A personal reflection on ...
Dec. 1st, 2004 07:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lionkingcmslthe Adam's Mark elevators.
I know the elevator situation was not the best at the Adam's Mark, but I submit that we, the con, are/were partially to blame for the problems encountered.
Consider that we, at numerous times, overloaded the elevators. It was not until strict measures controlling how many got on did that problem correct itself.
Also, consider the amount of people that were calling for those elevators, almost on a non-stop basis.
I submit that 4 elevators would be more than enough capacity for the normal hotel load and normal convention for a 515 room hotel. However AnthroCon was/is not a normal convention.
Most elevators see their peak usuge in the morning when everyone goes to the convention, or leaves to go sightseeing or whatever. The next major load would be a lunchtime, and then that would not be a very big rush.
The next rush would be at the end of the day, when everyone went back to their rooms.
AnthroCon's elevator usage was almost, as I said before, non-stop. The only real break, I assume, was in the 2a to 6a time frame. Even then there were still furs using them.
If you figure that the Adam's Mark at 515 room at 2 beds per room and an average of 80% occupancy rate, you find that there would only be ~824 people using the elevators during the day. Consider that AnthroCon 2004 had ~3 times that amount as registered attendees alone, and that does not count those that were in the hotel, but did not attend the con for whatever reason, then you can see that the load placed on those elevators was enormous.
We should be thankful that all the elevators never simply stopped working all together at the same time. The fact that they became "bungeevators" at times and groaned under the load placed on them, but continued to work, is a testament to their design and the Adam Mark's maintenance staff.
So, I have to caution people not to say "find a place that has functional elevators", as they may be functional when we get there, but when we leave it may be another story.
How can we alleviate some of the load on any hotel's elevators? Well, as has been suggested, those on the lower four or five floors use the steps when possible/practicable. Try to space your coming and going with your room mates. Not all of you have to go up if one is going and the others need to drop stuff off. Hand your stuff to the one that needs to go up and continue with what you are doing. In the same vein, if you are going up to your room ask your room mates if they need anything taken up to, or brought down from, the room.
It is by working together that we, as a con, can stop pushing the elevators to the breaking point.
The only other alternative is to find a hotel that only is three or four stories tall. ;=/
I know the elevator situation was not the best at the Adam's Mark, but I submit that we, the con, are/were partially to blame for the problems encountered.
Consider that we, at numerous times, overloaded the elevators. It was not until strict measures controlling how many got on did that problem correct itself.
Also, consider the amount of people that were calling for those elevators, almost on a non-stop basis.
I submit that 4 elevators would be more than enough capacity for the normal hotel load and normal convention for a 515 room hotel. However AnthroCon was/is not a normal convention.
Most elevators see their peak usuge in the morning when everyone goes to the convention, or leaves to go sightseeing or whatever. The next major load would be a lunchtime, and then that would not be a very big rush.
The next rush would be at the end of the day, when everyone went back to their rooms.
AnthroCon's elevator usage was almost, as I said before, non-stop. The only real break, I assume, was in the 2a to 6a time frame. Even then there were still furs using them.
If you figure that the Adam's Mark at 515 room at 2 beds per room and an average of 80% occupancy rate, you find that there would only be ~824 people using the elevators during the day. Consider that AnthroCon 2004 had ~3 times that amount as registered attendees alone, and that does not count those that were in the hotel, but did not attend the con for whatever reason, then you can see that the load placed on those elevators was enormous.
We should be thankful that all the elevators never simply stopped working all together at the same time. The fact that they became "bungeevators" at times and groaned under the load placed on them, but continued to work, is a testament to their design and the Adam Mark's maintenance staff.
So, I have to caution people not to say "find a place that has functional elevators", as they may be functional when we get there, but when we leave it may be another story.
How can we alleviate some of the load on any hotel's elevators? Well, as has been suggested, those on the lower four or five floors use the steps when possible/practicable. Try to space your coming and going with your room mates. Not all of you have to go up if one is going and the others need to drop stuff off. Hand your stuff to the one that needs to go up and continue with what you are doing. In the same vein, if you are going up to your room ask your room mates if they need anything taken up to, or brought down from, the room.
It is by working together that we, as a con, can stop pushing the elevators to the breaking point.
The only other alternative is to find a hotel that only is three or four stories tall. ;=/
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-02 01:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-02 02:31 am (UTC)But yeah...you're right. Most normal functions in the convention area would either consist of a lot more local people (like say a sci fi con) or would be something where the person goes down to the area and stays there all day...not the constant traffic that we as a group put on it.
Still though...that was a huge oversight in the construction to only have 4 shafts. Both the MFF and MFM hotels have 3 shafts for vastly less floors.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-02 02:46 am (UTC)As for the number of elevators per number of floors, you have to consider when the hotels were built.
I beleive that the Adam's Mark is older than the Hyatt or MFM's hotel.
Also, if the convention portion of the Adam's Mark is an addition, then the designers never took into consideration the load a convention center would put on the elvevators when the hotel was orginally designed.
The ideal design would've taken the elevators in the convention center, that lead to the parking garage, and extended them all the way up to the top floor using sky lobbies to connect them to the floors. Then the load would've been taken off of the existing four elevators.