by Janet Dickelman
Our convention home for 2018 is Saint Louis Union Station Hotel, located at 1820 Market Street. Convention dates are Friday, June 29th through Friday, July 6th. The opening general session will be held on Saturday, June 30th, and the banquet will be Thursday evening, July 5th. The exhibit hall will be open Saturday, June 30th through Wednesday, July 4th. Our first tours will be on Friday the 29th, with final tours on Friday the 6th.
Traveling to St. Louis will be easy and convenient for all conference and convention attendees. Saint Louis is served by Lambert-St. Louis International Airport; airport code STL. The following information was provided by the St. Louis convention and visitors bureau. “St. Louis is situated at the geographic hub of the United States. Our location makes it possible for your attendees to fly to St. Louis from most major U.S. cities in just two to three hours. On average, there are 250 daily departures from St. Louis to 67 non-stop destinations. Ten airlines, along with their affiliates and charter companies, offer service to/from St. Louis.”
Airlines serving the airport are: Air Canada, Air Choice One, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, and XTRAirways.
Go Best Express is offering ACB a rate of $38.25 round trip from the airport; a taxi from the airport is $50 each way. You can also take Metrolink, St. Louis’ light rail system, for $4 from the airport. The reservation link and phone number for the shuttle will be posted closer to convention.
St. Louis is also served by Amtrak, Greyhound and Megabus; all three stop at the Gateway Transportation Center at 430 S. 15th St., five blocks from the hotel. If taking Amtrak, make sure to specify you want the downtown station; there is another stop in Kirkwood, a St. Louis suburb.
Room rates at Union Station are $89; this rate applies for up to 2 people in a king room and up to 4 guests in a room with two queen beds. Taxes are currently 16.92%. Information regarding hotel reservations will be posted to our website and in future issues of the Forum.