Hospitality Floor

Location

The Hospitality floor is located on floor 1, and is restricted to people over 21 only. To find it, go to the 1st floor elevator lobby for elevators 2-7, then turn around. You’ll see a hall that leads to the 1st floor hotel rooms. No elevators!

Room Parties

While room parties are not a common thing amongst furry conventions, it’s growing in popularity in various areas. It is an idea that started by fans for fans - an opportunity to celebrate the fandom or organization of your choice, right in your hotel room.

Want to know if this can be your thing? We have a Room Party How To guide for you to peruse. It talks about what you may need for a party and things to do for a successful party.

We also have a Room Party Policy guide. It outlines the things you are responsible for as a Party Host. When you apply for a party room, you agree to the policies. If you are found not holding to those policies actions could lead to the guest not being allowed back into the hotel and the room will be forfeited. Any payments paid to the hotel are non-refundable and any outstanding balances must be paid in full.

Room Party Application

All applications must be in by April 28th.

Sign up now

If you have any questions, please contact us at partymaven@goblfc.org

Rules for Room Parties

All room parties must pre-register with Biggest Little Fur Con (BLFC) Party Mavens and have a pre-existing reservation at the hotel. The party organizers are responsible for providing a confirmation number for the reservation before the deadline. Any party that does not provide this information may lose their party room space at the convention. Parties can be open invite or private.

A party may promote their event with age appropriate materials. Flyers may be posted only inside convention space, and only if approved by event staff and blue painter’s tape is used. The room party host(s) will honor any restriction of promotion material made by the hotel. If any promotional material is found to be questionable, offensive, or inappropriate to a staff member or attendee, the materials may be removed by staff at any time.

Any party that uses the space for promotion of an organization, convention, or event, may do so within hotel policies. Tips/donations may be accepted; any tip/donation jars must be clearly marked for good service. However, any specific tip/donation amount that ‘earn bonuses’ or trade any specific monetary value (direct or indirect sales) for a product or service is considered a sale and is prohibited under state law.

Noise and Party Hours
By participating with a room party, you agree to cope with the noise generated on the floor, and not make any noise complaint to the hotel. This also means you are responsible for your own noise. Subwoofers are not allowed this year due to the sound bleed to the second floor. You should be able to talk in your room without yelling. If you have to yell, your room is getting too loud. Keep music below yelling volume too. If the Party Mavens, hotel security or FLARE tells you to tone it down, do so immediately.

Don’t start a howl. Yelling and screaming is the quickest way to noise complaints. Save that for inside the convention hangout space.

The bulk of the room parties will run between 7PM and 3AM. After midnight, start to quiet it down. A party may run at any time of the day during the course of the convention. However, please observe the courtesy hours 3:00am and 9:00am when the volume of the party must remain at a quiet level.

ID’s, Drinking, and Adulting
Any parties serving alcohol must check IDs at the door, accepting only government (state and federal) issued IDs and are subject to local laws and restrictions. For the convenience of the hosts and staff, use of unique identifying markers such as wristbands and hand stamps may be used with approval of Party Mavens. However, any BLFC staff, FLARE, and Room Party hosts may check any IDs at any time regardless of approved identifiers. Keep in mind to not over-serve anyone and use your best judgment when serving alcohol. If someone looks excessively drunk, STOP. Do not give them more alcohol; give them water or a non-alcoholic drink instead, and contact a Party Maven for help.

Everyone staying on the party floor must be 21 years of age or older. If you have anyone under the age of 21 staying in your room, please do not apply for the party floor.

Open door room parties must allow admittance to anyone with a valid BLFC badge; again, additional government issued ID may be required for an age-restricted party. Only those with a valid badge (and ID when required) may enter a room party. Anyone without a badge is not permitted in the party floor; please report anyone without a con badge to FLARE or Party Mavens. . A party host should contact the Party Mavens, convention operations, and/or FLARE if anyone is causing a disturbance.

Hotel and convention operations reserve the right to shut down any party that causes disturbance to other guests and attendees or violates the Room Party Policy.

This is your sleeping room, so you are responsible for any damages. Don’t let your gatherings get out of hand.

Make a good impression: If you see any mess in the hall, clean it up, even if the mess isn’t your fault. If you cannot take care of it yourself, contact Party Mavens.

If you are using a device that you are unsure about in any way, please email Party Mavens. Any other devices such as fog machines or that use open flame are strictly prohibited.

Biggest Little Fur Con, Reno Area Anthropomorphic Arts and Recreation, its staff, and affiliates assume no responsibility for room parties; attendees and guests who violate hotel, local, state, and/or federal policies and ordinances do so at their own risk. Hosts of room parties accept full responsibility for any damages or loss related to their party and the hotel room including but not limited to fees for cleaning, property damage, and room resets.

NOTE: Hotel policy states that anyone serving to a minor or not checking IDs will be reported to Reno Police and subject to legal ramifications. The guest will not be allowed back into the hotel and the room will be forfeited. Any payments paid to the hotel are non-refundable and any outstanding balances must be paid in full. Furthermore, any attendee violating the hotel’s alcohol policy will be banned from BLFC.

How To Guide

How can you prepare for your room party? Plan, plan, and plan some more! You don’t want to be left with any surprises along the way.

