Festival and Travel Planner 2026

There wasn't a double booking of lockers happening as such. What happened was cheapskate attendees started using lockers left empty and unlocked after being finished with by original booker without reserving it through the app. This became available on the system to be booked again. When the new booker opened door with their code they found the freeloaders items.

Once the staff became aware of this happening , they went around locking any empty open lockers they spotted to prevent it happening.

He also deleted any posts that pointed out his inaccuracies leaving just his narrative visible. As for having to watch the shows until 1am, there was a social dance room open from 9.30 until the end of the shows.

Transportwise, it's only a 12 min walk between his hotel and the venue. Maybe it's an American thing not to walk anywhere but he'd lived in Ams for some year's so fully capable of knowing the transport system. He also had the option of catching the bus right next to his hotel to the Ibis Hotel which is next door to the venue for a couple of euros. How his Uber took longer than walking the same route is another lie.
 
Was somebody at the afternoon social in Amsterdam and can report?

I went to the Amsterdam festival 2 years ago, before they started the lockers. Dancing was okay, but for me it was not really worth the money as Amsterdam is quite expensive and the dancing hours were limited. It was so crowded that it was only enjoyable after 4 am. With daytime socials at the other hotel it gets a little more attractive.
I really dislike the lockers and the app, it is rather a rip off than a convenience. I wonder why they are not getting more complaints about them.
 
salsaholica said:
Was somebody at the afternoon social in Amsterdam and can report?
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I was there :) the room itself was nice but the floor they installed was really too small - it only took the tiny portion of the room - and the quaity of the floor was the same as in the main venue (not perfect, felt a bit...bouncy?)

Music was good though, enough people to dance with (getting more and more crowded towards the evening) and they provided free water, still and sparkling - huge contrast with the main venue.
 
salsaholica said:
I really dislike the lockers and the app, it is rather a rip off than a convenience. I wonder why they are not getting more complaints about them.
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Most people seem to have liked the app. It has sped up queueing & ordering drinks at the bars. As to the lockers yes they are a bit expensive if you just want one only for evening use but they did cut out queuing at the cloakroom when arriving or leaving and any time you needed access to spare shirts & deo. They also had another moneysaving benefit if you used your imagination! ;)
 
RandomBeat said:
Most people seem to have liked the app. It has sped up queueing & ordering drinks at the bars. As to the lockers yes they are a bit expensive if you just want one only for evening use but they did cut out queuing at the cloakroom when arriving or leaving and any time you needed access to spare shirts & deo. They also had another moneysaving benefit if you used your imagination! ;)
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I really don’t get the locker drama, neither. It seems to be mostly about additional cost and being forced to buy it but, again, this year you knew that from the start. We always have the option of voting with our feet…
Chris_Yannick said:
Miggie's review is the 2nd scathing review of IASF that I know of since Shems' epic rant 2 years ago (has it been 2 years already?).

Was it over the top? Totally. But seeing now 2 overly negative reviews of the same festival for similar issues is telling. He wrote about things that gave me flashbacks of another congress 6-7 years prior that I had issues with, so I could certainly see how annoying it might have been.

He is traveling from the US so I can understand that he doesn't have complete 360 degree visibility of events in Europe. He was in Budapest the week before Amsterdam and he had zero complaints about that event, which is in line to how I viewed it (minor gripes aside).

At the end of the day, it's always a good idea to doublecheck with honest friends or people 'in the know' to determine which events are going to be more to your liking before booking them. That is exactly how I would book events if I wanted to be sure I was getting my money's worth.
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His review isn’t simply over the top, it’s dishonest and slanderous. And given that he has something like 45k of followers, my personal ethics requirement for airing your personal vendetta are somewhat higher. Again, I’d have thought more favorably of his rant had I not noticed the deleting of dissenting comments. It’s a temper tantrum of someone who wasn’t made feeling special by the organizer and will unfortunately now directly benefit from his poor judgement (organizers in the comments are already inviting him to come to their congress on their dime).
 
