+Sparrowhawk Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 (edited) I have an existing cache near an airport. The current natural location may dissappear due to impending development sometime in the next few months to 2 years. A local cacher is friends with the manager of a local fancy chain hotel. The local cacher is trying to talk his friend into letting the cache live on the hotel grounds. Cachers would be able to take the cache into the hotel lobby and do their caching in style. Now techinically, this could end up being a subtle plug for the hotel. I guess. Would this make it a commercial cache? I would be judicious, and not mention the exact hotel name on the cache page if I have to. How should this be handled properly? There's a cache in LA promoting a certain eatery called "Let's Eat Mexican Micro!". Frankly if that is allowed, I can't see how this situation can be anywhere near THAT commerical on that particular allowed cache! Edited January 15, 2004 by Sparrowhawk Quote Link to comment
+GatoRx Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 Would finders be required to go into the hotel to find the cache or log their find? If not, and there's no requirement to spend money at the hotel, I wouldn't view it as being commercial. If you had to stay two nights to log the find though, that's a different story. Quote Link to comment
+tirediron Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 have to say it sounds a little commerical to me. The micro you are referring to might well have been set up before the rules on such things were tightened. Aside from that, I have to wonder how long the management of a fancy hotel would want 'cachers running around it's lobby. I know what I look like after a couple of hours of bushwhacking, and it ain't like a guest of the Waldorf-Astoria! Still, it's up to the approvers in the end... Good luck, hope you find a solution though! Quote Link to comment
+Prime Suspect Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 I have an existing cache near an airport. The current natural location may dissappear due to impending development sometime in the next few months to 2 years. A local cacher is friends with the manager of a local fancy chain hotel. The local cacher is trying to talk his friend into letting the cache live on the hotel grounds. Cachers would be able to take the cache into the hotel lobby and do their caching in style. Now techinically, this could end up being a subtle plug for the hotel. I guess. Would this make it a commercial cache? I would be judicious, and not mention the exact hotel name on the cache page if I have to. How should this be handled properly? There's a cache in LA promoting a certain eatery called "Let's Eat Mexican Micro!". Frankly if that is allowed, I can't see how this situation can be anywhere near THAT commerical on that particular allowed cache! Sounds fine to me. No one is required to buy anything to get the cache. I know of one cache that's in a motel parking lot (actually, it's in a tiny graveyard, and the graveyard is in the parking lot - strange), and another one that's inside the enclosed grounds of one of Dallas's largest hotels (you have to go through the lobby and into the large courtyard to find the cache). Quote Link to comment
+wimseyguy Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 I have an existing cache near an airport. The current natural location may dissappear due to impending development sometime in the next few months to 2 years. A local cacher is friends with the manager of a local fancy chain hotel. The local cacher is trying to talk his friend into letting the cache live on the hotel grounds. Cachers would be able to take the cache into the hotel lobby and do their caching in style. Now techinically, this could end up being a subtle plug for the hotel. I guess. Would this make it a commercial cache? I would be judicious, and not mention the exact hotel name on the cache page if I have to. How should this be handled properly? There's a cache in LA promoting a certain eatery called "Let's Eat Mexican Micro!". Frankly if that is allowed, I can't see how this situation can be anywhere near THAT commerical on that particular allowed cache! I see no problems here although I'm not sure why you need to use the hotel lobby for cache examination and logging. No money needs to be spent at the hotel. My RDU TB Hotel is placed on the grounds of a hotel with management permission. Just be clear on your cache page what the relationship is. Quote Link to comment
+rusty_tlc Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 We have one in the parking lot of an Ice cream shop, the clue is to go inside and ask where the cache is. They also give you a free ice cream if you tell them you were looking for the cache. I think the important part is no purchase is required. Quote Link to comment
+Navdog Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 If the cache is in the parking lot of the hotel, I see no problem with it. The way I understand it is you can go in to the lobby with the cache to log it, but this is an option, not a requirement. Since I have found your cache in it's new location, I think it is a nice spot. Placing it in a hotel parking lot would somehow sterilize the experience for me. Travel bug hotels near airports are a great idea, but you have to consider how often do cachers visit on layovers compared to normal local caching traffic. Quote Link to comment
+Sparrowhawk Posted January 16, 2004 Author Share Posted January 16, 2004 Since I have found your cache in it's new location, I think it is a nice spot. Placing it in a hotel parking lot would somehow sterilize the experience for me. I actually agree, and I actually like the unique place it has right now too. Basically when it becomes necessary to move the cache because of the eternally impending development in the area (always impending... and impending... and...) I hope to have this place there to move it to. That would be cool. The lobby idea is simply a choice... wanna hang in the parking lot corner to check out the cache, or in the lobby... your whims would rule. Quote Link to comment
+seneca Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 Whether or not a cache is "commercial" is something that I really leave up to Geocaching.com to decide. So far they have done a good job in this regard. In the past they have been quite cautious and have tended to not allow any cache if it appears to have a commercial intent - including the intent of simply promoting a business, even if no money is required to be spent. I for one think this is the right approach. It does not appear to me that this "hotel" cache has any commercial intent and the fact that you have to enter a hotel is just ancilliary to your intentions. I think it passes the "if it walks like a duck" test, and if it were up to me I would allow it. I would not be at all perturbed though, if it was dissallowed. I might have a little more problem with the "Ice Cream" shop cache mentioned above though - particularly if it were placed there by the owner of the shop. Quote Link to comment
+crzycrzy Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 As for me, I have always hoped for a Starbuck's locationless cache. This way no matter where I am, I'm not that far from home. Quote Link to comment
+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 I have no idea what the mods think but I certainly wouldn't consider it a commerical cache. In my mind a commerical cache would be one that generates money for a business. I've been to many parks that require 3 bucks to get in and that seems more commercial than this cache. Quote Link to comment
+ironman114 Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 We have one in the parking lot of an Ice cream shop, the clue is to go inside and ask where the cache is. They also give you a free ice cream if you tell them you were looking for the cache. I think the important part is no purchase is required. FREE ice cream? WOW that is COOL! Quote Link to comment
+9Key Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 Sounds ok to me - if there's no requirement to spend a night at the hotel or buy something, or pay to enter. Thanks for making me quirm Prime Suspect. Quote Link to comment
+Doc-Dean Posted January 16, 2004 Share Posted January 16, 2004 It seems appropriate to me. I've done caches where I've had to go into a building and ask for a certain person to get access to the cache area and there was no commercial intenet there. Best advice to contact your local approver and talk it over with him/her... Which brings up a good question, albiet off-topic, are any of the approvers female?? I hope gc.com is not discriminating!! Quote Link to comment
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