Accommodation

Hotel bookings

The organizers do not handle hotel bookings. However, we set up a page for people who wish to find a roommate, please find instructions in the Room Sharing section below.

The block at La Fonda is full; we are now redirecting attendees to the Inn and Spa at Loretto (still at $105.00 s/d plus taxes, no resort fee, and overnight parking @ $10.00 per vehicle, per night valet parking only, no self-park, one night deposit, and a 7 day cancellation policy). Reservations are made through this page, where one would use reservation Group Code: "G0G37F" or "IAU/NRAO Symposium", or alternatively (faster) call +1-866-582-1646 giving them the same code. Note that the online booking may display a $14 Daily Service Fee automatically; this Service Fee however will NOT be charged at checkout. Another place to book is at Hotel St. Francis (at $105.00 s/d plus taxes, valid 3 days before/after the meeting, one night deposit, and a 7 day cancellation policy). Reservations at St Francis are made online here using reservation Group Code "NRAO" or by phone using reservation Group Code: "National Radio Astronomy Observatory" when calling reservations at +1-800-529-5700 (M-F 13:00-24:00 UT, S+S 14:30-01:00 UT) . All reservations must be made before Aug 30, pending availability.

The La Fonda hotel is the meeting venue and offers a very reasonable price (at the Government rate: $105 which translates including taxes to about $120/night for single or double occupancy) for downtown Santa Fe -- at the central historic Plaza. This rate starts three days before the meeting starts and is valid until three days after the meeting ends (both depending on availability, which is very limited) when you use our special group rate code to make your reservation with La Fonda (see below).

The official deadline for the La Fonda hotel reservation is Friday 30 August 2013, but as we have a limited number of rooms blocked, we strongly suggest you book your hotel by Monday 1 July 2013 or you may miss out on the lower room rate. Below we list the different ways to make a reservation; they all need a 'first night' deposit or credit card guarantee, which will be lost if cancellations are made less than 72 hours prior to arrival. There is also small print about leaving earier than your reservation is made for and for more than two people in the room.

Parking at La Fonda is $2 per hour, up to $10 per day during the conference.

There are other hotels and motels in the area, but unless you book now, you will be noticing increased prices and limited availability as the weekend before the meeting there is the tail of Wine and Chile Festival, and the weekend after the meeting the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta takes off. Thus for those who are looking for a longer stay before the symposium, best bets are to look for accommodation in Albuquerque. For those who are looking for a longer stay after the symposium, best bets are to look for accommodation away from both Albuquerque and Santa Fe, for example in Socorro! (which is only about a 70 minute drive from Balloon Fiesta park, excluding time spent in the parking traffic jam..).

La Fonda Hotel room reservations:

The block rooms are the so called Traditional Rooms and go for the prevailing Federal Government per Diem rate (currently $105/night excluding tax of about 15.2%), about $120/night for up to two people. Children of age 12 and under in the same room with their parents utilizing existing bedding are not charged for. Each additional person adds $15+tax/night, where the number of rollaways (portable beds) is limited. Check-in time is 15:00, check-out time is 12:00 noon. Change of check-out date should be made at check-in at the latest, or one will be charged an additional one-time $100+tax for an earlier departure than reconfirmed at check-in.

Reservations can be made by contacting the hotel directly for immediate reservations, or through a web page which incurs some delay due to email exchanges with the staff.

Our special rate Group number is 734862 or mention NRAO or Intl Astronomical Union Symposium for claiming the group rate.

Direct reservations: Please call 1-800-523-5002 from the US or Canada, or +1-505-982-5511 from elsewhere and choose #1. The phone will be answered between about 14:00 and 02:00 UT (7am-8pm MT) on Monday through Friday, between about 15:00 and 23:00 UT (8am-5pm MT) on Saturday and between about 16:00 and 23:00 UT (9am-5pm MT) on Sunday. The hotel reservation fax number is +1-505-954-3599. Be sure to mention the group number during the conversation to get the special rate.

Web reservations: Please fill out the Group reservation form. Fill in the preferred dates in the main body of the page (not the reservation date in the upper left). Mention the group number in the first field of the form. You will get a return email with the subject "La Fonda Group Reservation Request" containing further instructions to secure your room (with some delay).

Other accommodation can be booked through e.g. santafe.org or any other web page found by internet search engines and booking agencies.

Room and Ride Sharing

We have setup a forum where attendees can sort out room and ride sharing arrangements between each other. Please go to the NRAO Science Forums page and log in with your myNRAO account (you will not see the page without logging in to protect people's personal information - If you do not have a myNRAO account, please create one at my.nrao.edu). Then proceed to the the bottom of the page and follow the Internal Discussions > IAU303 Galactic Center Meeting thread. Please post your requests and offers there; instructions are given in the announcements section at the top.