FanimeCon 2024 Forums

FanimeCon Events and Discussionmentarianism => Hotel and Facilities => Topic started by: Weiss Schwarz on January 18, 2017, 07:28:41 AM

Title: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Weiss Schwarz on January 18, 2017, 07:28:41 AM
Even though my day to pick my hotel room isn't until Friday at noon, I decided to take a peek at the site right when it went live just in case someone goofed and made it open access. No luck there but man, have rooms started filling up quick and become unavailable already. And despite this new route they're going for people to reserve rooms based off prereg days/time, it doesn't help too much since the site is still constantly crashing. Although, I will admit, it's doing better than it did back in 2014 when I last went.

So, how's everyone doing with booking your rooms? Get your first choice in hotel/room? Crossing your fingers and toes that your preferred hotel/room is still there when your day/time opens?

14 hour later edit: Honestly, I'm split on how things were handled this year. For people that know they're going to go early on so they can preregister right away, it's great. But for someone like me, that didn't know he was going to be able to go until Dec 29th and registered then. It's... not so fun. I've been watching the hotel site like a hawk since it went live, knowing I can't even pick anything until my day/time slot opens (which is Friday, 10AM PST), just watching as a good 95% of rooms are filled within the first two hours. I'm willing to bet little to no hotel rooms will be available when my time comes to pick a room for me and a friend I'm bringing (to his first con btw), especially for the specific days we'll be staying. I went to Fanime in 2014 and while the system then was literally first come first serve for everyone, I felt that way was fairer because everyone (well, everyone that was keeping a good eye on the fanime announcements) knew when housing opened, they could make plans to be available around that time to try and snag a room. Sure, it was chaotic with the site crashing like crazy. If I'm not mistaken, it took me almost two hours to get my room last time, but I got exactly what I needed so I had no complaints because I felt as though I earned it. I didn't just have a spot reserved for me. The two hours was worth the wait compared to the two DAYS of waiting I'm doing. Rather than now, sitting, and waiting, watching as less and less rooms become available and there's not a thing I can do about it.

Is this way fair for everyone? Nope. Was the previous way fair for everyone? Nope. There's not a single way every person can be pleased with either system. Both have their flaws that there is literally no way to balance it to be fair for everyone. I get that. But at least with the previous way, it was  every man for himself. Those that were persistent in trying and didn't give up more than likely got what they wanted if they were on time and stuck with it. Now, this reserved waiting is like those flash passes at amusement parks (if those are still a thing), you're in line just watching as people pass you up with no way to do anything about it.

Don't get me wrong... I know it sounds like I'm complaining and it sounds like I'm throwing in the towel. But I'm not complaining (in the normal sense of the word, it's weird) and I'm sticking through this because my friend and I have bought our prereg badges. We've bought our plane tickets already. I'm going not only for the con but mainly to see some people I know and want to hang out with again while I'm in the area. Even if I don't get exactly what I want, I still feel as though I've got wiggle room to at least get something good enough to have some kind of a fun time while I'm out there.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Hachimitsu on January 18, 2017, 07:38:01 AM
FOR some reason i made the reservation but as soon as the site begins to crash... it gave me the wrong dates!...

really regretting hitting that back button..

I couldnt access my modify/reservation to see if I went through because i havent receive my email confirmation yet.. I had to print screen it!!!'

Right now it says

you are not authorized to view information on the reservation you requested. if you beleive you have reach this page in error, please contact fanimecon housing at (THIS NUMBER)
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Weiss Schwarz on January 18, 2017, 07:41:58 AM
Just keep trying, they site is playing nice every few minutes.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: TC X0 Lt 0X on January 18, 2017, 07:43:09 AM
Well I think I got the room I needed. At least I got to the page saying my reservation was complete an all the information looks correct. Still waiting on an email confirmation.

Site is crashing like a Drunk meth-head on a stormy night. This is pretty much as bad as it has always been. Priority Registration not only doesn't solve the issue with getting a hotel room, it doesn't even alleviate stress on the hotel reservation site when it goes up.

EDIT: Op just got my email confirmation

Still have to go through with this again at 10..
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Hachimitsu on January 18, 2017, 07:47:14 AM
I am still waiting on mines since i had to re-correct mines...

