and melt in your mouth, but it was five inches thick and weighed 44 ounces! Thankfully we met a couple that lives in FL, we gave that hughe bag of leftovers to them to take home with them tomorrow.

 

Ok, my baby is all beautiful now, so I have to go. I'll write more when I get a chance!

 

S

[fordman460 20]

That sounds like SO much fun. I will need another job to afford to go to the next one.

[gatorvol64 216]

I'm sooo glad you are having such a good time. It has been nice of you to share with us.

 

Vol

[sweet_tna 680]

Wow, that really does sound like fun. And it's great to hear that the security and service are so good.

 

Thanks for the update. Btw, I think I see my friends in that pic of the pool . ..

 

=)

[ncmd_couple 597]

A blow-by-blow report would be nice. We were going to attend the Las Vegas one but it was cancelled.

 

Vegas,

 

If there is an event in Las Vegas, I don't think it is connected in anyway with Swingfest. So far from what we have seen the next one will be next year at the same hotel.

[ncmd_couple 597]

Well, I guess I’m going to merge my report for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday into one report. This is going to be a long one, so get a cold beverage and settle down.

 

Transportation to and from Ft. Lauderdale airport is via taxi. The cost is about $24 each way and it takes about 15 minutes each trip. The cabbie should take you down US-1 not via I-95. If he goes down I-95, he is ripping you off. This is a bigger danger on arrival, as the cabbies at the hotel know that the valet at the hotel tells you the amount that the fair should be.

 

I would like to throw in a suggestion for the event passes just in case Jason wades through this. As it was set up, each of us received four different colored wrist bands to wear each day, with each color designating the correct day. I would like to suggest that for those people who sign up for the entire event, and are hotel guests, that they get one band that designates as that. That would make it easy to restrict access to events that are planned just for those folks and we don’t have to change bands every day. Then you can have the daily colors for those that attend other combinations of days.

 

Porn stars etc.. Ok, I can understand why Jason thought that he would need a headliner for this event, but honestly he could have done without it. I think that the headliner is going to turn around and bite him. It became the focus of news reports that I looked at while waiting for our flight on Sunday. The coverage was slanted more for porn and who she was. Maybe some were interested in the porn aspect, but the majority of couples we talked to considered it to be a distraction. And the camera crew that followed Mary Kerry (or what ever her name is) made me very uncomfortable and the whole tone of the porn level crap that they were doing, like her trying to swallow a sausage on camera on the vendor floor. Up she pops, cameras and lights, and I’m scuttling to get the hell out of camera range, as we were standing at a vendor’s booth next too her. Really pissed me off! I hope that Jason dumps the whole porn star headliner thing next year. I would be pissed to find I’m in some video about the event without my consent! They were also running around, cameras in tow, throughout the parties and we were constantly dodging them! They were everywhere, pool area, etc.. Discretion is a major part of the lifestyle, cameras and porn stars are not discrete.

 

Single guys. I picked out eight single guys all weekend. Mainly as they were standing around gawking like a single guy, two of them talked to us and they were very polite, I might have misjudged some of them. But other than that, you didn’t know they were there.

 

Single gals. I picked out a couple, mainly because they were leaving the pool area alone and seemed to be single.

 

Couples. I would have to say that 99% of the attendees were couples, either married or otherwise. But they hung together from what we could tell.

[ncmd_couple 597]

Friday we went to the brunch. What a disaster, they ran out of food in around 30 minutes. The problem was that security let anyone in with an event pass, it was supposed to be for registered hotel guests only. So needless to say, the locusts were feeding. We talked to some people that went to the dinner buffet on Friday, and they were not impressed with the food even though they did limit it to hotel guests. I don’t know about what happened on Saturday, a lot of people elected to eat elsewhere because of what happened Friday it seems.

 

We went to the vender’s area, there were quite a few, though a couple weren’t open when we were there on Friday. There was a wide variety of vendors. The large majority were swinger/clothes/jewelry/toys/travel related with a couple of porn vendors mixed in. Like us, the majority of couples were walking past the porn vendors. The vendors were handing out a lot of stuff and we collected a couple of bags worth of stuff. Desires and Hedo were there and were doing raffles for free trips, of course we entered! We went back Saturday and there was some new stuff. “L” tried on some clothes, but nothing fit, clothes vendors did have a changing booth set up so you could try stuff on. I picked up a beautiful Rhine stone necklace and stuff at one vendor. When we checked their web site later, the price we paid at the booth was half of their listed price on the web. We didn’t go Sunday. I would give the vendor area a “B,” not bad for a first shot.

