Thanks Marilyn I would be interested too. I booked my flights just after the last meeting but was unsure about the hotel. The Safari club which for a while was the only one on the ICANN website is about 1 mile form the venue as I can see. At my previous two meeting (Paris and Sydney) I found the venue hotel fully booked within days of the announcement on the ICANN website, leading me to believe that the ICANN block booking must have been 95% of the availability. I dont have too many security concerns but would prefer to be in the same hotel as other BC members. Regards, Chris Chaplow Managing Director Andalucía.com S.L. Avenida del Carmen 9 Ed. Puertosol, Puerto Deportivo 1ª Planta, Oficina 30 Estepona, 29680 Malaga, Spain Tel: + (34) 952 897 865 Fax: + (34) 952 897 874 E-mail: <mailto:chris@andalucia.com> chris@andalucia.com Web: <http://www.andalucia.com/> www.andalucia.com Information about Andalucia, Spain. Please think of the Environment before you print this email De: owner-bc-gnso@icann.org [mailto:owner-bc-gnso@icann.org] En nombre de Marilyn Cade Enviado el: domingo, 20 de diciembre de 2009 23:12 Para: bc - GNSO list Asunto: [bc-gnso] Kenya ICANN meeting - hotel information /ideas I have been doing more research on the options for travel and hotels in Nairobi, Kenya,for the upcoming ICANN meeting and wanted to share my experiences, for what they are worth, with other BC members. I also looked into the security issues; talked to a couple of folks who travel to Kenya regularly, and got some helpful information and advice. If anyone is interested, I'll volunteer to set up a call with those 'regulars' who travel or who are in country, before we travel. In the meantime, of course, I closely watch the various 'alerts' from US State, Canadian, UK government, and a couple of other sources, since I travel rather frequently to a wide number of countries around the world as part of my business. If there are business constituency members who want to 'get the scoop' and hear about what the advice is from an experienced group of travelers, we can do a small and low profile 'discussion' call. No need to make this a big deal, since only those who are thinking of attending would be interested. Several of you will be booked at the venue hotel, or may be booked by the ICANN staff [e.g. Councilors] so you may not be interested in these additional options, but for some members, who may be considering but haven't finalized travel, this might be useful. Let me know, off list, if you would like to have such a call and I'll coordinate with those friendly advisors I have beneffitted from. . Hotels: for what it is worth: Through various sources, I've learned: There are several 4 star and 5 star hotels within walking distance. The Nairobi Safari Club may not actually be walking distance. It was difficult to get a clear answer on that. Hotels that are within walking distance are the Intercontinental, Hilton, and Stanley. Hilton: I booked at the Hilton, after some review and discussion. It isn't as fancy as some Hilton's in US or Europe, but is a 4 star. I got a rate of $184/plus taxes /USD per night by pre paying at the Hilton. The Intercont. which is always a preferred hotel, was a little more pricey at $295 plus taxes/USD. Pre pay at the Intercont. didn't reduce the price per day. the Stanley, which seems to be lovely, was a bit higher at around $325 USD/+ taxes. Other hotels that are recommended by a number of sources include the NAIROBI SERENA @ ABOUT $250-300 USD. Taxi to venue. Fairmont the Norfolk at around $430 USD. Taxi to venue. I'm not a qualified tour guide, so take all this into account, and assume you should do your own due diligence, but if you want to join a call with me and a few other experts on Kenya travel/because they live there or travel there, let me know at marilynscade@hotmail.com. We might benefit from sharing information informally. Marilyn Cade