THe only positive is I am happy i got into artist alley, but then im waiting on their payment page options!..
IF this was an olympic sport, it would be one of those triatholons

Fanime Artist alley
Fanime Registration
Fanime hotel reservation
.......swap meet?

In that order!

but yeah.. got the email of the wrong dates but not the email with the right ones -_-!
(already calling fanime housing for help on viewing a confirmation)
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: TC X0 Lt 0X on January 18, 2017, 07:48:52 AM
Godspeed mate.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Konekogami on January 18, 2017, 07:55:58 AM
Managed to get my room despite being a bit late!  Freaked out since I got time zones and such mixed up

Took a lot of refreshing (like a LOT) but it was actually fairly pain free.

Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Kyra_Maverick on January 18, 2017, 07:59:01 AM
The site crashed as I submitted my confirmation. I had to call to make sure it all went through. This was at 7:04 and finally connected at 7:15

Not quite as stressful as the old way, but still had me on edge making sure I had a room.
Title: (need to change a reservation.....? don't worry)
Post by: Hachimitsu on January 18, 2017, 08:02:29 AM
Apparently I had to go make a new reservation and the old confirmation gets replace instantly with the new changes...

So if you happen to register for the wrong dates... go back and make a new one, and double checck everything...
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, HIT REFRESH BUTTON ( F5 I think )BUT DO NOT HIT THE BACK BUTTON!... thats how it reverts to default settings...

So happy i got this fixed because the dates I first had, was wrong.. and had to make a new reservation instead of going to the modify reservation.

So yeah. if you screw up... make a new one As soon as possible, and double check with fanime con housing number.

I'm already set now.. waiting for Swap meet registration to come soon!
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: ELDEMONIO on January 18, 2017, 09:24:55 AM
I logged in at 7am on the dot and managed to check out around 7:21. The crashing was bad. I kept refreshing over and over to get to the next page. I hope theirs an easier way in the future. Knowing Fanime, I doubt they will.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: TC X0 Lt 0X on January 18, 2017, 10:02:56 AM
Well I got my 2nd room damn easy like at least.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Nina Star 9 on January 18, 2017, 10:07:25 AM
That was...totally painless, actually. Got my first choice of room with very few issues. I expected worse. Loading times were a little slow, but no crashes or anything.

One minor gripe about the website: I typo'd my credit card number the first time, and instead of letting me actually go and fix it, it kept giving me endless dialogue boxes telling me it was an invalid number. I had to check the little "prevent this page from creating additional dialogues" box and everything was fine, but it was a little annoying. I'd recommend that got fixed though.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: moondogg on January 18, 2017, 10:07:54 AM
Was able to book at 10:00 AM without a hitch! Absolutely flawless this year.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: iAteTheRamen on January 18, 2017, 01:03:33 PM
Woo-hoo! 1pm time slot and there was no lag or crashing for me. I got my first pick! :D
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: kookiekween99 on January 18, 2017, 01:17:47 PM
Was anyone else able to reserve a second room by using a group member's registration ID? That's what I did last year, but for some reason, it keeps rejecting all my group members' IDs as "invalid". I'm freaking out now because I NEED a second room in the same hotel, but it looks like THAT'S not happening...
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Kyra_Maverick on January 18, 2017, 01:26:43 PM
Quote from: kookiekween99 on January 18, 2017, 01:17:47 PM
Was anyone else able to reserve a second room by using a group member's registration ID? That's what I did last year, but for some reason, it keeps rejecting all my group members' IDs as "invalid". I'm freaking out now because I NEED a second room in the same hotel, but it looks like THAT'S not happening...
Try calling the housing line directly, they can probably take care of it for you.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: itselguapo on January 18, 2017, 06:16:49 PM
The reservation process wasn't that bad for me at 10am. The only thing that sucked was that I was about to get the hilton, but forgot to add friday too, and when I went back to change to add friday the hilton just sold out, fortunately there were tons of other hotels to choose from so I went with the marriott two double bed room, and it went well enough. Even after I made that reservation for an hour there was still rooms at the westin, the hilton had a king size rooms available, and the mariott still had all it's rooms available. I didn't stay on for long and went back to sleep so I don't know how long each hotel stayed available for. Overall this was pretty good no stress really of rushing and hoping it went through. Sure I didn't get the hilton, but I heard the marriott is good too. This is way better compared to general registration room reservation where everything is crashing, and rooms go in minutes. Now hopefully they don't have linecon again this year. I don't know what happened, but the 2 times we went we just walked through 2016 was the only time I ever had to wait in line to get my pass. I look forward to fanime this year. Only question I have is if there is any advice to get out of paying deposit fees.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Konekogami on January 18, 2017, 06:59:30 PM
Quote from: itselguapo on January 18, 2017, 06:16:49 PM
Only question I have is if there is any advice to get out of paying deposit fees.

