Submarines

Association

Australia 

SUBCON 2026





Crest

Dear Members and Friends,

Thanks again for signing up to SUBCON2026.

We have secured a flexible deal at the Mantra MacArthur Hotel which is reasonably priced. I recommend that you book as soon as possible. We think that the terms and conditions are very acceptable. However, hotel rates have dropped recently so there are other options available. Details are as follows.

The Mantra MacArthur hotel is located within a short distance of the Canberra CBD and approx 500 metres from the Ainslie footy club. The hotel is the refurbished Northbourne House building for those who know Canberra. The hotel is modern. It has a restaurant and bar. Underground Parking is available at $15 per day. Free on street parking is also available, especially on the weekend.

You have 2 options (Subcon dates Friday 23Oct to Monday 26 Oct)

1. A 10% discount that applies to all rooms and includes no up front payment and free cancellation up until the day before checking into the hotel. Also Breakfast is offered for $26 p/p reduced from $32. This deal offers a small King Studio for 137 p/n or a larger King Deluxe room for $155 p/n are examples of p/n costs but rooms in the hotel are offered under this flexible deal.

Pros: The 10% discount deal is worry free - no cancellation fee up until one day prior to check-in and no up front payment. Also a breakfast discount is offered if booked more than 1 day before arrival.

Cons. More expensive than the current online standard rate (not flexible).

2. Opt to go for the currently online advertised standard rate. These rooms are paid for at the time of booking and you pay a fee for cancelling your booking. Additionally, at the time of booking you will be offered a further 5% off the standard rate if you join the ACCOR club (free). At the moment that rate for club members is $101 p/n for the King Studio...So an excellent deal if you are willing to pay up front and take the cancellation risk.

Pros: Currently much cheaper especially if you join the Accor Club (free) to receive the 5% off the standard rate.

Cons: Pay up front, no free cancellation.

I suggest that you go to the link below to access the Accor online booking search engine. Enter Mantra MacArthur hotel, Your Dates of stay and number of guests/rooms. This will bring up the hotel's cheaper standard room rates...i.e. not the flexible rate.

To access the flexible 10% discount deal go to the link below

1. click on the ALL Accor live Limitless link below
2. Enter Mantra MacArthur Hotel, Dates of stay and number of Guests/Rooms
3. Click 'SPECIAL RATES' ...under CHOOSE RATE on the far right. Right click the arrow and chose PROMO Code
4. Enter ARGRP26 in the box below and click CONFIRM
The 10% discount rates will be shown for each room.
See below for details
I hope this is useful. It's been difficult to deal with hotels...you cannot negotiate with the manager anymore. This is the only deal that the SUBCON planning committee will negotiate. At the moment there are some very good deals online. We only ask that you choose to stay in the CBD or Kingston/Manuka area. This will help us provide a cost effective and efficient bus transport.
With regards to bus transport we will probably ask you to complete a survey on the website so that we can determine the number of attendees who would use the service. We had done some early modeling on 100 pax and bumped that up to 130 pax for our quotes! We got that wrong...now probably close to 190 needing bus transport to the Gala Dinner!
Regards
Stan Nimmo
SAA ACT Branch Secretary
HOW TO BOOK:
Book directly on our site: ALL - Accor Live Limitless | Hotels Stays & Exclusive Deals
Promo code: ARGRP26
Condition of sale: Room Only, No pre-payment required, cancel up to 1 day prior to arrival date.
Breakfast: can be booked for $32 per person on the day, or $26 per person more than 1 day prior to arrival.

Accomadation Options Van parks Active link are below Flyer

Alivio,
Discovery
Canberra Holiday Village
Crest view
Epic

SUBCON26 PROMO # 2 – EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (EOI) NOTICE.

Heads Up Submariners and Friends

The SAA ACT Branch invites all members of the Submarine Community and their guests to gather in Canberra on the weekend of 23 October – 25 October 2026.

The centre-piece of this year’s event will be the Saturday night gala dinner and dance at the Australian War Memorial’s newly built and spectacular Anzac Atrium.

The Meet and Greet (MG) and AGM will be held at Eastlakes Football club in Griffith ACT. There will be a farewell BBQ to be held on the Sunday, tentatively planned to be on the foreshore of Lake Burley Griffin near the Southern Cross Yacht Club (To Be Confirmed).

The SUBCON26 EOI form has been posted to the SAA National Website SUBCON 2026 EOI Booking form
At this stage the following costings are indicative and may vary slightly before final payment is due late July.
MG $50 p/p. Price Includes a substantial finger food package and a 1-2 hours bar tab.
Gala Dinner $179 p/p for a 2-course meal and 3.5-hour drinks package with full table service.
Sunday BBQ lunch cost TBA.

Please Note: At this stage, for planning purposes, we are limiting the attendance numbers to 120 with a reserve list. The first 120 deposits received will be guaranteed a ticket. This number may increase as we refine the SUBCON26 plan in the next few months. Every effort will be made to ensure that nobody on the reserve list misses out.

Deposit. With limited sponsorship we are asking for a refundable deposit of $50 p/p be paid on submission of the EOI. On the EOI form, the deposit will be based on the number of attendees entered in the Gala Dinner field. For example, 4 attendees will be a deposit of $200.

Hotel and Caravan Park deals. Deals are being worked and will be finalised in the next few weeks. Some details will be posted on the National SAA website shortly.

Sponsors. We welcome onboard and thank Jenkins Engineering Defence Systems (JEDS) as a proud SUBCON26 Sponsor. JEDS has a longstanding association with the development of Submarine EW technology as many of you will know. We are still in need of Sponsor Support to keep your overall cost down and we will be seeking your help in that regard via a separate email.

POC. Stan Nimmo email subcon2026@gmail.com
AWM: Link to Anzac Atrium and Anzac Hall.
09 February, 2026.