Problems

[Bhangra Idols]

To the Bhangra Community,

A competition is built on help from the organizers, judges, team members, volunteers, staff, security, sponsors, supporters, ticket buyers ect. A lot of time goes into planning and preparing for a safe fun competitive environment for everyone involved.

Say an organization arranges an official hotel for the personnel (including teams and staff) involved with the competition, for the purpose of ensuring every guest's stay is renewing and peaceful. The organization also makes certain to their guests staying under their company name rooms to take the highest priority of maintaining a quiet and sleep-conducive environment for all other guests staying at the hotel.

So, our first question is:

1. How should an organization deal with hotel problems caused by their personnel (including teams and staff)?


Regards


Bhangra Idols Admin.

 

[mithu]

I would draw up a contract saying like they will behave and such. And if they breach it they will have to pay the costs of any damage done and the cost if the room

 

[yraparla]

First off, staff shouldn't be causing problems....the hotel still reflects the organization especially when the name is used to book rooms.


The way Boston has handled it is to coordinate with the hotel staff and police the teams themselves. This gives them the opportunity to let teams know when they are too loud and give them more chances vs a hotel staff that will boot after 2 complaints. This is probably the best approach I've seen, but obviously means the staff is working hard through saturday night. In the end when your name is on the line it's worth it.


Other options are to book a very low-star hotel that won't care if you're too angry...

 

[Bharathi]

Perhaps the organization can avoid taking teams into their competition that regularly cause issues.

It's sad that organizers have to account for this, on top of EVERYTHING else they do to provide an outlet for display of our art form, they have to account for irresponsible behaviour on part of the participants.

 

[dheerja]

This is something I really struggled with this past weekend at Elite. At the captain's meeting on Friday night, two of the hotel security staff actually came and spoke to us about how amazed they are at the hard work we've all put into our art form, and that they truly hope we can all work together for a pleasant experience. They said they have NEVER experienced anything like this before, with violence and vandalism in the hotel and numerous guests complaining. Apparently the worst they've ever seen is a couple high school kids slamming doors. Needless to say, their experience during Elite this weekend went above and beyond their worst nightmares.


It was awful to hear firsthand from the hotel staff what they were experiencing and to see how badly it represents not only the bhangra community, but the Punjabi and desi community as a whole. Instead of allowing them to truly appreciate what we were doing with our cultural heritage, they had to deal with hooliganism and utter destruction.


Sadly there is no good solution here. The troublemakers in the bhangra community will never grow up and will never learn to be respectful of others both within and outside the community. I really only see two ways around it:


1) ZERO TOLERANCE - I WISH competitions followed the policies that they set themselves. Every registration packet has a rules and regulations form that team members sign, promising proper conduct throughout the weekend. Has this EVER been enforced? Has a team EVER been disqualified from a competition the night before for causing fights or chaos? Has a team EVER been blacklisted from competing in future years for being rowdy? I'm sure it has happened every once in a while in extreme situations, but let's face it. Most competitions value their lineups and let these things slide. It's unacceptable and it's time for everyone to grow a pair and STOP allowing this shit to continue. It's only going downhill from here.


2) Crap hotels - If teams don't respect and appreciate being put up in a gorgeous hotel (Elite's hotel was beautiful and right across from the museums and monuments), then they don't deserve to be there. Stick them in a crap hotel where their level of chaos is accepted a bit more and won't create so many issues.

 

[Gkhunkhun]

1) ZERO TOLERANCE - I WISH competitions followed the policies that they set themselves. Every registration packet has a rules and regulations form that team members sign, promising proper conduct throughout the weekend. Has this EVER been enforced? Has a team EVER been disqualified from a competition the night before for causing fights or chaos? Has a team EVER been blacklisted from competing in future years for being rowdy? I'm sure it has happened every once in a while in extreme situations, but let's face it. Most competitions value their lineups and let these things slide. It's unacceptable and it's time for everyone to grow a pair and STOP allowing this shit to continue. It's only going downhill from here.

AGREE 100% with you.. various committees allow little things to slide even though some things are specifically stated within the rules/regulations section of the registration packet, makes you wonder why even have rules? Especially if some competitions aren't even going to fully enforce them. A zero tolerance policy would be the best way to go, if teams fail to comply by any of the rules simply disqualify them. It's time for more competitions to step up and take cahrge instead of letting things slide by and allowing teams to think its ok to continue any misconduct or behavior that specifically goes against the rules, its best if you stick by your rules and enforce them 100%. That way less incidents would occur and more teams would actually take the competition seriously knowing the committee is actually fully enforcing the rules!

