Announcing the RBW Codex!

//2010.Sep.2nd/Thursday

We're really proud of our theme this year, and we'd love it if you got into the swing of it too, so we're launching the RBW Codex for all registered attendees to help us expand the Britanniaverse. Post stories, write journals, and re-imagine yourself in the space-cowboy setting. We'll hand-pick our favourites and feature them on the front page of the codex or even in the conbook! Log in and start world-building at http://rbw.org.uk/codex

Secondly, it's payday for a lot of you. Don't forget that your registration needs to be paid up by October 1st at the latest. Sign-up has been phenomenal this year. Our executive sponsorships have sold out (twice!), and we're starting to run low on regular and sponsor tickets too, so if you want to be sure to have a place on the best party boat in the system, make sure you sign up today! Head over to http://rbw.org.uk/registration and make sure you book your hotel room early to get the best price.

Events, Conbook Content and Payments

//2010.Aug.15th/Sunday

New things! Good things!

We here at Outpost Britannia figure you guys are due some good news, so we've been working on some new stuff for you all!

Event schedule published
We've published the first draft of our event schedule. Unlike last year's, it's tied to the same data that Russet, our tireless Event Coordinator, manages, so it'll stay up to date with any changes as the party draws near. Head on over to our events section and check it out!

Conbook submission deadline extended
We're still on the lookout for awesome artwork and stories. RBW 2009 set a new benchmark for conbook quality and we want to smash it this year, so we're extending our submission deadline for conbook art to October 1st. Miyabi's written a bunch of information about how to get your stuff to us, so fire up your canvases and get doodling!

Payment deadline approaching
Don't forget that your registration needs to be paid up by October 1st at the latest. The response has been phenomenal this year. Our executive sponsorships have sold out (twice!), and we're starting to run out of regular and sponsor tickets too, so if you want to be sure to have a place on the best party boat in the system, make sure you sign up today! Word is that we've got some special surprises for our guests this year, but it's worth more than my (rather attractive, if I do say so) rosettes to tell you what they are. Just make sure you don't miss out. Head over to http://rbw.org.uk/registration and make sure you book your hotel room early to get the best price.

Mail problems redux

//2010.Aug.11th/Wednesday

A couple of months ago, a server problem caused us to send too much mail. This month we've had the opposite problem. If you've been expecting a confirmation mail, or a reply to a question from one of our staff, please log into your registration and check your messages. There have also been a couple of important announcements regarding bookings made through 1800Hotels.

I'm very sorry for any delays or inconvenience caused by this latest issue. To make sure this doesn't happen again, we've been testing an alternative mailing service for a couple of months - we want to make sure it's absolutely perfect before we switch over. If you've signed up to receive announcements by email, we'll let you know when we've moved to the new system.

We also post all our announcements on Twitter (follow @rbwcon), on Livejournal (befriend rbwnews), on the UKFur forums (read RBW forum), and as an RSS feed for services like Google Reader.

More Information About 1800hotels

//2010.Aug.5th/Thursday

If you made your hotel booking with someone other than 1800hotels.com or 1800hotels.ie, please disregard this announcement.

Further to our last post, we've been able to find a little more information about 1800hotel's situation.

On the 14th of July, 1800hotels.com and 1800hotels.ie filed for Chapter 11 (bankruptcy) protection in Florida, USA, and ceased trading. On the 28th of July 1800hotels.com was acquired by Expedia and has resumed trading. 1800hotels.ie remains closed.

What does this mean for bookings made through 1800hotels for rooms at the Britannia International Hotel? At the moment, we're not sure; this year ARF has not taken any role in brokering hotel rooms to our customers and we're as much in the dark as you are.

1800hotels.ie advise that you check your reservation by contacting the hotel directly. You can do that by ringing +44 (0)207 712 0100. If your reservation has been made and paid for, you're home dry. Otherwise, please follow the guidance in our previous announcement to apply for a refund.

We feel really bad that this has happened, however it is totally out of our control. 1800hotels' statement can be found here.

IMPORTANT: 1800hotels bankruptcy

//2010.Aug.5th/Thursday

This is an important announcement for anyone who booked their RBW hotel room through 1800hotels.com. They've filed for bankruptcy and their suppliers are cancelling all reservations made before July 15th. 1800hotels.com are emailing their users with information on how to obtain a refund. If you made your booking with a credit card, you may be entitled to pursue your claim through your credit card company instead; contact your card provider for more details.

If you haven't booked your hotel room yet, or booked using a different site, there's no need to worry (although if you haven't booked yet, get your butts in gear - space is limited, and prices tend to go up nearer to the convention date).

We strongly recommend to all convention attendees that you book your hotel room directly with the hotel itself to avoid any issues. Prices for two people sharing a double room for the two nights of the convention currently start at £180, including breakfast.