Requiring Preregistration before being able to book a room.

[Lacunacraft]

 I have seen the idea floated elsewhere, but i haven't seen a thread about it unless I am missing it somehow. I have seen it discussed on the facebook page a bit, figured i would bring it up here as it is the official Forum for the convention.

I think it would be a great idea as right now anyone can book a room and it doesn't cost them anything to do so. I think it would be a great way of alleviating some of the hotel opening stress as it would make people really think about if they are really going to Fanimecon or not. I have been on the wait list for rooms before in the past and have seen people posting online that they are willing to sell a reservation as they got in and booked a whole bunch of rooms, but don't plan on going themselves. Also, i have always gotten a room from the wait list as it seems that once Fanimecon gets closer and becomes a more real thing on the horizon. People either cancel due to not having the money or just canceling because no one wanted the room anyways. 

Just my two cents, wondering what everyone else thinks :)

[Admiral Donuts]

Thing is that happened by accident last year and rooms still went in no time at all.

[Lacunacraft]

I know they will go fast, it is just the nature of the convention given how big it is. I just think it will help a little with the huge crush of everyone grabbing them as i said in the second part of my post. It certainly couldn't hurt and i imagine it wouldn't require too much of change to the current system.

[Admiral Donuts]

The thing is it did happen, and it did not not help a little.

[bahamutknightzero]

Well....not exactly

It was announced to be the plan but as the hotel reg opening came closer, the plan was nixed and it became a free-for-all like previous years.

[Admiral Donuts]

The plan was nixed but a technical glitch meant it happened that way anyway. You couldn't book a hotel unless you'd already paid for your badge.

[echoshadow]

Unless we change locations to a place that has more near by hotels, Fanime becomes unpopular, or more hotels open up, then we will continue to have the mad hotel rush.
Either way if the do impose a badge requirement there would still be a mad rush.
It's a lose/lose.

[SquishyK]

The plan was nixed but a technical glitch meant it happened that way anyway. You couldn't book a hotel unless you'd already paid for your badge.

I didn't attend last year because of other commitments but I was keeping an eye on hotels for friends. When hotel booking opened up I couldn't get on at all (worse then I had ever experienced in the past) and it sounded as though most people who were getting hotels had to call in to get them. In which case any "technical glitch" may have been circumvented. Again, I didn't actual get a room myself or bother calling in so I can't say for certain. Also, I didn't have a badge and I think the site was allowing me to proceed to book a room (if the page would have actually loaded).

[Kuudere]

The plan was nixed but a technical glitch meant it happened that way anyway. You couldn't book a hotel unless you'd already paid for your badge.

It should be clarified that this was for people who actually managed to book through the website. Anyone who did so through the phone (which was quite a lot of us) did not have to have a paid badge. I didn't pay for a badge until much later.
-----
I do like the plan of requiring a badge to book a room, but A LOT of consideration will need to be made for all of the guests that attend. These need to be confirmed and communicated in a timely manner well-ahead of badge/hotel release. I believe that Fanime staff is capable of successfully implementing it, but it will absolutely be much more work than their current system.

Off the top of my head, they'll have to fix these situations before attempting the badge-before-hotel system:

1.) Give ample time for people to purchase badges before hotels get put up.
2.) Make arrangements for artist alley artists (who often will not buy badges early but will reserve hotels in the hopes that they are accepted). Many artists attend only because their art sales allow them to afford hotel/transportation, and they don't wish to buy a non-refundable badge for an event that may reject their application afterwards. Fanime staff will have to do something like reserve rooms for artists, or even better - make the artist selection process happen way before badges/hotels go up. It's possible, but like I said before, a lot of work.
3.) Any other badge-purchases that are contingent on acceptance into something (panels, press, vendors, etc.) would need to be considered and processed ahead of time.
4.) Communicate the need for purchasing badges as effectively as possible with multiple notices on the website, social media, etc. Not hard, but more work.
5.) Place some kind of limitation to how many rooms per badge can be booked and code that into the system. Badge-before-hotel is essentially useless if one guy can buy one badge and reserve 10 rooms with it.
6.) Consider those who will reserve via phone and make sure CMR is able to check whether the person has a paid badge already.

These are all things that would need to be worked out to make things fair to everyone attending. If all of us were just regular attendees, it'd probably be no problem, but there are many other people who have different needs, and it's not fair to exclude them. It is doable, just with a lot of careful preparation and work.