I'm doing 14 things
Recently I’ve read some articles about Indianapolis bemoaning the onslaught of humanity as host to the Superbowl. In some ways you just want to slap them and say “live with it, bozo”. You’ve gotten a prize, and it’s your job to manage the situation.
The reality of course is that it is unnatural for a mass of humanity to descend on a single location for a day or three and then exit. And when they do, and before they do, all hell does break loose.
Unnatural, uncommon, and yet the way of things in this society. There are events, all intentional, designed to bring together a mass of people for a single event. The hosts are not asked to participate, as individuals, but dragged into the matter without an ounce of support. Hotels used to operating at 15% capacity who have accordingly not kept their linens in supply nor have staff suddenly are getting booked out over 100% but only for two nights. Restaurants add waitpersons usually on call, some of whom will not show as they have been drawn in as well to the great event. Stuff will run out.
Hotels are faced with booking dilemmas. Book at 100% and there will be last minute no shows and no one waiting in the lobby for a room, so book at what, 110%? Isn’t that a little high? Then there will be people standing in the lobby. And speaking of lobbies, have you ever stood in a check in line in a Las Vegas hotel that ran a special? Gaahhhhh. That has got to be the normal experience in a place like Indianapolis during Superbowl weekend.
So what I truly want to remark about is the way people are when it comes to mass information. There are people who never in their lives would have considered a trip to Indianapolis who were on the phone booking their rooms and making dinner reservations at multiple restaurants, not knowing what their final plans would be. They are securing their place in line. Some are on the voyage of discovery where their travels are dictated by where their favorite entertainer is headlining, or their favorite sports team is in a championship game. Others are caught up in the current and eventually are lost along the banks of the stream. It is like they recover from the trance that caused them to log onto TripAdvisor.
The fallout to the hosts from the travelers who got caught up in the hype that caused them to make their plans falls like glitter at a parade. Some of the last phases of the cleanup for the SuperBowl hosts will be the phone calls and emails from the travelers who calculated their expenses without thought to sales taxes, resort fees, and odd by real damages.
This is the nature of success styled by the supersize economy we have going. Drought, flood. Clean up. It happens with a Groupon coupon. It happens with unsolicited shout outs by vendors with millions of subscribers. And it happens when a massive event hits your home town. The only one I know that seems to work like magic is the annual intentional community of Burning Man way out on the playa. The numbers there are controlled, limited. Everyone who goes knows that they are in for. They can’t board a plane at JFK and then taxi in for 35 minutes and take an elevator.
I could go on ruminating on all this for many more paragraphs, but I’d rather see what you all have to add. Aloha!
