NACE, CARS and ASRW move to October lowers hotel costs up to 40 percent

June 2, 2010—After a controversial date change, NACE organizers say attendees will benefit from lower hotel room rates because of the expo’s earlier timeframe.

Attendees of NACE, Automotive Service Repair Week (ASRW), and the Congress of Automotive Repair (CARS) events in Las Vegas the second week of October will find hotel rates 20 to 40 percent lower than in 2009, when the event was held in November, according to an ASRW press release_notes.

Along with earlier dates, the new daytime, weekday format have helped lower room costs, according to ASRW.

"When we first contemplated moving the event to October, we knew hotel rates would be lower than what we've been able to negotiate in the past. But the rates we were able to secure for our room blocks exceeded our expectations," said Lindsay Roberts, director of Hanley Wood Exhibitions, which organizes NACE.

The Collision Industry Conference (CIC), which has historically been scheduled the day before NACE started, voted in January not to switch dates to coincide with NACE. CIC and other collision repair associations will hold their conferences in Las Vegas the first week of November, the historical timeframe for NACE. Collision repairers used to attending both events with one trip could be faced with having to choose between the two if they can’t afford to attend both.