desconocida said:
I really don’t get the locker drama, neither. It seems to be mostly about additional cost and being forced to buy it but, again, this year you knew that from the start. We always have the option of voting with our feet…

His review isn’t simply over the top, it’s dishonest and slanderous. And given that he has something like 45k of followers, my personal ethics requirement for airing your personal vendetta are somewhat higher. Again, I’d have thought more favorably of his rant had I not noticed the deleting of dissenting comments. It’s a temper tantrum of someone who wasn’t made feeling special by the organizer and will unfortunately now directly benefit from his poor judgement (organizers in the comments are already inviting him to come to their congress on their dime).
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I'm going to assume this is just standard influencer business -- asked for a refund or other benefits at (implied) threat of bad review, and then you gotta follow through with that
 
Gaviota said:
I'm going to assume this is just standard influencer business -- asked for a refund or other benefits at (implied) threat of bad review, and then you gotta follow through with that
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Reviewers have existed for a long time even before social media and influencer era.

There is not need to make any implied threats. Those being reviewed are always willing to give extra benefits.
 
Gaviota said:
I'm going to assume this is just standard influencer business -- asked for a refund or other benefits at (implied) threat of bad review, and then you gotta follow through with that
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I agree, the phrase "he messed with the wrong person" and his description of how the organizer dared to go "socialise" instead of instantly taking care of his refund, furthermore suggest a highly inflated ego, if I may psychologize for the sake of the argument a little :rofl:
In fact, if I noticed one thing about Ivan's events: he does not cater to in-crowds, it appears. I don't think he provides benefits to people with a large following or hot girls, as apparently is customary practice at some other popular events and invites popular "guest dancers". You're either an artists or a regular paying guest. Maybe this is why it gave off a very "egalitarian" vibe to me, and I really liked the atmosphere for that.
 
desconocida said:
Again, I’d have thought more favorably of his rant had I not noticed the deleting of dissenting comments
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I wasn't aware of that. I only watched the video in passing as it was shown to me by someone else.

Being an event organiser is an unenviable job to be sure. It's almost impossible not to give out special dispensation to people you feel will attract others to your event.

AISF still seemed to pull in good numbers despite Shems' rant and will likely still be going strong with Miguel's rant.

Yes it stops certain in crowd members from attending but something tells me that's not their target audience.
 
So, what you’re saying is, it ultimately going to be a good thing for us, “regular” social dancers? There IS a silver lining in almost everything, indeed. He just deleted another comment of mine, btw., that simply stated that Dancehouse just has a different concept and provides drinks and snacks at a certain markup and that it’s silly to compare the two based on free water availability ‍
Chris_Yannick said:
I wasn't aware of that. I only watched the video in passing as it was shown to me by someone else.

Being an event organiser is an unenviable job to be sure. It's almost impossible not to give out special dispensation to people you feel will attract others to your event.

AISF still seemed to pull in good numbers despite Shems' rant and will likely still be going strong with Miguel's rant.

Yes it stops certain in crowd members from attending but something tells me that's not their target audience
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Miggie, has shown his true colors many times, trying to monetize his fame and pursue an agenda. He jumped the gun with AISF, part of it is not knowing how European festivals/congresses normally run. Free water is common in the US venues, not common in European events. He was expecting special treatment and a fast resolution, but Festivals are short staffed and post events these folks have thousands of messages in their inboxes. He should have waited a bit. We live in a era in which many dancers have a hidden agenda and their rants are done to humiliate and make people bend the knee. Ivan can be very direct at times and rub people the wrong way but he means well and he has put Amsterdam on the map for many years, which is something to applaud. Miggie needs to carry himself better because he is either going to face lawsuits for his online slander or physical harm by those he is mocking for likes.
 
Chris_Yannick said:
Yes it stops certain in crowd members from attending but something tells me that's not their target audience.
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I highly doubt. Some might take such rants into consideration as one of many data points. When doubts arise, usually people ask their friends. I don’t know anyone who makes a decision based solely on what a vblogger says.
 
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