The two stops and the field
The American Northwest - Portland - Nationals - DI/DII runs 5 and 6 December 2026 in Hall D at the Oregon Convention Center. The organiser prints a Housing Designation field on every stop in the series. Portland's field reads Housing Rewards.
The series' next stop is The American Grand - Grand Nationals - DI/DII and Dance - Nationals at Mandalay Bay on 19 and 20 December. That field reads Housing Required. Portland carries 400 points in The Varsity Cheer League and Las Vegas carries 600.
The series listed 13 upcoming stops on 22 October 2026. Five carried Housing Rewards, six carried Housing Required and two carried Housing Offered.
What a required stop counts
Team Travel Source administers the housing programme. Its FAQ states two purposes for a requirement: city leverage on dates and rates, and rate protection for the block.
The FAQ also prints the arithmetic. A programme's compliance number comes from the athletes, teams and coaches it registers. An exemption counts as two standard nights. A programme inside 75 miles of the venue for a two-day competitor, or 150 miles for prep and rec athletes, is marked local and is not required to book.
No page read for this article attaches a compliance number to a stop carrying the Housing Rewards label. The counted mechanism sits on the required class, and Portland's stop sold on the rewards class.
The window Portland opened
The 2026-27 launch page splits the booking calendar by class. Housing Offered and Housing Rewards opened together on Tuesday 8 September 2026, to teams and to the general public from 11 a.m. CST. Housing Required events in November and December ran a coach email on 8 September, a team window from Thursday 10 September and a public link on Monday 21 September.
Portland's window opened 88 days before the Saturday door. A rewards stop and an offered stop began selling on the same morning at the same hour.
The reward sits behind a password
The launch page sends coaches to teamtravelsource.com/varsity/private/ for the offers attached to Housing Rewards events. That address returns a password field, and access is confirmed by email at cheerdancegym@teamtravelsource.com.
The organiser's listing carries no rate and no incentive for the Portland stop. The housing partner's public FAQ covers requirements, exemptions, waitlists, fees and the rate guarantee, and it carries no line about the rewards class. The housing partner advertises a rebate paid in full and on time, and no page read for this article prints the amount beside the stop.
Where the guarantee ends
The Lowest Rate Guarantee runs until the contracted cut-off, which the guarantee page describes as approximately one month before the event. After the cut-off the rooms return to the hotel, and the hotel prices what remains. On a 5 December door the cut-off lands near 5 November 2026.
A group that books inside the final month buys without price protection. A block signed after the cut-off buys rooms the guarantee no longer covers.
The room-night position
A required stop carries a counted obligation. The hotel can price attrition against a known programme size and can hold the group to a compliance number.
Portland publishes no priced incentive and no counted obligation. A family that books outside the block forfeits an offer it cannot read, and its standing at Mandalay Bay survives that choice because the required class counts registered participants at each stop.
A projection built on a rewards block runs above the nights the hotel can contract for. The block captures the room night on trust, and the trust rests on the guest's convenience.
Two paths price the same stay. The direct booking pays the property's public rate. The block booking pays the block rate against an unpublished reward. Both are rational for the guest.
What a sales desk attaches to the signature
Name the designation in the contract and quote the date the window opened: 8 September 2026 for this stop. Ask which of the series' designation values applies before a guest is told the block is mandatory.
Write the cut-off date and its hour into the contract, because the guarantee runs on it. Set the attrition percentage against the counted programme size on a required stop. On a rewards stop, set it against the rooming list the group coordinator holds.
Ask the organiser for the registered team count and for the exemption count. Both numbers decide whether the block holds its projected nights.
The dates to diarise
Near 5 November 2026 the guarantee lapses on the Portland block. On 19 and 20 December the series reaches a required stop, where the count begins.