 

[Bhangra Idols]

An organization is trying to build their brand. They then go to a hotel and work with them for a group rate, central location ect. Then the teams put down their own credit cards for any incidentals, but then afterwards the rooms still look like this...what should an organization do?

 

[ENVY BANG-RUH]

One thing I could recommend, just to isolate all the noise is, see if the hotel is willing to give you guys a banquet room for people to hang out at after the after party. Since that's when people are most rowdy and loaded up on booze. Plus what it does (no matter how long it takes), it takes the energy out of the rowdiest ones so that the only thing they can do next is go and pass out. Doing this keeps everyone from running around on all the floors and keeps them away from the lobby areas. Plus putting in a little extra money for a banquet room from 2am-6am will probably cost you less than all the damage you can estimate to occur given past experiences.

 

[HarmanSingh]

Competitions need to stop accepting teams that already have a reputation of causing these problems. Lets be honest, we know the 10-12 teams that go to every competition and act like they never got disciplined growing up. Competitions keep accepting them and you already knowing going in that they will make fools of themselves.

Also, hold a deposit of something like $500 that you can keep if they break any of your rules. And disqualify them if they act stupid the night before the competition.

 

[Bhangra Idols]

All competition organizers need to be on the same page as to NOT accept/invite the teams that cause the noise and mess (basically problems) then the disciplinary action would be greater across the board...Isn't this fair?

 

[siddyp]

An organization is trying to build their brand. They then go to a hotel and work with them for a group rate, central location ect. Then the teams put down their own credit cards for any incidentals, but then afterwards the rooms still look like this...what should an organization do?

call out the team. don't bring them back. send a message to the bhangra community saying this will not be tolerated. if we want judging to be transparent, why not this? This kind of behavior effects the community way worse than judging because it effects the competitions ability to raise money, find a team hotel and make the competition happen again. I remember when people said there were a lack of competitions, and this could very well be one of the reasons along with other economic factors.

 

[Bhangra Idols]

The competition organizers are trying to raise sponsorship $, sell tickets, align themselves with reputable hotel (chains) give teams a stage to perform their talent, but what if the team was trying to do the same thing: raise sponsorship $, sell tickets to their families, get hotel rooms, and reach out to competitions to accept them...and say Gatorade sponsors THE BHANGRA TEAM, and they caused problems that not only affected them but many other individuals involved in the event, so does the team think Gatorade will still sponsor them again?

 

[Bharathi]

I think it's fair. Call out the teams. BTF can jump all over teams for lack of conduct and unprofessional behaviour towards judges but leaving hotel rooms in a state of disarray comparable to a crime scene is acceptable? And that doesn't even touch on the subject of noise, rowdiness, etc.
When punitive actions are taken by organizers, ie. something teams want (acceptance into a competition) is taken away as a result of actions, then actions will get better as there is a cause and effect relationship.
The thought process may be like: "We didn't get into XYZ competition because the last time we went to a competition we yelled at the organizers, beat up a judge and ran up and down the hallways spraypainting our logo everywhere...hey guys maybe next time we should NOT do all of those things and we can continue to go to comps..." Instead of "We went to XYZ competition, we yelled at the organizers, beat up a judge and ran up and down the hallways spraypainting our logo everywhere, but because we are SUCH an awesome team they took us back anyways"
As a collective unit we need to raise the bar in terms of standard behaviour and a zero tolerance policy is not a bad thing.

 

[Saab]

Try to incorporate an area where teams can hang out till the wee hours of the morning. I know competitions have afterparties, and I know the rowdiness usually is associated with whats going on before the party and, most often, what happens after. Always try to push teams to get to the afterparty asap to keep them away from the hotel, and try to ensure that they can congregate somewhere away from the guests afterwards.


Really, this should also be incorporated into an acceptance packet. Constant idiocy should not be rewarded. Have teams sign off on bad behavior with the usage of the acceptance packet as a contract. Furthermore, make their incentives and punishments that tie in with how the team behaves.