 

We signed up for the VIP party on Friday night. This was advertised as being “pampered” for an extra $75 a head. We all assumed (we and the couples that I talked to) that for that extra amount, there would be an open bar and finger food etc. We were one of the first couples there and it was a cash bar at their normal high prices, no food, and there was no access control at the door. I went down to the registration desk and told the event supervisor at the desk what was going on. When I got back up to the 33rd floor, they had a list. A woman was there who was someone with the event who asked me why I expected an open bar, I asked her what in the hell did we pay $150 for? Granted, it was a nice room, very posh, but…. We left and I made the guy at the door write down that we left and want a refund. Some that I talked to later that hung around said that everyone was unhappy as there was nothing there but a few couples sitting around looking at each other and talking about what a bust it was. The next day, after I had gotten over being pissed off, I went down to the registration desk and told them that I wanted a full refund. We were offered to attend the Saturday night VIP that would have an open bar and we said “no thanks, we want a refund.” Our name was put on a list and we were told that someone would contact us. As of Sunday we had not been contacted, so we went back to the registration desk and I was informed that everyone who complained would be getting a refund on their charge, those that paid cash were being paid back in cash.

 

Friday and Saturday during the day the pool areas were packed. They made it clear that there was to be no nudity. But we did see a few ladies sun bathing topless in discrete locations around the pool so that they couldn’t be seen from the condos and nothing was said to them. A few were openly topless on the beach, and again, no one said anything. Drinks at the pool bar are $3 higher than at the bar in the hotel proper. A bloody mary at the pool was $13 after tax and their added gratuity. $10 at Bar Su and you picked the tip. Beer at Bar Su is $6 and $8 at the pool. I can’t say about food at the pool though it was available. The hotel provides beach towels in the pool area for free. The beach chairs etc. on the beach appear to be a vendor and you are looking at $35 to rent two chairs and an umbrella which they set up for you with a nice terry cloth slip for the chairs. The wave runners rent for $90 and change for 30 minutes with driver and one passenger. They provide life vests and a quick tour of the controls and let you know about the area restrictions etc.. Also they don’t put you through the hassles that were required when checking on rentals from commercial renters in the area that I checked out online in advance. That was fun. Yes, everything at the beach could be charged to your room. Really the only cash you need to carry is for tips for valet service etc..

[ncmd_couple 597]

The hotel complex is a huge place, you have the hotel proper, and they obviously own the condos to the north (same architecture) the convention center to the south, and restaurants and parking across the street. In the lobby they have a coffee shop with Starbuck’s coffee and great muffins. Prices for the coffee shop were reasonable. The Café is open for breakfast and lunch. The buffet was good but expensive at $25 a head. Throw in a couple of bloody marys and with tip it was $100 for breakfast Sunday morning. But again, the food was excellent as well as the service. You can order off a menu and will probably walk out paying less. I have already mentioned Hollywood Prime, fantastic if expensive. Over across the bridge at the marina is Rivals sports bar. Not your typical sports bar as the food is gourmet. The prices are more reasonable also. There is another restaurant at the marina, but we didn’t check it out. Club Su is the bar in the hotel. It doesn’t open up till noon, the service is good and the drinks are good. They have a sushi bar that opens up at 5:00pm. We didn’t get a chance to partake of that, the prices on rolls were not real expensive, and they had some interesting items on the sushi menu. They have an Asian restaurant, but we didn’t try that either. Valet service arriving and departing the hotel was fast and friendly even during the mad house that those events were. They were well organized and planned for keeping everyone’s stuff straight. The folks at the hotel desk were friendly and helpful if you treated them with some respect and patience. This is a five star hotel and lives up to that in all things that I can think of for a hotel. As for the convention handling, they screwed some things up that I will mention next. The hotel staff was pleasant and polite. The management (denotable by suits and ties) were nervous the whole time. The male staff walked around with a grin on their face. The female staff was a mixed lot, some took it all in stride, some were unhappy but kept it to themselves, but the body language was there. Overall, the staff took the whole event in stride and treated us as they would any other guest. And that treatment was top notch.

