1.) How do you think the EA Hotel compares in impact to giving out direct £6,000 grants to individuals selected for impact, to work wherever they are, without having to relocate to a hotel? I imagine the hotel may have some economies of scale but may also be limited to only those who can relocate?
2.) How hard is it for people to relocate to Blackpool?
3.) How many EAs apply for EA Hotel residency but don’t get in? What is the “selecting for impact” process actually like? Who does the selecting?
4.) How long do people stay?
5.) Are there concrete results from past EA Hotel residents yet? Or would it be too soon for that still? It would be great to see the actual testimonials here.
6.) How easy is it to “host events and retreats that help EA’s get more socially involved” from Blackpool?
A) It’s much easier to filter for “genuine” applicants in this case vs. direct grants. The number of people who would like to have free money is very large, and many of them aren’t EAs. The number of people who would like to live in a hotel in Blackpool with a bunch of EAs is much smaller, and people in this set are much more likely to be genuine EAs.
B) I am interested in living at the hotel because having a place to work around other people is important (even necessary) for me to be productive, and it helps A LOT if we share values and interests. A grant wouldn’t do anything for me. I’m sure my position is common.
Re: 2) I had a lot of fun explaining the hotel to customs.
1). In theory we are open to giving out grants to people who spend the same amount on their living costs (say in Chiang Mai), as I stated in my initial forum post about the project (see Value Proposition section). No one has yet enquired about this though. One issue however is that if people are spending more on their living costs you are proportionally buying less work time for them (e.g. you might only get 4 months from someone in London instead of a year at the hotel), so it would require a fair amount of trust that they are only spending that amount. Also the community, coordination and collaboration at the hotel is worth something.
2). So far it is easy for Europeans, but Brexit might change this. US Citizens can get 6 month tourist visas and we have had a few. Commonwealth citizens can get visas for a year or two. More info here. Ideally I think there should be a network of EA Hotels, with one in mainland Europe and one in the US.
3). Most people who have applied so far have got in. The few that haven’t have been people who didn’t seem to really get EA and had their own non-EA pet project. The Trustees do the selecting for stays over a month. Managers for stays under a month.
4). ~3-12 months seems to be what a lot of people are going for. We’ve also had a fair number of short term visitors stay for 1-14 days.
5). The second post in this series will cover this.
6). I think this is referring to organising events and retreats elsewhere (e.g. EA Netherlands retreats). The hotel did host the EA London retreats at the end of August though. Lately I’ve been thinking that we could probably use a hotel dedicated to events, retreats and bootcamps (we have the common area at the current hotel, but not the sleeping accomodation).
I think that a lot of the potential value comes from the connections that people make. Although this is probably lessened to an extent by the fact that the hotel is so fully booked up as it makes it harder for someone to just join someone else’s project after they’ve finished theirs.
1.) How do you think the EA Hotel compares in impact to giving out direct £6,000 grants to individuals selected for impact, to work wherever they are, without having to relocate to a hotel? I imagine the hotel may have some economies of scale but may also be limited to only those who can relocate?
2.) How hard is it for people to relocate to Blackpool?
3.) How many EAs apply for EA Hotel residency but don’t get in? What is the “selecting for impact” process actually like? Who does the selecting?
4.) How long do people stay?
5.) Are there concrete results from past EA Hotel residents yet? Or would it be too soon for that still? It would be great to see the actual testimonials here.
6.) How easy is it to “host events and retreats that help EA’s get more socially involved” from Blackpool?
I am a current short term visitor. Re: 1)
A) It’s much easier to filter for “genuine” applicants in this case vs. direct grants. The number of people who would like to have free money is very large, and many of them aren’t EAs. The number of people who would like to live in a hotel in Blackpool with a bunch of EAs is much smaller, and people in this set are much more likely to be genuine EAs.
B) I am interested in living at the hotel because having a place to work around other people is important (even necessary) for me to be productive, and it helps A LOT if we share values and interests. A grant wouldn’t do anything for me. I’m sure my position is common.
Re: 2) I had a lot of fun explaining the hotel to customs.
(A) is a great point.
1). In theory we are open to giving out grants to people who spend the same amount on their living costs (say in Chiang Mai), as I stated in my initial forum post about the project (see Value Proposition section). No one has yet enquired about this though. One issue however is that if people are spending more on their living costs you are proportionally buying less work time for them (e.g. you might only get 4 months from someone in London instead of a year at the hotel), so it would require a fair amount of trust that they are only spending that amount. Also the community, coordination and collaboration at the hotel is worth something.
2). So far it is easy for Europeans, but Brexit might change this. US Citizens can get 6 month tourist visas and we have had a few. Commonwealth citizens can get visas for a year or two. More info here. Ideally I think there should be a network of EA Hotels, with one in mainland Europe and one in the US.
3). Most people who have applied so far have got in. The few that haven’t have been people who didn’t seem to really get EA and had their own non-EA pet project. The Trustees do the selecting for stays over a month. Managers for stays under a month.
4). ~3-12 months seems to be what a lot of people are going for. We’ve also had a fair number of short term visitors stay for 1-14 days.
5). The second post in this series will cover this.
6). I think this is referring to organising events and retreats elsewhere (e.g. EA Netherlands retreats). The hotel did host the EA London retreats at the end of August though. Lately I’ve been thinking that we could probably use a hotel dedicated to events, retreats and bootcamps (we have the common area at the current hotel, but not the sleeping accomodation).
>The Trustees do the selecting for stays over a month. Managers for stays under a month.
I see where the Trustees are listed, but who are the Managers?
At the moment, me and Toon.
I think that a lot of the potential value comes from the connections that people make. Although this is probably lessened to an extent by the fact that the hotel is so fully booked up as it makes it harder for someone to just join someone else’s project after they’ve finished theirs.