Can you beat $175/night?

Was it just three years ago that I attended my first annual conference? It feels longer . . . back then, I was freshly graduated from college and just a month into my job at Jenkins Arboretum—traveling to Chicago on a rather limited budget, as you can imagine. Thanks to the generosity of the Association and Jenkins, nearly all of my costs to attend were covered, excepting incidentals like my deep dish from the original Pizzeria Uno's.

Back then there was, as usual, the conference hotel, but also arranged and advertised by the diligent conference organizers was what they called "alternative lodging," which came to us in the form of dorm rooms at a local university. If you were willing to do without air conditioning and the ability to commute to the meeting via elevator, you could save hundreds on accommodations. At $60/night, my vinyl twin mattress overlooking the elevated train was as good as a featherbed with an ocean view.

Three years later, the degree has changed but I am again a student conferencegoer, this time supported by the APGA and sponsored by the Horticulture department of Cornell University. There are no "official" "alternative" hotels this time around, but if you, like me, could benefit yourself or your organization by saving a few hundred dollars, read on for a few suggestions.


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On the map above, I've placed a red pin at the conference hotel and a blue pin at the Westin, the "overflow" hotel. Nearby are bubbles for other inns listing rates at or below $100 per night. The bubble with the dot, The Pasadena Inn, is my pick: Priceline.com has bookings for $80 per night, placing you just 1 mile from the Westin and just under 2 miles from the Langham. Those are true walking distances, not as the crow flies. Click on the map and bubbles for a bit more information on rates and addresses. You may be able to save a bit more by booking your flight and hotel at the same time.

As Fiacre pointed out in his post below, you'll have some travel issues to work out, but these are not as difficult as they may initially seem. The Langham is fairly isolated from rival hotels, it is true, but now that we are spilling over into the Westin and running a shuttle directly from there to the conference, we have access to a number of lodging options in its immediate area, within about a mile. A local friend of mine informs me that it's easy to get to the area by public transit from LAX:

The Pasadena Inn is in a good place to be reached by public transportation. From the airport, you can take the FlyAway bus to Union Station. It runs every 1/2 hour and costs $4 each way. From Union Station, you can take the Gold Line to Pasadena and get off at Del Mar station, which is at the corner of the Pasadena Inn's block.

See you at the conference, or en route!