 

Again, I’m going to chalk this up to their first event pains. The “parties” Friday night were in the smaller convention rooms, still pretty big, that were set up with different sponsors or themes. Each had a DJ and dance floor. The common areas had several bars scattered throughout the facility. The parties were scheduled to run from 9:00 to 3:00 with open bar from 9:00 to 11:00. The hotel opened the open bars on Friday at 8:00 and made them cash bars at 10:00, no one knows why, but there were a bunch of upset people. We had gone there after bailing out of the VIP party. The open bar opened back up pretty quickly, but they kept flipping from cash to open throughout the evening and the lines were long. Saturday night was better and more consistent on the open bar issue. There were “play areas” using 10 foot cloth screens in a couple of the rooms Friday night. They were originally supposed to be in another area of the hotel, but were moved at the last moment on Thursday at the hotel’s request. The hotel was still nervous about all of this at that time. The play areas were being used, but not a whole lot. On Saturday night they had a “kink” themed party which was BDSM oriented and the BDSM folks were using the equipment set up and a lot standing around watching. Not our thing so we moved on. On Saturday night the party rooms were in separate rooms inside the hotel as originally planned, again sparsely used.

[ncmd_couple 597]

Parties. Ok, after having experienced this event, I would flip the party setup and the vendor setup. I would put the vendors in the smaller rooms on the 3rd floor and have one large party in the grand ballroom. If someone wanted to sponsor a party, those could be put in the smaller convention rooms in the hotel building proper. The dance floor could be at one end, and if you wanted to get away from the music you could find a table at the other end where the db level would let you talk. The party(s) was more of a grand parade from room to room with few actually settling down or mingling. The situation was so bad that we just camped out against the wall and watched people going back and forth in the common area. This made for a traffic nightmare and a security nightmare as you had choke points at the two entrances to the two areas that had 3-4 parties going on and security was hard pressed to check everyone. A security nightmare because I think they had a gate crasher. I know that 4-5 security guys came racing into one area looking for someone and for the rest of the evening security at the entire facility doubled.

 

Security. The security was well done. The security force was a mix of men and woman and all of them were professional in their performance, actually, I was impressed with the security team. On Thursday afternoon, before the hotel was completely closed off, a man at the bar who was waiting for a friend, not a hotel guest either of them, tripped and fell and busted his head wide open on the floor. I and two ladies in the bar went to his aid, both of the ladies were nurses, the security staff responded quickly with a medical kit to render aid until the paramedics arrived. There were a couple of medical calls I saw and they responded quickly to all of them. They were polite but firm with attendees and I never saw an instance where there was a security issue accept for what I am guessing was a gate crasher, and they responded quickly. I think I saw the gate crasher and it didn’t take 30 seconds for the search team to enter that area. All of the security team had radios and worked well together. And the few guests that strayed were politely guided back to the designated areas.

 

The Press. The press and vendors all had badges clearly marking who they were that they were required to wear at all times. I only saw a couple of press badges during the whole event and they were just walking from point A to point B and weren’t doing the normal press thing with cameras and recorders etc. So they were not the concern that I thought they would be sticking a recorder and camera in your face. I consider the headliner camera crew part of the press. They were a pompous bunch of asses following her all over the place shooting video even in the party rooms which we were told was NOT going to happen. Somebody better be doing a lot of editing on those tapes because otherwise I see a very large legal bill in their future as I would sue the shit out of them if I show up somewhere in those tapes!

 

Age, race, and nationality. There were all ranges for this. From a few white haired couples on down. Every race was represented. And there were people from all over the world.

[ncmd_couple 597]

Overall I would rate the hotel with an A+ and the actual event with a C+. I feel pretty confident that Jason is going to be doing a lot of work in the coming year to fix a lot of things. So if you are considering this for next year, I would say go, as it will be a better event. We will not go to another one if it is at the same place because we would like a variety of venues. We say that even though they are offering this year’s attendees a 20% discount on next year’s event.

