4-6. What important points should we keep in mind when making hotel reservations, and why? (Include box on page 4.)

⁴ Hotel Reservations: A Recommended Lodging List of available hotels will be posted on the information board after this article is considered at the Service Meeting. Using the instructions in the box on page 4, please reserve rooms only at hotels on the list and agree to pay only the rates shown. Please do not call hotels that are not on the list and ask if they have a rate for your convention. Such hotels will often say that they have a rate for Jehovah’s Witnesses. Your cooperation will help toward the goal of obtaining high-quality hotels near the convention site at the best rates possible each year.​—1 Cor. 14:40.

⁵ It is important to reserve only the hotel rooms you will actually use during the convention. Unless you have agreed to do so beforehand and submit definite names, please do not reserve rooms for other delegates. This artificially inflates the number of rooms reserved for the convention and makes it harder for other delegates to make a reservation. Each room should be reserved in the name of one of the persons who will occupy it.

⁶ To guarantee your reservation, you must make a deposit to the hotel for each room reserved. Otherwise, the hotel can offer your room to someone else. If no rooms are available after you have called all the hotels on the list or if you have a problem with a hotel, inform your congregation secretary. He should contact your convention’s Rooming Department, not the branch office, using the information at the top of the list. Please wait for a revised list to be received for your convention rather than calling a hotel not on the list.

7, 8. How can those with special needs be cared for?

⁷ Special Needs: Proverbs 3:27 says: “Do not hold back good from those to whom it is owing, when it happens to be in the power of your hand to do it.” How can you do good to others in connection with the convention? Elderly publishers, the infirm, those in full-time service, and others may require practical assistance with transportation or accommodations. Relatives have the primary responsibility to care for the needs of such ones. (1 Tim. 5:4) If they cannot do so, fellow believers may be able to help. (Gal. 6:10) Book study overseers should check with those in their group who have special needs to be sure that their plans are in order well in advance of the convention.

⁸ Special Needs Room Request forms are available only for publishers whose accommodation needs cannot be cared for by family members or by their congregation. The Congregation Service Committee should consider the publisher’s qualifications, using the guidelines on the form as well as the letter dated December 14, 2005, addressed to all bodies of elders. This provision is only for publishers in good standing, along with their well-behaved children.

9. (a) Why should we attend our assigned convention? (b) What steps should be followed if circumstances require that you attend a different convention?

⁹ Attending Another Convention: To ensure that there will be sufficient seating, literature, rooming accommodations, and so forth, you are encouraged to attend the convention to which your congregation is assigned. If circumstances require that you attend a different convention, please see your congregation secretary for the mailing address of the convention you will attend, which is printed on the back of the Special Needs Room Request form. Be sure to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with your request for the Recommended Lodging List or any additional information. If there is more than one convention being held in the city, indicate the dates of the convention that you will attend.

[Box on page 4]

How to Make Your Hotel Reservation

1. Call hotels during regular business hours, using the telephone numbers on the Recommended Lodging List.

2. Inform the hotel that you are attending the convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

3. Specify the dates you will check in and check out of the hotel.

4. If no more rooms are available, call another hotel on the list.

5. Do not accept a higher rate than what is shown on the list.

6. Make your reservation, and ask for a confirmation number.

7. Make your deposit by credit card, check, or money order within ten days. Never send cash. If a deposit is made by check or money order, write the confirmation number on the front.

Please

◼ Stay only in hotels on the Recommended Lodging List.

◼ Reserve only the rooms that you will actually use.

◼ Keep your first reservation.​—Matt. 5:37.

◼ Plan on having no more than four persons per room, including children, unless the list indicates otherwise.