I hate stay +play. If you aren't good at the hotel management piece, you get stuck with a bunch of rooms that no one wants. For example, last year we traveled very far and a lot of families wanted larger rooms. The whole team was stuck with King size beds in really small rooms, which didn't work for families bringing more than 2 people to the tournament. We were told that the double rooms were all gone and king was all that was left. So people had to cancel flights, travel plans etc. to accommodate the hotel reservation.stay + play is one of the biggest ripoffs in youth soccer.
Usually not local enough. Generally less than 60 miles to tournament site is considered local, some tournaments it's within 80 miles.
For Surf Cup if you are within 100 miles your good to go on making your own accommodations. The South Bay definitely falls in that radius.Our team is from LA/Southbay area, so the drive is about 1 1/2hr for us. Is that considered local enough where we wouldn't have to book a room?
Normally tournaments get big kickback from hotels and it is a big part of their profit. On the other hand, they also get a good discounted rates for teams to stay, so it's not all that bad. If you have to stay in a hotel anyway, it's good for your team and a tournament, and a local economy. If you leave close enough, hotel is not required.