19 JANUARY 2013
It's back - the change to reserve a hotel room without even knowing if you'll get a badge. On Wednesday, 23 January, at 9:00 am PST, you can partake of several hotel "deals" being offered in advance of official Hotel Day (which happens later, after Registration Day, and is fairly horrific.)
I'm going to be very clear about this.
What you need to know: payment must be made right then at the time of booking and is non-refundable. Yes, even if you don't end up getting a badge or get the chance to book a room at a MUCH better hotel. Also - you can't even cancel a night. Even if you get ill and have to leave Comic Con early. Whatever money you pay when you book your room this Wednesday is gone forever.
The hotels in question: are not downtown. They are in the Mission Valley and airport areas. They will all offer shuttle service.
How much money you'll save: I don't actually know. Sorry. Some of the hotels are offering packages like discounted parking and free wireless, but I'm not sure how the actual rates stack up to those offered on Hotel Day. Remember, those are discounted too.
Who this is good for: People who already have a badge, don't mind staying in Mission Valley, and prioritize the security of a so-so hotel room over the battle and possible victory of scoring a superior hotel room on Hotel Day.
How competitive the Early Bird sale will be: No idea. But CCI refers several times to rates expiring on 11 March, which makes it sound as if these rooms won't be booked up right away. I find that hard to believe.
Comic Con offered this last year and says it was a success. What they don't say: when badges go on sale, which is what we're all aching to know at this point.
Comic Con 2013 Early Bird Hotel Deals
How difficult is it to buy hotels during the hotel day. I bought mine last year during the early bird for the hilton in mission valley and that hardly saved me money.
ReplyDeleteIt's fairly brutal. However, most everyone ends up with a hotel room - maybe not their first choice, maybe not even their top five - eventually. Remember that people cancel reservations, rooms open up, and you have the option to keep "trading up" until fairly late in the game. Plus you can cancel those reservations until a certain deadline. With Early Bird, you're stuck.
DeleteIf you're not attached to staying downtown, and are positive your Comic Con plans are written in stone, the Early Bird might work out well for you. But it's not going to save you significant money over what you'd spend booking the same hotel on Hotel Day. It's just less stressful.
Hotel Day is a *nightmare*. The big advantage with the early bird sale is not having to go through it, However the early bird hotels didn't sell out too quickly last year. They were around until the deadline. Still, if you already have a badge from the pre-sale and you want one of these, buy it now, before the general pass sale happens and another surge of people starts booking them.
ReplyDeleteAs for how much you can save: the downtown hotels are around $300+ per night, even through Travel Planners. So I would estimate you can save roughly $100 per night (or potentially more) by being in Mission Valley instead of downtown. Of course, there are other ways to get hotels in Mission Valley besides the early bird sale.
Early bird hotel deals barely go to classified ads in manila to advertise, since news are always spreading easily. The negative point is that you usually don't get the room you want, until you just choose to cancel the reservation. There's really no saving at all.
ReplyDeleteThanks - as I figured.
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