Cheer & Dance · Stay-to-Play
The Specific Cost Abuse Pattern Making Headlines: Explained Plainly
"Stay-to-play" is a specific, documented practice where tournament operators require families to book hotel rooms through the operator's own platform as a condition of competing, and cheerleading families have been particularly affected by this pattern.
How It Works
A competition operator partners with (or owns) a hotel-booking platform, then makes booking through that specific platform mandatory for a team to compete, regardless of whether a family could find a better rate independently, has loyalty points to use, or lives close enough not to need a hotel at all. This has drawn enough scrutiny that a class-action lawsuit was filed against a Louisville-based tournament-housing firm over mandatory hotel-booking practices and additional junk fees, with cheerleading families specifically named as affected.
What to Watch For
- •Competition entry that's contingent on booking through a specific, named housing platform
- •Junk fees layered on top of standard hotel costs (resort fees, "convenience" fees, mandatory add-ons)
- •Inflated room rates compared to booking the same hotel independently, for the same dates
- •Lack of disclosure about stay-to-play requirements before you commit to a competition
What to Ask Your Gym Before Any Competition
Questions before you commit
- 01Is this a stay-to-play event, and if so, what is the actual required hotel cost compared to booking independently?
- 02Has the gym disclosed this requirement before asking for competition fees?
- 03Are there any fees beyond the room rate itself (resort fees, booking fees)?
Confidence notethe existence of the stay-to-play practice and the referenced class-action lawsuit reflect documented, reported facts; verify current case status and specific terms directly before publishing legal specifics.
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