Housing

You must first be a confirmed registered delegate prior to making hotel arrangements. NALC Headquarters will be advising the Minneapolis Housing Bureau of all confirmed registered delegates. Once you have been confirmed as delegate housing information will be mailed with your credentials. Thus, anyone booking a room who is not a registered NALC delegate at the time of the booking will be subject to cancellation and will receive a notice. The same applies to anyone who may already have booked outside the block. If you have done so, we advise you to cancel your room reservation and follow the official housing procedures.

The National Association of Letter Carriers' official housing company is Meet Minneapolis Convention and Visitors Association. Sleeping room requests for all NALC hotels must be handled by the Minneapolis Housing Bureau; no third-party companies may be used. Should you receive calls from any other housing companies, please know that they are not associated with our convention and reservations made through those vendors cannot be guaranteed. If you are approached by an individual or company suggesting you place a hotel reservation within them, please notify us. 

This is a free service provide to NALC and its delegates. To ensure a better chance of booking at your choice hotel, make reservations as soon as you receive your credentials with the Minneapolis Housing Bureau and not through the hotels directly. A limited number of rooms is available at these preferred rates. Room types are not guaranteed. Hotels will do their best to accommodate your room-type preference and other special requests at the time of check-in.

Important housing deadline dates

• June 1: Last day to cancel a room with no penalty.
• June 21: Last day rooms will be available to book at NALC rate. After June 21, rooms and preferred rates are based upon availability.
• July 12: Last day to change or cancel a room or book a room through the Minneapolis Housing Bureau, based upon availability.
• July 14: First day that you may contact the hotels directly for all changes, cancellations and new reservation requests.

Why choose an official NALC hotel?

All NALC delegates are encouraged to make hotel reservations using the official NALC 2012 housing bureau, Meet Minneapolis and Passkey Inc. NALC has a long history of consistently fulfilling the minimum number of room nights to be sold according to our contracts with the hotels. However, with the current economic climate and outside competition, it gets more difficult each year to assure these rooms will be used by delegates as attendees have other options with area hotels.  When we are able to maintain a consistent history of hotel rooms sold, it helps us obtain hotels and negotiate the lowest hotel rates possible for future NALC meetings.

Hotel reservations

Online: For availability and immediate acknowledgement, make your reservation via the Internet.  Log on directly with the special NALC web address and code provided to you by NALC. These will be included and mailed with your credentials. If you do not receive a link after you have been confirmed as a registered delegate, please contact NALC Headquarters at 202-393-4695.

Fax or mail: Complete the NALC Hotel Reservation Form and submit it via fax or mail to the Minneapolis Housing Bureau. NALC does not process hotel reservations. Please do not mail or fax forms to the NALC office; this will delay your request. Forms will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. Forms received prior to credentials being confirmed will not be processed. Faxed or mailed housing requests will take longer to process. There will be an Individual/Guest Housing Form, which may be used for guests attending with delegates who make separate housing reservations, and a Branch Housing Form which may be used by branches making more than one room reservation.

Special needs

If you have a special housing need, such as a wheelchair-accessible room, indicate this on the housing form or check the box under Step 3 - Guest Details in the online form.

Guarantee method

Room reservations require a guarantee method. You must provide a credit card valid through August 2012 or a check deposit in the amount of $170 for the first night’s deposit for each room reserved. Make checks payable to Meet Minneapolis. Checks will be deposited immediately.

Acknowledgments/confirmations

If reserving your rooms online, your hotel acknowledgement will be sent to you immediately via e-mail. If you make reservations via fax or mail, you will be sent a hotel acknowledgement within one week of the Minneapolis Housing Bureau's receiving the request. The hotels may send out confirmation numbers after housing has closed and they have received the information from the Minneapolis Housing Bureau. You may contact the hotel directly after July 14, as all hotels should have information available at that time. The hotel will honor the acknowledgment number that you received from the Minneapolis Housing Bureau at the time of check-in. 

Changes/cancellation policy

All changes and cancellations to hotel reservations must be made in writing with the Minneapolis Housing Bureau by July 12.  Starting July 14, changes and cancellations must be made with your assigned hotel.  Any cancellations made within 72 hours of the arrival date will be charged and/or forfeit the first night’s room and tax.

Should you not arrive on your scheduled check-in date and should you not notify the hotel in advance, you will be charged for one night’s room reservation plus tax, and the remainder of your reservation will be cancelled. Reinstating your reservation after you have missed your check-in date would be based upon availability and could result in paying market rate for the room.