 

On a personal note. We met a lot of really nice people, mainly at Bar Su and just visiting in the lobby and pool areas. It was great to be in a hotel like this and know that everyone there is in the lifestyle in one form or another. It was also educational to see so many people from so many areas in one place. We were taught dress to impress when going to an event and packed accordingly. The ladies for the most part, as should be expected, planned for this event and were very well dressed. The guys, well, it didn’t impress us to have a lady dressed to the nines next to a guy in Bermuda shorts, flip flops, and a Harley Davidson t-shirt, which I hate to say, was the majority of the guys. For us, the parties were a waste of time as the people we had met we could not find in the crowd, and if we had, the music was too loud to visit and get to know each other better. There was no play time for us this weekend. Don’t get us wrong, we did have a good time as we went down there with no expectations, which I strongly suggest that you do as well. If you go down with high expectations you are going to be disappointed. Well, that is our view as a single couple going down without knowing anyone in advance. I’m sure that the folks that went down as a group that knew others had a better experience than we did. Hell, from all the partying going on till the wee hours of the night, I know that they did! But then we are older and not as used to diving into a party like this.

[VegasLee 1,486]

Very good report. I am impressed with the way you summed this all up.

 

I do have a question if you are able to answer this one.

 

Considering that the hotel only had 700 usable hotel rooms how many people do you think where really at the event?

 

I find it hard to believe they had 5000 couples there because of the limited number of hotel rooms even though many stayed in other hotels also.

[K&JIntimates 66]

I'm so glad that you had a good time down here in sunny s. fl. I'm also soooooo jealous! It looked as though it was to be a good time and it sounds about right!

[ncmd_couple 597]

Lee,

 

To tell you the truth I have no idea. I was going to wait and see if they said anything later when they start touting next year's event. The hotel has 36 or so floors, the number of rooms per floor varied. I'm not gifted in judging crowds, but the flow of people in out of each event was considerable. I personally doubt that there were 5,000 couples, but there were thousands in attendance based upon my being at other large events.

 

S

[ncmd_couple 597]

Oh, a couple of other things to add to this.

 

Meet-n-greets. They had them on Friday and Saturday. We went to the one on Friday, not on the one on Saturday. Cash bar again. I guess you can tell how impressed I was with them that I failed to mention them.

 

One of "L's" main concern was that they would all be the "beautiful people" in attendance. There were plenty of those there. But I didn't know that you could buy a string bikiny that big either. And there were plenty people just like you there.

 

S

[ncmd_couple 597]

Lee,

 

I have been thinking about your question some more. The hotel was full, totally booked, there may have been only 700 rooms, but our room could have comfortably held two couples. As there were others that traveled as groups, they may have paired up. Just an after thought. I mentioned your question after my wife asked if you or Julie had a comment on my report. We spent many hours watching the traffic flow, and we didn't see the same people over and over again. The attendence was considerable.

 

S

[Guest tnatx]

We have truly enjoyed your reporting of the event. A and I talked about going to this, but time ran out and work piled up on us. From your description, we probably would not have liked it as much as the event was hyped up to be. I am sure that most of this was from first time event and I truly understand how things can get out of hand quickly (my former life was event planning). Thanks for you insight! Loved the humor too!

 

T

[VegasLee 1,486]

ncmd_couple,

 

Thank you for your report, you have done a great job and it pretty much falls in line with what I have been hearing from others so far.

 

Honestly, by what you have written I am glad I did not go. I had calls from people there on Friday asking if I would get on a plane and show up. I had way to much going here to even think about it. From what a couple people said on the phone there was a pretty good rumor that I was already there.

 

Does not sound like it was my type of party.

 

Thanks again for all the details and the great job on reporting them.

[JustAskJulie 2,595]

Thank you for the great report. It sounds like on one level it was cool...knowing you are in a really nice hotel that is filled to the brim with swingers... but it sounds like the actual planned events weren't quite what they were touted. It sounds like really the only way to actually have any swinger type fun tho was to get lucky enough to meet someone and drag them back to your room... maybe too many looky-loos and not enough real swingers? Did you get a feel for that? Did you get lucky?

 

There were a few other events that I saw being promoted, did you go to any of the daytime events? Or were there any?

 

I would definately agree that it would make more sense to have one color of armbands for those who are there for the full event, I know that's how other events I have seen have done it.

 

I will say this, marketing goes a long way and they have definately done their job in that respect.

 

I hope you do see your refund for the negative portions of the weekend, it sounds like you could use that $150 after all that you paid for drinks and food.

[2inSanDiego4u 181]

It sounds like Swingfest has really grown. We saw a recent re-run of Real Sex on HBO and they had it featured years ago, back when it was much smaller and less commercial. Boy, things have really changed since those days! It seems like it would be a lot more fun to go with a group of people you already know, and enjoy the big show and your friends as well.