Legal advice? None.  Hotels charge them to cover their butts.  The only assurance is that if you don't trash your room you'll get the money credited back to your account.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Angelx624 on January 18, 2017, 07:11:15 PM
My Sac-Anime roomies managed to snag the Marriott! And from what I'm seeing from friends they got their rooms with no trouble, as well!

Hope everyone else isn't having much trouble! Then again Fanime is known for site crashes when it comes to hotel booking so I won't be surprised if I hear stories...... :(
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Barnes on January 18, 2017, 10:07:51 PM
My mom successfully booked my room for me at her work (I didn't want to use my phone to do so at my job).

She even scored my first choice in just a few minutes, yay!
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Kyra_Maverick on January 18, 2017, 10:16:15 PM
Weiss Schwarz, I would recommend looking into one of the local hotels not affiliated with Fanime while you wait for Friday to roll around. I know there are a few hotels in the downtown area that don't offer Fanime discounts and had rooms open when I checked earlier today. AirBNB is also an option that I know people have fallen back on in the past.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Red_Eye on January 19, 2017, 07:20:49 AM
Only ONE good spot left on my preferred list, logged in RIGHT on the DOT of my booking time, and of course it says overbooked right after I select it!  -_-

I sincerely hope they have a wait list for the others in case of cancellation...

If not, it'll be a longer walk to and from all the action.  Not terrible overall, I'd just rather leave most of the walking for the Con itself.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Weiss Schwarz on January 19, 2017, 07:26:04 AM
Quote from: Red_Eye on January 19, 2017, 07:20:49 AM
Only ONE good spot left on my preferred list, logged in RIGHT on the DOT of my booking time, and of course it says overbooked right after I select it!  -_-

I sincerely hope they have a wait list for the others in case of cancellation...

If not, it'll be a longer walk to and from all the action.  Not terrible overall, I'd just rather leave most of the walking for the Con itself.

Fairmont? That was my preferred hotel. It's crazy just how quickly they all went away.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Weiss Schwarz on January 19, 2017, 08:06:11 AM
Quote from: Kyra_Maverick on January 18, 2017, 10:16:15 PM
Weiss Schwarz, I would recommend looking into one of the local hotels not affiliated with Fanime while you wait for Friday to roll around. I know there are a few hotels in the downtown area that don't offer Fanime discounts and had rooms open when I checked earlier today. AirBNB is also an option that I know people have fallen back on in the past.

