Return to the Neighborhood: Book Now for Hotel ABA

ABA bookstore and provisional members planning to attend BookExpo America 2009 should make reservations now for Hotel ABA, the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, New York. Offering a room rate of $183 per night and a series of nightly social events, the Marriott, which hosted ABA members for the 2007 show, will once again be the gathering place for indie booksellers.

Julie Summerfield of Haverford College Bookstore in Haverford, Pennsylvania, explained, "There's nothing better than bumping into your colleagues -- people you have known for 25 years, new booksellers, students at the Booksellers School -- at Hotel ABA. It's a real shot in the arm to be with this great group of people."

About the Borough of Kings, Summerfield, who stayed at the Marriott in 2007, added, "Brooklyn itself is like an indie bookstore -- it's a really cool neighborhood with lots of character. And I remember that everyone at the hotel was very helpful, friendly, and incredibly nice. I'm really looking forward to it. It's very energizing."

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Brooklyn Marriott, exclusively for ABA bookseller members, for Wednesday, May 27, though Sunday, May 31; the special rate will be available until Monday, May 4, or until the group block is sold out, whichever comes first. BEA will be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City from Thursday, May 28, through Sunday, May 31.

BEA and ABA are working together to provide ABA members with free NYC MetroCards for travel between Brooklyn and the Javits Center. Shuttle bus service will also be available between Hotel ABA and the convention center.

Reserve a room at Hotel ABA now.

This year, every regular ABA store and provisional member is entitled to at least one free admission to BEA, with additional badges available to stores in an ABA dues category of two or higher. One additional free BEA badge is also available to each member bookstore that was represented at the Winter Institute.

In order to receive their free badges, stores must authorize ABA to share relevant information with BEA officials by completing a simple form on BookWeb.org. All specific sales data provided to ABA for dues calculation purposes will be kept strictly confidential.

All ABA members planning to attend the trade show must also register via the BEA website; ABA is simply providing BEA with information about the number of free badges for which a member store is eligible.