14 MARCH 2011
By now most of us have been informed of our hotel assignment. Some emails have yet to go out and bad news is no doubt rampant. I've already heard the annual rehashing of "I got in eight minutes before my friend and yet he got his second choice and I'm on Hotel Circle" from several people. I've also heard a lot of anxious inquiries from people who haven't gotten their email confirmation yet. (I was one of them until about eight minutes ago, and it's late Monday night.) If this is you, give Travel Planners a call tomorrow. Time is of the essence because you only have a limited amount of time to confirm the room with a deposit. This is supposed to be five days, but my email was sent late on the 14th and only gave me until the 18th to make the deposit. So don't wait too long if you don't hear anything.
If you absolutely hate your hotel: please don't let it rob you of your Comic Con anticipation. People do cancel, hotel rooms do open up, and it's often just a matter of repeatedly checking the site to get a better hotel. If you don't mind changing hotels mid-stream, you can almost always finagle two nights or so at one of your top choices. A lot of people cancel Saturday night reservations in particular, because the Sunday panel choices aren't always so great. Once hotel booking opens back up next week, you will be able to check specific days at specific hotels and have more control over your reservations.
Lastly, here's a little moral about not freaking out over all the various Con rumors and theories you'll hear. I've been hearing about people getting their room assignments since Thursday, while I heard nothing. I was getting anxious, since I did get in and out of the system very quickly, and finally called Travel Planners this morning to inquire about my lack of email. The agent told me that emails were going out in the order of room assigments, i.e. the people getting their top choices were notified immediately, and so on, with the people who couldn't get a room being the last to hear. Which meant that I was out of luck. And then, after brooding for twelve hours, I got my email confirmation - with my first choice, the Marriott.
The lesson from this is to take most Con gossip with a grain of salt. This TP guy couldn't have been more wrong (and maybe he was just so sick of Comic Con fans that he was deliberately messing with me) and the same goes for much of what you'll hear over the coming months.
Hope everyone got a hotel they can live with.
I am satisfied with my hotel, but not ecstatic. How did you get your first choice? how often do the shuttles go?
ReplyDeleteWhy is the Marriott the best hotel? I thought everyone like the Hard Rck. That was my 1st choice. So here's a question... when housing opens up next week, is it the same deal as far as asking for your tops choices or does it operte by a different method?
ReplyDeleteAnon - There really is no answer to how I did it, other than I was fast and prepared and didn't waste time selecting ten hotels I wouldn't have stayed in anyhow. (I only entered ten hotels.) I also was looking for a very common room type.
ReplyDeleteAs for the shuttles, a schedule will be released as we get closer to July. Mostly they run about every 20-30 minutes. CCI has a whole page about shuttles that will give you more info - link on my hotels page.
Alex - the Marriott is only the "best" hotel in that it's the closest (and has a nice entryway to the convention center, if you take the escalators by the Marriott Starbuck down to the garage level.) I'm also partial to its pool. The Hard Rock is indeed popular, and houses the SyFy Cafe and Nobu. It really is just about personal taste. As I've said before, if you plan on eating/hanging out in the Gaslamp much (as most of us do), the Hard Rock Cafe is a great choice. If you really have your heart set on it, keep checking availability.
As far as when housing opens back up next week, I don't know for sure, but I would imagine the system reverts to the old method of logging in, and seeing what hotel is available on what date and for what price. Which makes your decisions much easier, and takes away the guesswork.
depending on how willing you are to change hotels mid-Con (usually not a big deal in the first two days, more of a big deal from Friday on if you've bought tons of stuff by then), don't be afraid to book even one night at your dream hotel. My friend got the Hilton Bayfront last year by checking the site every day and eventually booking all four nights there, albeit one at a time.