That is definitely a good idea, one that I thought of but couldn't really find much that fit what I was after. I know I can't be too picky but still.

~~~

At this point, I'll be at the mercy of the waitlist. I have no idea how well it works out for people but guess we'll see in my case.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Ko-tan on January 19, 2017, 10:40:34 AM
First time I've ever been waitlisted in 6 years :(waited until my slot for today a 7 am and the hotels were mostly booked. Looks like I will have to make a twitter or FB account for next year since fanime doesn't have a mailing list like other cons. I'm so disappointed. :'( :'( :'(. I regrestered the day pre Reg opened  at 6pm so I must've been too late. I hope it all works out.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Kuudere on January 19, 2017, 03:27:34 PM
Seems to be a mixed bag of experiences regarding the new-ish system. For me, it was painless. I refreshed the page a few minutes to 7 and saw that it was up, so I went ahead and booked in under three minutes. The only reason it took that long was because the default dates were Saturday-Monday, and I didn't notice where I needed to change them until I was on the pre-confirmation page and saw the mistake. But luckily I caught it before submitting the info. I still much prefer this set-up to the mess that was years before.




Waitlist Information

For those who didn't get the hotel you wanted, the waitlist is a good resource. To get on it, you MUST reserve a room through Fanime's website (doesn't matter where, just somewhere), and call (800) 924-4232 (Mon-Fri 6 AM - 6 PM PST). Ask to be placed on the waitlist for whichever hotel you want. They will want your current hotel registration info, which is why you need to reserve a room before doing all this. IF someone drops a room from the hotel you want, you'll be on the list of who they give that open room to. These rooms are supposed to go to the waitlist before being open to general public (there was a mix-up last year regarding that), so it's important to be on the list rather than just wait for dropped rooms to be open to everyone.

The waitlist has been a success for me every time I've needed it, though it's not guaranteed. Dropped rooms do happen, even in popular hotels. My group will likely drop one Marriott room if some of our 'maybes' turn into 'no's' for how many people are going with us, and that room would go straight to the waitlist. But once it gets to the final days for people to drop hotel rooms without a penalty (April 28th), you're going to essentially need to "play chicken" with the system - as in, you're going to have to hold on to your room in the hopes that someone ditches theirs last second and you may be stuck in the room you booked, or you're going to drop the room you booked because you don't want to take the chances of being stuck there or needing to pay a fee to drop it. Hopefully you get a room before this situation plays out, but it does inevitably play out for some people each year.

Hopefully this information is helpful to those of you who are refreshing the hotels page and waiting for your time to reserve so you know that all hope is not lost. There's still a chance to get the hotel you want if you put the work into it.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Red_Eye on January 21, 2017, 12:00:23 AM
Quote
Fairmont? That was my preferred hotel. It's crazy just how quickly they all went away.

Exactly that.  Good guess.  Shows you how just looking away for ONE day will change everything.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: attiebby on January 21, 2017, 10:12:36 AM
It was a good experience for me. I got there yesterday at 7am and tried to book the westin, it got filled as I was booking it but when I looked at the hotels again, the fairmont was open! Snagged that ASAP. I had no crashing or lag problems.

If you still want to go you do have a few more options. Theres the Sheraton downtown which was not listed for some reason? Its very close but costs something like $360/night. You can also get a hotel in a nearby city and use lightrail. Great Mall has a Marriott Inn and a lightrail/bus station right next to it.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Admiral Donuts on January 21, 2017, 10:54:46 AM
Quote from: attiebby on January 21, 2017, 10:12:36 AM
Theres the Sheraton downtown which was not listed for some reason?

Not every hotel in the area is willing to be part of the Fanime housing.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Ko-tan on January 21, 2017, 03:29:15 PM
Quote from: attiebby on January 21, 2017, 10:12:36 AM
It was a good experience for me. I got there yesterday at 7am and tried to book the westin, it got filled as I was booking it but when I looked at the hotels again, the fairmont was open! Snagged that ASAP. I had no crashing or lag problems.

If you still want to go you do have a few more options. Theres the Sheraton downtown which was not listed for some reason? Its very close but costs something like $360/night. You can also get a hotel in a nearby city and use lightrail. Great Mall has a Marriott Inn and a lightrail/bus station right next to it.

Was your reservation for the whole weekend? I was wait listed for the Fairmont when I logged in at 7am on Thursday so I was curious (I wanted saturday-monday).
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: attiebby on January 21, 2017, 05:48:32 PM
I booked Friday to Sunday and was on around 7:30
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Ko-tan on January 21, 2017, 10:19:08 PM
Quote from: attiebby on January 21, 2017, 05:48:32 PM
I booked Friday to Sunday and was on around 7:30
