Comic Con hotels go live 9 am PST on 26 February

20 FEBRUARY 2013

It’s that time again. Probably you’re still drained from the stress and battle of Registration Day, and now you can relive it all over again in the fight to book a Comic Con hotel room. Which is happening next Tuesday, 9 am PST/Noon EST, 26 February.

If this is your first time going to Comic Con, they offer discounted hotel rooms all over San Diego – some right by the Con, some in the Gaslamp District, some out by the airport and Sea World and Mission Valley and so on. Unless you’ve already booked a nonrefundable room on your own or through the Early Bird sale, it’s highly recommended you go this route. 

Of course, you don’t have to book a hotel room at all; you could stay at a hostel, rent a condo, stay with a friend or even camp at a nearby campground. Obviously you’ll have to compete for some of those as well.

The Process 

1. Look at the current list of hotels here. Locations and rates are included. Almost all hotels are on the shuttle routes, so don't be afraid to stay at the more distant hotels. What you should consider: if you want to stay right next to the Con, in the Gaslamp District, or farther away. I cover a lot of this on my Hotels page, which I recommend reading before you book a room.
2. For downtown hotels, if you're driving to San Diego, be aware they usually charge around $30 a day for parking.
3. In previous years, you would log into the system, select 20 hotel choices, and then get an email telling you what you got. This year you have to provide 6 choices - no more, no less. Which means you should carefully choose your strategy; if you only pick the most popular hotels, like the adjacent Hilton and Marriott, your chances of landing them are far less than if you pick some mid-list hotels like the Gaslamp Westin.
4. Once your rooms are confirmed, you'll be required to put down a two-night deposit.
5. You can get a full refund until 30 April.
6. If you cancel between 1 May and 1 June, you'll still be charged for one night and have the other night refunded.
7. As of 2 June, your deposit is fully nonrefundable.

If you want to spare yourself the madness of Hotel Day (you will see this referred to online as Hoteloween but I can’t bring myself to do that because Halloween is actually fun) you can participate in the Early Bird sale. That’s right, it is still going on. The hotels are near the airport or Mission Valley, and require fully nonrefundable deposits. But your blood pressure won’t skyrocket when you book them, so there’s that.