When we secure sleeping rooms at hotels for our conferences, we research the properties to ensure our attendees will be adequately accommodated. The room block is established to ensure that rooms meet our standards and are offered at a discounted price.

We have been informed that registrants are often contacted by fax, email or most often by phone, with offers for cut-rate housing. The intent is to convince you that the offer is made on our behalf, or that the soliciting company is a viable alternative to going through our service provider. This is not true. Housing for the Texas Assessment Conference and Texas Association of Collegiate Testing Personnel Conference is handled exclusively by the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB).

Room poaching is a practice carried out by third-party companies that act as travel agencies, wholesalers, or destination management companies to solicit registrants for room reservations.

The poacher might inform registrants that the hotel room block is "sold out," and that if you do not book with them immediately, you may not get a room. Additional deceptive tactics include distributing forms or promotional materials that appear to be issued by us.

• Room poachers make it more difficult for us to meet our room block commitments, and expose us to penalties and increased room rates for our events.
• Room poachers often don't deliver on promises to customers. When customers arrive, reservations are non-existent or the hotels are not conveniently located. Sometimes the rooms have been cancelled and hefty cancellation fees have been placed on the customer's credit card.
• Poachers often represent themselves as being affiliated with us by illegally using our logo.