Thank You!Thursday 7am must be a really busy for hotel booking, probably a lot of us pre regged at the same time. It also looks like hotels were released in batches and the waitlist will open up after those batches are released this week and people start canceling reservations (April 28th deadline).
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Amanojaku on January 23, 2017, 05:17:49 PM
Another year of smooth sailing.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: thepharaohinleather on January 24, 2017, 10:50:29 AM
Another year of pain and suffering for me at least. I had the first slot at 7am so I was up and ready way before. Out of curiosity, I began checking the site only a minute before 7 and already the entire hilton was booked out and some of the Marriott as well. I find this extremely irritating that even before the supposedly first choice people are allowed to make their bookings that the website allowed people to make reservations ahead of everyone else. If this is what they let happen, then honestly what is the point of even having booking windows? Despite always having a great time /during/ the convention, the entire process leading up to day 0 has my frustration levels at maximum.

Not only was this allowed, but of course the website couldn't handle nearly all the people trying to book rooms during their GIVEN time and constantly crashed for about 45 minutes for me. During this time, I was making reservations for a room at the marriott without hassle actually until after I had already put in my credit card information. That's when it crashed the first time for me. In my frustration and impatience, I closed the tab and opened a new one. How I wish i hadn't done that. I realized in time that had I just kept refreshing it, I would have gotten back to where I left off and gotten my two double bed room at the marriott. But alas, I lost that the moment I closed the tab. By the next time the page loaded for me, Marriott and several other hotels wouldn't even show up (instead of just saying unavailable) to which I attribute people like me closing the page before finishing a reservation. Thus I made the rest of my efforts toward a room at the Hyatt, which in the end was successful but only after 45 minutes of the site crashing and much frustration on my part. I shouldn't really expect anything different even after 7 years of attending Fanime at least until there is some actual organization at the core level (ie an actual company keeping some consistency for more than one year in more than one or two areas of the planning), but whatever part of me hoped this year might be different and hotel booking might not make me want to pull my own hair out was completely shriveled up. I'm pleased to have gotten my slot from when I registered and having the opportunity to get a hotel so close compared to many others, don't get me wrong. But if even I didn't have a chance to get the Hilton when I was supposed to be in the first slot, then I can only imagine the frustration of anyone in a later booking window.

Overall, I don't think Fanime housing is working on what needs to be changed. Yes, this is a new and different system with pros and cons of course, and I'm happy to see the effort being put in to improve it. But if the website can't even handle these new changes, then what has really improved? Fanime attendance is only growing. Thus the number of people trying to book a hotel at the same time is growing, and the website should be able to handle that many people without crashing AS MUCH (I know I can only ask so much). I'm waiting for the day getting a hotel actually seems as fair as it is advertised to be, and some part of me is still hopeful for that day.

In the end, I booked a room with two double beds at the Hyatt from Thursday to Tuesday (I cosplay and have a friend who does artist alley, so we always have so much stuff. Checking in a day early and out a day late honestly saves so much hair pulling and strokes) with my window at 7am.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Nina Star 9 on January 24, 2017, 02:39:26 PM
Thepharaohinleather's post makes me wonder something I've been wondering for a bit...are the hotel rooms released in blocks?

I had the second reservation window (10AM on the first day), and there was plenty of Hilton and Marriott availability when I logged into the system at about 9:50 (kept the window open until 10 before attempting to book, so I can't speak to whether I would have been allowed in early or not). I believe there was one Hilton room type sold out at that time (king bed with rollaway, I want to say), and I had no issues getting a double bedded room there at about 10:01 once my reservation went through. (My sister was on at the same time and had the same experience with getting a double bedded Hilton room right away -- we did it with two of us just in case, and then cancelled the second room right away.) As far as I remember, the Marriott had full availability, but since I wasn't looking specifically at the Marriott, I may be misremembering, but it had close to full availability if not.

It seems odd to me that the Hilton and Marriott were both showing as totally sold out during the 7AM window, but then fully or mostly available just before the start of the 10AM window. Are people doing what my sister and I did and snapping up rooms as quickly as possible to up the chances of getting at least one and then immediately cancelling the extra unneeded rooms, and would enough people be doing that to make two hotels totally sold out and then pop up with more availability a few hours later? Or are the rooms being released in blocks, so that the first reservation window doesn't book every single room? It would be nice if there were transparency on how the system was set up if it's the latter.

