The 2023 USS Reeves Reunion is ON

We are very happy to announce that the 2023 USS Reeves Ironman Reunion is officially scheduled for October 5th through 8^th 2023. This event is to be held in Miamisburg, Ohio, which is a suburb of the City of Dayton. We chose this location for a number of reasons, and really think that it suits all our needs.

We knew we had our work cut out for us to beat the Colorado Springs venue, so we got into the reunion planning right away. Our goals were to return to our normal October dates and find our way to the middle of the country. Our routine has always been to move the reunions around the country to bring it as close to as many shipmates as possible, while always finding something fun to see. We are on our third lap of moving around the country East to West to the Middle, and it is the Middles turn. We were in Chicago in 2008, and San Antonio in 2016. That left plenty of choices, so we got revised Request-for-Proposal (RFP) out to our target cities.

We found the hotel industry not quite recovered from the COVID tailspin, and they were slow to respond. It took a few tries before we heard back from individual hotels. We found most were priced way above what we had in mind and were not willing to bargain. We did hear from hotels in larger cities, like Nashville, and found that they were far more expensive than we thought our members would like. Not being a $200.00+ per night + taxes crowd, we stuck with affordability.

We got decent proposals from hotels in Cincinnati, Dayton, and Kentucky that were well aimed at getting our business. We narrowed down the best prices and perks before ending up with two hotels that met all our needs. Both were in the Dayton area, and both were competitive. The decision boiled down laying eyes on both venues to decide. This is where our VP, Gerry Hines, stepped up to save the day. Gerry and Janet were travelling cross-country and agreed to check-out both hotels. The hotel in Dayton was eliminated due to parking issues, and the one in Miamisburg was deemed an excellent choice. Gerry met with the manager and favorably resolved the last few contract items before signing the contract.

The hotel selected for the 2023 Reunion is the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel Dayton/Miamisburg Ohio. It is a modern, four-star hotel located at 300 Prestige Place in Dayton/Miamisburg Ohio. 45342. The hotel is relatively new and has a lot of amenities that we think will serve our purposes. Here is a link to check out the hotel https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/dayssdt-doubletree-suites-dayton-miamisburg/

The Doubletree is located within walking distance of the Dayton Mall Shopping Center and a variety of Restaurants. The location has plentiful and secure parking areas, with room for RVs. Dayton International Airport (DAY) is 22 Miles away. The Dayton Airport serves Delta, United, American, Allegiant, and Avelo Airlines. According to the airport website, there are a variety of direct flights to Dayton. Unfortunately, the hotel does not offer airport shuttle service. We are working out a method with local suppliers to incorporate the airport transit costs into our reunion expenditures, with the goal of hotel / airport transit to be free to Reeves Association guests. More to follow.

Hotel room pricing for our reunion stay is $119.00 per night for their two-room suites, with the choice of either two twin beds or a one king bed. This fee includes free parking (for cars and RVs), free Wi-Fi, free breakfast - every day, discounts at the hotel bar and restaurants, and access to the Association hospitality room and banquet facilities.

Please keep in mind that the negotiated rate may appear to be a little higher than what you may see on the hotels website. The prices you see there are currently $99 to $120 per night, so $119 does not seem to be much of a deal. The dates you will see now are for off-season rates. If you plug in our dates in October, you will find that the rates average about $144 per night (without breakfast). Our negotiated rate is guaranteed not to increase, and with the way prices are moving these days, that alone is worth consideration. The rate is also available two days before and after our reunion.

Booking the hotel room in Dayton is surprisingly easy.

To make the reservation online, go to https://www.guestreservations.com/doubletree-suites-by-hilton-hotel-dayton-miamisburg/booking?msclkid=6cbfc16119dd11b8fafea2dd90307160 and enter code URA in the group rate box to get our negotiated rate. -Or- You can call the hotel at (937) 436-2400 and ask to get the USS Reeves Association rates for October 5-8, 2023. You still may have to have the URA code handy to make sure you get our rate. There is no advance payment required to confirm your reservation. The discount hotel room price actually expire 30 days before the reunion, so it is rather important to make those reservations well in advance. There is no penalty for cancellation but making them too late could be costly. We have our normal agreement with the hotel for reunion pricing two days before and after our reunion times.