If you are thinking this is something you want to do, you should have a room reservation at the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino. Without one, you cannot pass go for this year. We will need that information to relocate your room on the Hospitality Floor.
With the room reservation out of the way, you need to get down to planning your room party. Things to consider for your BLFC experience are: will it be an open party, what hours will you be open, is there a theme, are you serving food or beverages, what supplies do you need, are you decorating, and what, a budget?

What does your room party want to be when it grows up?

All room parties are on the first floor to keep the noise in one area, and this means we will have a mix of experiences on one floor. Rooms can have private or open parties, while others will have folks who want to be in the middle of the action. And we want to stress this again, by being on the Hospitality Floor, you agree to cope with the noise generated on the floor, and will not make any noise complaints to the hotel.

Now, how long do you want your epic party to run for? Official party hours are from 7PM to 3AM on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Your party does not need to be open all three days for all 24 hours. But covering some part of them will allow for good flow through the open parties.

So, you are throwing a party. That’s enough isn’t it? It can be, but it can also be much, much more! Theming your room party can take many forms. Do you want to celebrate the BLFC theme by doing your take on it? Or you want to promote your home convention and it’s theme? A common type of room party has a group of friends celebrating their wee bit of furry fandom from their favorite suit maker to a favored movie. To wrap your party theme up, come up with a snazzy name for your party. You will need it later for your application and the signs you will make to advertise your room.

They always have the very best things
First time party hosts often overlook all the basic things needed to run a party. Things like a few extra garbage bags when you have all the garbage under the sun, a doorstop to let the flow in, bowls for the popcorn you are passing out, or blue painter’s tape to hang up your room party signs. Even if you don’t serve food or drink, think ahead for people who might bring items into your party from another party, a restaurant, or the concession stand.

We have a list for you of things to consider bringing. While it is a big list, not everything list may be relevant for your party, or you may need other things not listed here.

Suggested Supplies

  • Door stop
  • Trash bags
  • Tablecloths or other protective material for surfaces and floors
  • Scissors
  • Scratch paper
  • Spare pens
  • Black markers
  • Blue painters’ tape
  • Food preparation equipment
  • Serving utensils and plates/bowls
  • Cooler for ice or small refrigerator (the hotel may have one for rent)
  • Stereo or PA system (no subwoofers)
  • Projector and projector screen
  • Blu-ray or DVD player, or a game console

Your party will be on the hospitality floor. That usually means food and beverages, but also includes other things as well. Food can cover Costco snack treats or food in ready to eat packaging. Drinks also can cover the range from non Alcoholic to Alcoholic, and even be the theme of the party - Junior’s Bar. Or, skip the food and drinks and hold a Smash Brothers tournament, have a Chill Out space, do a movie/musical marathon, or even do your own micro programming and panels.

Wait, I need to have a budget?
While all good parties start with planning, lists, and the IDEA, reality comes in like a hammer when figuring out how to pay for the Tide Pod eight tier cake. Room parties can take tips and donations, but CANNOT require money to get something from the party. That is a sale. Go to the Room Party Policy for more information. But back to budgets, we are going to talk about a few different things that fall under “budgeting.”

First, budgeting of time. Be honest with yourself. Throwing a room party can be hectic and busy. Plan for how much time it will take to prepare for your party, set up, running the party, and taking all back home. Pull in your friends to help with the various stages, including running the party. Pouring drinks for eight hours is a VERY long time. Make a schedule, work in shifts, and plan for someone to run late for their shift.

Decorations is here as well. Decorations can take up an extraordinary large amount of cash and time, it is highlighted here for that reason. Parties can change the ambience of their hotel room by turning into a pub with costumed servers - hours of prep time and resources. We just want to remind you to make sure your efforts are realistic and most importantly feasible for your finances, resources, and manpower available. We want you to have fun, too!

Any finally, cold hard cash. It all adds up. Calculate your travel, room, food, beverages, supplies, decorations, and printing of your signs. Then check your resources. If you can cover it all out of pocket, great. If not, decide on where to cut corners. Do not depend on the tips and donations you get over the weekend. You will be greatly disappointed and wondering if you have enough leftover for gas to get back home.

But I have never done this before. How much do I buy?
If you are supplying food or drink, consult the Party Mavens for estimated convention attendance. Consider that only a small percentage, about 5 – 20% (at the very most) of the attendees will consume your resources. If you are serving alcohol, the percentage would be on the higher side.

When purchasing supplies, factor in the number of attendees you estimate would attend your party and out of those, how many would eat or drink and how much you would serve them. If it’s your first time doing a room party, try to go for a lower estimate, as if you were to under shoot and run out, you can always run and get more supplies at your preferred store nearby. In Nevada, dedicated liquor stores like Total Wine and Ben’s Spirits allow you to return unopened alcohol, with your receipt. So, if you want, you can buy more than you need and return whatever is unused and unopened. Ask the particular store you go to before you try this, just to be extra-sure.

And now… Go do, keep it fun, and be at BLFC soon!

Useful information
Sign up for email updates for the convention or follow them on social media for any news that may affect you.

Sources for Shopping in large quantities

  • Bulk food
    • Costco
    • Sam’s Club
    • Walmart
  • Alcohol
    • Total Wine - way more than just wine
    • Ben’s Spirits

Party themes and Ideas seen at other conventions

  • Video gaming tournament
  • Convention Ambassador party
  • Mixology of beverages - alcoholic or non alcoholic
  • House of Toast - Toast with up to three
  • Juniors Bar (from RWBY)
  • Maid cafe
  • Polar Bear cafe
  • LotR style pub
  • Homebrew Sampling