It may also explain why the Hilton wasn't showing as available even at the start of the 7AM booking window -- the block that those rooms were part of may not have opened yet in the system. So far I haven't heard anyone bragging about getting their room before the 7AM slot opened, but I also haven't been combing FB. Considering that I was able to get a Hilton room no problem, I seriously doubt that they were actually sold out, but rather that there was another issue with the availability not pushing through the system in time somehow. Pretty major issue either way.

The server crashes were inexcusable. No issues from the 10AM block as far as I experienced or heard, but a lot of people are saying that the 7AM block was pretty bad. After so many years of this issue cropping up, you'd think the con would be able to fix it for good, but I guess not.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: TC X0 Lt 0X on January 24, 2017, 03:42:00 PM
I would hope it isnt broken into blocks, that is even more unfair then having to wrestle with everyone at once.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Kyra_Maverick on January 24, 2017, 04:47:05 PM
Quote from: thepharaohinleather on January 24, 2017, 10:50:29 AM
Another year of pain and suffering for me at least. I had the first slot at 7am so I was up and ready way before. Out of curiosity, I began checking the site only a minute before 7 and already the entire hilton was booked out and some of the Marriott as well...

In the end, I booked a room with two double beds at the Hyatt from Thursday to Tuesday (I cosplay and have a friend who does artist alley, so we always have so much stuff. Checking in a day early and out a day late honestly saves so much hair pulling and strokes) with my window at 7am.
I think the reason it looked like Hilton and Marroitt were already selling out are because they didn't offer the days you needed. Everytime I've stayed at Hilton I've always needed to be waitlisted for Thursday, they just never seem to have those rooms loaded into the system on opening day. Add to that a Tuesday checkout, which is an unusual day to check out and not all hotels offer that day as part of their Fanime block.

I thought about staying until Tuesday myself this year, but when I checked for a Tuesday checkout my choices were pretty limited. A Monday checkout and everything was still availiable.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Kuudere on January 24, 2017, 08:06:07 PM
Quote from: Kyra_Maverick on January 24, 2017, 04:47:05 PM

I think the reason it looked like Hilton and Marroitt were already selling out are because they didn't offer the days you needed.

I'm pretty sure this was the reason. Tuesday's not the date people usually pick to check out, and when you change the dates, hotel availability will change too. Fanime probably doesn't have deals with all the hotels to secure a Tuesday checkout, is my guess.

I was in the first 7 AM block and I can say with certainty that every hotel had every type of room open when I booked. I  checked up on the page a few times before the next 10 AM block started, and there were still rooms in even the connected hotels. I don't think they're released in blocks.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Nina Star 9 on January 25, 2017, 12:46:59 PM
Ahhh the Tuesday thing would make sense. I've heard of enough people checking out on Tuesday and have been to enough other cons that extend the con block out a day or two that I didn't even think that the day might have been the issue.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: thepharaohinleather on January 28, 2017, 10:06:29 PM
Ohhhh my goodness, I didn't think of that!! It's very likely that was the case then, as I was trying to get Thursday through Tuesday. Understandable! Thank you for bringing that up, that clears up a lot of questions!
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Admiral Donuts on January 29, 2017, 03:48:26 PM
I'm not sure if that's the case; if you look at the availability tables both Hilton and the Marriott offer Tuesday the 23rd to Wednesday the 31st.
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Purelovely on January 30, 2017, 12:05:25 PM
My girlfriend and I had the first day (January 18th) and first window (7 AM PST) to get a hotel room. Our plan was for her to call and I was going to try online. Whoever got the best reservation kept it and the other one would cancel.

I logged in to get a Marriott room with a king bed. I had everything set up until I realized I didn't have Thursday. I tried to go back and fix it but it kept shutting me out saying something about too many people. I eventually called the number and waited for about 30 minutes. When they got to me an incredibly nice guy said that my room had indeed been reserved. I was so relieved. My girlfriend was able to get the Fairmont. We have a rewards card with Marriott and have been in that hotel every year since 2004 so we decided to cancel the Fairmont.

It was pretty stressful but it all worked out. I had to get a separate Marriott reservation for some extra days because I am staying in San Jose from Thursday May 25 - Thursday June 1 for my yearly vacation.

I hope that someone was able to get off of a waiting list with our cancelled room. Good luck to all in getting a hotel.  :)
Title: Re: Reserving Hotel Rooms 2017... fun times
Post by: Red_Eye on February 02, 2017, 09:24:43 PM
Quote from: Purelovely on January 30, 2017, 12:05:25 PM
I hope that someone was able to get off of a waiting list with our cancelled room. Good luck to all in getting a hotel.  :)

Well, looks like I wasn't able to get it, so not off said waiting list for Fairmont yet..... Too bad!

But will still be hopeful!  Congratz on gettin' your choice place.