 

Thanks for the great reporting!

[ncmd_couple 597]

Lee,

 

It was fun, we don't regret the trip, too bad you didn't make it, there would have been someone there that we knew! We never heard from redgirlwithfrec, I would love to hear her take on the event.

 

Julie,

 

There weren't many looky-loos. Going by the way that the majority of the ladies were dressed, they were experienced in going to swinging parties etc. I think I only saw two or three women that were dressed like they were on their way to walmart. We wanted to make the ride to Hallover beach, but it didn't work out. As for the seminars, they were going and well attended. The ones that the status changed on, were corrected to be included. Though we didn't make any of them. I heard that the access to one of the swing clubs on Thursday night turned into a real mess. People took the bus over, got out, and were greated at the door by the owner who said that if they wanted to come in, it would be $85, not free as it was supposed to be. Something happened to the bus and the couples had to take cabs back to the hotel. Jason refunded the $65 in cab fair for every one. We were going to hit one of the clubs, but after hearing about that, we didn't go. The SNAFUs for this event were numerous. But I think they are all fixable by the time next year rolls around. I guess we shall see what happens next year.

 

S

[JustAskJulie 2,595]

It sounds like Swingfest has really grown. We saw a recent re-run of Real Sex on HBO and they had it featured years ago, back when it was much smaller and less commercial. Boy, things have really changed since those days! It seems like it would be a lot more fun to go with a group of people you already know, and enjoy the big show and your friends as well.

 

Thanks for the great reporting!

 

That was a different event using the same name. This particular SwingFest was the first event put on by this group.

[JustAskJulie 2,595]

We wanted to make the ride to Hallover beach, but it didn't work out. As for the seminars, they were going and well attended. The ones that the status changed on, were corrected to be included. Though we didn't make any of them. I heard that the access to one of the swing clubs on Thursday night turned into a real mess. People took the bus over, got out, and were greated at the door by the owner who said that if they wanted to come in, it would be $85, not free as it was supposed to be. Something happened to the bus and the couples had to take cabs back to the hotel. Jason refunded the $65 in cab fair for every one. We were going to hit one of the clubs, but after hearing about that, we didn't go. The SNAFUs for this event were numerous. But I think they are all fixable by the time next year rolls around. I guess we shall see what happens next year.

 

S

 

NCMD,

 

Did the Swinger Olympics happen? or was that something that was going on over at Hallover beach? Also I recall something about a Golf tournament?

[2inSanDiego4u 181]

That was a different event using the same name. This particular SwingFest was the first event put on by this group.

 

Ooops! Thought they were the same event!

[ncmd_couple 597]

NCMD,

 

Did the Swinger Olympics happen? or was that something that was going on over at Hallover beach? Also I recall something about a Golf tournament?

 

Julie,

 

Honestly, I have no idea.... The hotel is a big place and we didn't see it all by a long shot.

 

S

[JustAskJulie 2,595]

Julie,

 

Honestly, I have no idea.... The hotel is a big place and we didn't see it all by a long shot.

 

S

 

Thought you might have seen a schedule posted or something, if not the events themselves.

[sweet_tna 680]

Thanks for being the SwingersBoard press liason, as it were, lol! It's nice to hear first hand how it all went down and to know what things to be aware of, for those considering next year's event.

 

=)

[ncmd_couple 597]

Julie,

 

The convention center had video displays of events scheduled throughout. So every event was posted for when and where. The swing olympics wasn't something that I was interested in, so I didn't look for it.

[Swingercast 91]

Thanks for starting this thread!

 

We had a blast! I agree with just about everything that has been said so far and my only regret was that I didn't get to meet ncmd_couple.

 

As has been stated, there were problems with check-in on Thursday. The Friday breakfast was disastrous and the trip to Trapeze was riddled with problems on Thursday night.

 

However, the way that the staff and Jason handled these problems really impressed me. There were 35 couples in our group and believe me, when I heard about some of these problems I was quite perturbed.

 

BUT....what turned it around for me was when we returned from Trapeze very late on Thursday night (Friday Morning?). As we got off the bus we were met by Jason who was standing there with a fist full of cash. He stood behind his event and I watched him refund $60 (the entrance fee that Trapeze charged us) to everyone in line. Even people who did not have a receipt were given their money back.