A $25 cancellation fee will be charged to your credit card or deducted from your check deposit for all room reservations cancelled after June 1. Cancellations within 72 hours prior to the day of arrival will result in a charge (or forfeit) of the first night’s room fee and tax. Early departures arranged on-site are subject to penalty fees set by the hotel. A charge of first night’s room and tax will be applied and/or forfeited if you do not cancel or do not arrive (no-show).

Questions/concerns

Contact the Minneapolis Housing Bureau at 888-947-2233 or 612-767-8200, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Central Time. You may also e-mail housing@minneapolis.org.

Search for hotel rooms

1. When housing opens, use the NALC link we have provided to you with your credentials, which will take you to the hotel reservation website.
2. Enter your code, check-in and check-out dates, number of rooms required and maximum number of guests per room. Maximum number of rooms to select will be 19.  If you're booking 20 or more rooms, see “Request for Twenty Rooms or More” explained below. You will have about 15 minutes per page.  Once you click Next, the clock restarts.
3. Click Search to display the available hotels that meet your criteria. The system will search for availability based on your check-in and check-out dates, number of rooms requested and the number of occupants in a room. For a different result, try changing one or more of the search criteria.

Step 1 – Select hotel

1. Select your hotel of choice. (Tip: Refer to the description, amenities, photos, policies and map links for additional information regarding the property.)

Step 2 – Select room

1. Select your room-type preference if only requesting one room, then select Book to proceed to the next step. 
2. If reserving multiple rooms (19 or fewer), please select the number of rooms desired from the drop down box located under the single-occupancy room rate displayed. You may select multiple room types, based upon availability. Then click Select to proceed to the next step. (Tip: Refer to the description and policies link for additional information regarding the room type.)

Step 3 – Guest details

1. Fill in the fields for each room request and for each guest in the room. Please be sure to address the required field, indicated by an asterisk (*). 
2. Click Proceed to Payment Details.

   Please note that additional requests cannot be guaranteed and are not viewed by the hotel until after July 14 or at the time of check-in. Every effort will be made by the hotel at the time of check-in to accommodate your request, but there is no guarantee.

   Remember to enter your branch name and number, or branch number, in the Company field as you proceed in booking your reservation.

Step 4 – Payment details

1. Fill in all required fields and change the billing address, if needed.
2. Select from the drop down box the method of guarantee for your reservation(s).

Credit card: Your credit card is used only to guarantee your hotel accommodations and will not be charged in advance. Your credit card will only be charged if the reservation is cancelled after June 21. A credit card is required at the time of check-in for incidentals. The credit card number and expiration date will need to be valid through your check-out date.

Check deposit within 10 days:  A check deposit for the guarantee of each reservation must be sent to Meet Minneapolis within 10 days of submitting the reservation. Check deposits are for the first night's room and tax and should be made payable to Meet Minneapolis. Taxes are currently 13.4 percent a nd are subject to change. Please include in the memo section of the check the guest's name, acknowledgement number(s) and branch number. If the deposit is not received within 10 days of your making reservations, your room(s) will be cancelled. Mail checks to the Minneapolis Housing Bureau, 250 Marquette Ave, Suite 1300, Minneapolis, MN  55401. Checks will be deposited immediately.

3. Click Proceed to Review.

Step 5 – Review

1. Carefully review for accuracy and make changes if necessary.
2. Check that you have read and accept the room policies, then click Make a Reservation.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Until you see the message, “Thank you. Reservation is complete,” with your acknowledgement number noted, you have not completed the reservation process. You may choose Bookmark This Page for future reference. You also will be sent immediately an acknowledgement number by e-mail confirming your reservation details. Links will be provided within the e-mail for you to make any future changes or to cancel your reservation(s).

Group room requests for 20 or more at the same hotel

Step 1 –  Complete the Hotel Reservation Branch Form and Group Room List form. Click here to download these forms (single PDF). Your rooming list must be placed on this official template for the housing bureau to process. This template also may be used if you're reserving more than one room for a branch.

Step 2 – Send the two completed documents directly to the Minneapolis Housing Bureau at housing@minneapolis.org or via fax to 612-767-8201 when housing opens in February. Be sure to provide the names of the top four hotels that you prefer. 

You will receive acknowledgements for those reservations and instructions for managing branch room reservations online. This process takes approximately one week. Any unassigned rooms within the block will be considered cancelled after June 1 and will be released for general sale.