The other per person cost for attending the reunion is the participation fee for our reunion stay. The rooms, as usual, are the responsibility of each attendee. The participant fees are those which each attendee pays to the association and are in addition to the room fees. Those fees cover all the other stuff that makes the reunion worthwhile. They cover the incidental costs like event insurance, the Friday night reception, the cost for your banquet meals, event ballcaps, reunion bling, door prizes, and most importantly - keeping the hospitality room stocked with all your favorite snacks and adult beverages. We always try to keep that cost as low as possible, but it normally ends up being about the same as the cost for one room night.

We normally do not understand all the costs when we select that number, but in the past, it has worked out. I just want to make sure you understand what the participant fee is all about, and its importance to us at least breaking even on the reunion.

The routine for the reunion will be the same as we have used over the last few years. We will set-up for business in our hospitality room on Thursday afternoon October 5^th and be ready for all our guests. On Friday October 6^th, we are planning a day trip to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to check out their Research and Development (R&D) Facility, have lunch on the road, and return back to the hotel for our Friday Evening Reception Party.

Saturday we are planning a bus trip to the US Air Force National Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, which is only 16.5 miles from our hotel. This is one of the most spectacular museums that you will ever get to see. It is loaded with everything that flies from the early days of aviation (Wilbur and Orville were from the neighborhood) through WWI, the next huge hangar is a complete exhibit of WWII aircraft and memorabilia, the next giant hangar (my favorite) is the cold war exhibit that has an amazing number of really fabulous planes. There are additional hangars with many historic aircraft that will completely surprise you. Mary and I have been there twice, and still have not seen it all. The best part about the museum tour is that it is a freebie. In addition, our intention is to have lunch at the Wright-Patterson AFB Officers Club on the day of our museum tour. There are also a variety of other cool things to do in the area, so you will not even have to consider being bored. Check out the museum at https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/

We still have to get everyone to the museum safely, so we will once again charter a bus. We do not yet have the cost for the bus ride nailed down, so we will cover that later. We have some calls out for prices, but no responses yet. Saturday night will be a quiet evening at the hotel hanging out in our hospitality room telling mostly accurate sea stories, or perhaps visiting local restaurants.

Sunday will be a busy day as well. Sunday morning is quiet time to relax or do whatever you like. That afternoon will be the association business meeting at the hotel, where we will discuss our association, have an election of association officers, and talk about where the next reunion takes us. Early rumors aim us at the possibility of seeing an even better aviation museum in perhaps Pensacola (shhhh, it is still a secret). We are also planning an event for the ladies to feel good about missing our business meeting. It was widely circulated that the ladies alternate event last year (sip and paint) was more fun than our business meeting, but we just cannot imagine how that is even possible.

Sunday evening will be our Reunion Banquet in the hotel banquet room. This will include posting of the colors, our Two-Bell Memorial service, a cash bar for the banquet, a delicious plated dinner, and some very exciting speech making. We are already in touch with the Navy League in Dayton to see if we can be provided with a key-note speaker. We fully realize that it will be difficult to beat the fabulous speaker we had in Colorado Springs, but we are fully committed to doing just that. After the banquet we will once again adjourn to our hospitality room to raffle off some excellent prizes.

Monday will be the usual break down of the hospitality room and a return to normalcy for most of us.

We really think you will like the venue we have planned for 2023. Our objective was to find the best hotel for the money, that also just happens to be located close to an attraction worth visiting. I think we found both in Dayton, so now we can move along to get everything in place for this to be an excellent reunion. Booking the hotel this far in advance gives us plenty of time to attend to all the things that make our reunions special. We look forward to seeing you all in October 2023 for the next best Reeves Reunion you have ever been to.