TASA has been informed that some partners have received emails from Convenue (Marketing@convenue.us) offering housing at several Austin hotels for Midwinter Conference. These emails are not coming from TASA. We have no partnership with the group sending these emails, nor are we offering a promotion code for Midwinter housing. You must book housing using the link on this webpage to reserve a room in one of the conference room blocks.

Midwinter Conference registrants are often contacted with offers for cut-rate housing. Room poachers want to convince you that the offer is made on TASA’s behalf, or that they are a viable alternative to going through our service provider. This is untrue.

If you are contacted by anyone asking if you need a room for the conference, please get as much information as you can and pass it on to our housing service provider, Convention Housing Management, at tasa@chmrooms.com.

Room poaching is a practice carried out by third-party companies that act as travel agencies, wholesalers, or destination management companies to solicit registrants for room reservations. The poacher might inform you that the hotel room block is “sold out,” and that if you do not book with them immediately, you may not get a room. They often represent themselves as being affiliated with TASA or the conference by illegally using our logo. Sometimes they distribute forms or promotional materials that appear to be issued by TASA.

Room poachers make it more difficult for us to meet our room block commitments, exposing TASA to penalties and increased room rates for our events. Even worse, they often don’t deliver on promises. When registrants arrive, reservations are non-existent or the hotels are not conveniently located. Sometimes the rooms have been canceled and hefty cancellation fees have been placed on the customer’s credit card.

If you are contacted by anyone asking if you need a room for the conference, please get as much information as you can and pass it on to our housing service provider, Convention Housing Management, at tasa@chmrooms.com.

TASA often receives reports of members receiving emails offering access to various TASA database information. These emails are not from TASA or a TASA-related company. TASA respects the privacy of our members. Any solicitation that members or other organizations may receive that offers to sell them a TASA conference email list or database providing other registrant information is a scam. It is our longstanding policy to never share or sell lists of our members’ email addresses with other organizations or businesses, even those with which TASA partners. Names and work phone numbers of conference attendees and physical mailing addresses of school districts are shared with exhibitors. However, we never share or sell lists of conference registrants with any other entity.