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So do the kicked-out, fully-paid-up vendors have legal recourse against the hotel at this point? Surely they must.

• jacquesm 17y ago
  That depends on the contract. If the contract stated that if they would do this they would get kicked out then likely not. They can still sue of course but it wouldn't help them much. If all it is is the CES management colluding with the hotel management then they've just killed CES. They ought to be happy with people coming there either way. And the exorbitant fees for exhibiting on the grounds are what drives this kind of tactics anyway. Lots of big consumer shows have this sort of thing happening around them, there is nothing wrong with it, it's just the market at work. Expect next years CES to be smaller than this years because of this. In the past it would usually be one or two very specific vendors that would draw me to an exhibition, and not always would the venue be on the grounds. But after seeing what I came for I would then go to the main exhibition anyway, just because I was already in the neighbourhood. These were mostly in Hannover and London, but I don't think the general principle changes much. Some very interesting small companies can simply not afford the out-of-touch-with-reality price per ft^2 that these exhibitions charge. Want power to your booth? That'll be $1500. Oh, and another $500 for the licensed electrician to plug that in to that socket. edit: thinking about this some more, I can't even recall having gone to an exhibition after 2000 or so, stuff is released all the time now and with the internet as a vehicle to get the information out there the days of the giant exhibition are probably numbered anyway.