 

After the Friday Breakfast Fiasco, getting fed was not a problem. The food on Friday night, Saturday morning and Saturday night was plentiful, tasty and free. Swingfest made the appropriate adjustments and we certainly took advantage of the food and free bar on Friday and Saturday nights.

 

There were definitely bumps in the beginning but I'll definitely go back and would recommend this party to anyone who is thinking of attending next year.

 

All in all it was so much fun and we made a lot of new friends and great memories.

 

John

[ncmd_couple 597]

I have sent Swingfest an e-mail asking for an attendee count. If they reply, I will post the response here.

 

 

John,

 

Man, it was hard to find people wasn't it? But it was a good time!

 

S

[spvcouple 123]

I think that ncmd_couple deserves a couple of free Swingersboard T-shirts for their reporting here. Whatcha say Julie??

 

K and D

[funfrkycpl 77]

Thanks for the Swingfest report ncmd_couple! We have heard from a lot of couples that attended the event and have heard a mix of good, bad, and somewhere in between reviews. We think that is to be expected with an event like this and it isn't a surprise that some people loved it and will defintely go back, others hated it and will not go back, and that some people are going to wait to see if their concerns are addressed before deciding if they will attend the event again.

 

One of the things we have learned since we first started hosting lifestyle events is that most people understand if things aren't perfect, but they aren't as understanding if you tell them certain things are going to happen or they are going to recieve certain things and it doesn't happen. That is the biggest complaint we have heard about Swingfest.

[JustAskJulie 2,595]

but they aren't as understanding if you tell them certain things are going to happen or they are going to recieve certain things and it doesn't happen. That is the biggest complaint we have heard about Swingfest.

 

I think for those of us who were questioning the event on the front end, this was our biggest concern. They were promising A LOT and we doubted that they could deliver on everything they promised.

 

One rule of event planning and customer service in general - under-promise and over-deliver.

[SecretAsianMan 348]

Sounds like y'all had a wonderful time (a few snags & glitches along the way - but what large scale event DOESN'T have those, eh? - lemme tell ya about the madhouse at Comic-Con this year!)

 

Thank you for the reports ... almost felt like we were right there with you

[ncmd_couple 597]

Ok, I got a response to my question to Swingfest, here is the reply:

 

we are putting the two databases together as I type this. The preliminary number is 5097 couples and 73 single men/women. So we just made our expectations over the four day event and we are already over 80% booked for next year.

 

Jason

[Swingercast 91]

Lee,

 

It was fun, we don't regret the trip, too bad you didn't make it, there would have been someone there that we knew! We never heard from redgirlwithfrec, I would love to hear her take on the event.

 

S

 

Thanks ncmd_couple you guys rock! Like John said, we regret not bumping into to you two! We did have the pleasure of meeting redgirlwithfreckles and would love to hear their take on the event too! They were both glowing with huge smiles on their faces every time we saw them..think they might have some hot times to share.

 

Cheers,

Allie

[SW_PA_Couple 4,023]

Jay Leno was making fun of Swingfest 2008 on his show last night. The first thing he said was that there are 5000 couples there and that he'd hate to be the one to have to clean up after it was over.

Leno made a similar inference about that airline that had clothing optional flights. He wondered if they handed out towels to put onto the seats.

[ncmd_couple 597]

As nudist swingers... well... duh... yeah...

[ncmd_couple 597]

As SwingFest is coming up again, and some of the attendees of the last one haven't chimed in, I thought that I would bring this up again. I have no idea where they are having it this year, but others that were there for the first one should chime in.

 

S

[redgirlwithfrec 33]

omg we thought we added our 2 cents in long ago.

 

As for swingfest itself. we did not know what to really expect going in since it was our first convention of any kind. Luckily we did know quite a few people from our area so that helped a bit. Being the first time they held this convention they did have their issues. I will not go into any of them in detail but what I will say is that as far as I am concerned they did more than apologize for any screwup. They made up for it and then some. I think they did learn from their mistakes and it is not likely that they will repeat them next year. As for the people that attended, everyone was very friendly and sociable. and there was this afterparty the second night you may have heard about it on the swingercast podcast which we still talk about all the time. Each night they had multiple ballrooms each one with a different theme and DJ. It did seem that most people roamed the halls and talked and socialized rather than danced which was fine by us since we both have two left feet and it is easier for us to meet people that way anyway.

 

All in all we had a great time and once we know the details of when and where we will see if we can fit it into our schedules as we would love to go again.