Lastly, I have been to almost thirty competitions, and I think personally after my last two-three I have gotten a huge respect for liasions. Having them gives a competition figure access to teams at all times, and can reiterate and stress certain objectives. I don't know why teams don't utilize liasions more, but the best I have seen usually stick with their teams throughout the weekend and do a good job of controlling them. Try using your liasions as a more effective bridge of what the competition wants.

 

[Saab]

Also sign a contract with a hotel long term. Doing something like this guarantees continuity and more coordination and communication between team, hotel, and competition.

 

[Ashveer]

An organization is trying to build their brand. They then go to a hotel and work with them for a group rate, central location ect. Then the teams put down their own credit cards for any incidentals, but then afterwards the rooms still look like this...what should an organization do?

Every time you're getting ready to check out of a hotel room, think of the poor woman (who is also someone's mother) who is going to walk into the room and say "ay dios mio!" and then spend so much time cleaning up after you. I understand its her job, but you dont shit on bathroom floors because someone gets paid to clean them up. Literally it takes 5 people 2 minutes to straighten up a room and at least throw the trash away. Common courtesy.


Also, I second the idea of a refundable deposit that teams would get back at the end of the comp if they don't break behavior rules.

 

[sonehdataweet]

An organization is trying to build their brand. They then go to a hotel and work with them for a group rate, central location ect. Then the teams put down their own credit cards for any incidentals, but then afterwards the rooms still look like this...what should an organization do?

Every time you're getting ready to check out of a hotel room, think of the poor woman (who is also someone's mother) who is going to walk into the room and say "ay dios mio!" and then spend so much time cleaning up after you. I understand its her job, but you dont shit on bathroom floors because someone gets paid to clean them up. Literally it takes 5 people 2 minutes to straighten up a room and at least throw the trash away. Common courtesy.

+1

 

[siddyp]

The competition organizers are trying to raise sponsorship $, sell tickets, align themselves with reputable hotel (chains) give teams a stage to perform their talent, but what if the team was trying to do the same thing: raise sponsorship $, sell tickets to their families, get hotel rooms, and reach out to competitions to accept them...and say Gatorade sponsors THE BHANGRA TEAM, and they caused problems that not only affected them but many other individuals involved in the event, so does the team think Gatorade will still sponsor them again?

If gatorade is sponsoring a bhangra team, they should treat them like any athlete, celebrity, or group they sponsor.

When Tiger Woods, Ben Roethlisberger, and many many other influential people/athletes/celebrities screwed up, they faced public scrutiny, many of they sponsors dropped them and the other consequences piled up. In TW, and BR's case, they have taken steps towards changing and erasing the behavior that led them down that path. Doing that rebuilds their image which in effect will lead them back to sponsors.

For a bhangra team, if they screw up, hit them hard. If they care about their image, if they love and want to compete in future bhangra comps, they'll re build their image/brand and wont do stuff like that again.

 

[Bhangra Idols]

The following is the recap so far:

[list type=decimal]
[*]Draft a contract
[*]Localize the noise
[*]or spread out throughout the hotel
[*]Hotel staff and police the teams themselves
[*]Avoid taking teams into their competition that regularly cause issues
[*]Zero Tolerance
[*]Provide Crap Hotels
[*]Committee's should not let things slide and they should enforce the rules
[*]A banquet room at the hotel for after the after party
[*]Competitions need to stop accepting teams that already have a reputation of causing these problems.
[*]Hold a deposit of something like $500 that you keep if they break any of your rules
[*]Send a message to the bhangra community saying this will not be tolerated
[*]As a collective unit we need to raise the bar in terms of standard behavior and a zero tolerance policy
[*]Try to push teams to get to the after party asap to keep them away from the hotel, and try to ensure that they can congregate somewhere away from the guest afterwards
[*]Try using your liaisons as a more effective bridge of what the competition wants
[*]It takes 5 people 2 minutes to straighten up a room and at least throw the trash away. Common courtesy.
[*]For a bhangra team, if they screw up, hit them hard
[/list]Please feel free to add more points, as this will only help organizers and teams for the future...

 

[Bhangra Idols]

What about banning team members from drinking alcohol at the official hotel (parking lot, lobby, hallways, rooms) ?...If teams need to drink alcohol they could drink it at the after party or get their own rooms in another hotel...