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[GunsmithCat]

I was called today (5/25) Wednesday that my reservation on (05/27) Friday was not available since they are overbooked. The three months ago I had made the reservation was apparently not enough time for them to realize that there were not enough rooms? Hotels fault? Keep reading....

The manager said I was being put in a hotel 4 miles away near the airport and I could take a shuttle back and forth to the convention. How nice... a 25 minute shuttle ride is always more convenient than being within walking distance of the con. I would get emailed the new hotel information and it would be the same rate. Thank you Fairmont for putting me up somewhere that would have cost me the same without reserving three months in advance.

Six hours pass and no email. So I call again...

Second manager I talked to informed me that it was not the hotel's fault that the con had only given the list of guests to input a week ago. What is the point in getting a 5:30am advance hotel registration time three months ago when the con staff waits till a week before the con to give the hotel the list of people that registered. Then get screwed out a room and pay the same rate and be inconvenienced.

I count the hotel and con both at fault. If it is not hotel reservations it is the registration process.

[Firefury Amahira]

Yeow! So glad my group just doesn't even bother with the at-con hotels. That seriously sucks, doesn't bode well for the new hotel reservation system. Perhaps Fanime needs to seriously drop CMR and look for somebody else to run the housing system. I wonder if the overbooking ties in to people reporting rooms available outside of the waitlist that folks were reporting? If the hotels didn't get the lists until super late, then it's entirely possible that signals got crossed and the hotel simply assumed those rooms were open again and went to fill them up.

[ComptonsLeastWanted]

Oh no! May I ask on what date you registered and what hotel? And did you receive just a call about this, or did you receive an email as well?

It's one (annoying) thing to inform you that you'll now be in a far-off hotel, but I would be pretty steamed if I was told I'd be charged the same rate as the close hotel (assuming they aren't the same price anyway).

[GunsmithCat]

I registered on Wednesday, February 24, 2016, at around 6:30 AM Pacific Time (PST) cause the site kept giving me errors and saying my confirmation number was already used. It was for the Fairmont.

I only received a call from the hotel while I was in a meeting so he left a voicemail. Then I spent the next hour calling him back numerous times. The person I did talk to had to tell the manager to check his voicemail.

Just got a message from Fanime support. Basically told....

FanimeCon contracts a third party company to handle our hotel booking and reservations and we would be unable to help you. CMR passes the reservations to the hotel several weeks before con.

So before con registration was crap. This year it is hotel registration. Next year it will be? Funny how long Fanime has been around yet still manages to make more mistakes than newer cons.

So hotel says not their fault and con says not their fault. CMR will probably say not their fault.

[Firefury Amahira]

Based on the admittedly limited information available, it really does sound like CMR is the one primarily at fault- Fanime paid them to do a job, and if the hotels only got the info from CMR last week, then they have clearly failed at that job, nevermind all the server problems and crap that have plagued hotel reservations in previous years. Fanime seriously needs to look into finding a different third-party organization to handle this.

[Kyra_Maverick]

That's horrible and I'm so sorry that's happened to you. From what I understand it's fairly common for hotels to overbook a few rooms because a certian number of people always drop out, but that doesn't make it any easier when it happens to you. I wonder if Fairmont would be able to put you on a reserved list incase they have last minute cancelations? Or if you can offer to pay more to have them put you in a suite? That's really unfortunate and I've never heard of it happening to the con before.

[GunsmithCat]

The on duty manager said they were having to call many people to inform them they had no room. I offered to pay more for any room even a suite and the on duty manager said no rooms were available.

What I have been reading from other people on the forum is that CMR is telling them that they sent to the hotel the list of people a couple weeks ago. 

I will update again after I call CMR when they open at 6am.

[GunsmithCat]

Ok, just got off the phone with CMR. The most pleasant communication with anyone I have had so far. Not being sarcastic, I am serious.

The person I talked to took the situation quite seriously and said that CMR had blocked off rooms for all the Fanime congoers that reserved rooms and should not be saying that they had no room for me.

I also informed her that the Fairmont also said they contacted multiple people. So I told her to expect more calls. She said the director would be in around 9am and would have the director contact the Fairmont on my behalf.

When I told her that they said they could move me to a hotel 4 miles away and take a 25 minute shuttle to the con. FINALLY.... Someone to agree it is totally unacceptable to go from being at the venue to taking a 25 minute shuttle.

So we shall see around 9am how this is going to play out.

[InsaneDavid]

Ok, just got off the phone with CMR. The most pleasant communication with anyone I have had so far. Not being sarcastic, I am serious.

The person I talked to took the situation quite seriously and said that CMR had blocked off rooms for all the Fanime congoers that reserved rooms and should not be saying that they had no room for me.

I also informed her that the Fairmont also said they contacted multiple people. So I told her to expect more calls. She said the director would be in around 9am and would have the director contact the Fairmont on my behalf.

When I told her that they said they could move me to a hotel 4 miles away and take a 25 minute shuttle to the con. FINALLY.... Someone to agree it is totally unacceptable to go from being at the venue to taking a 25 minute shuttle.

So we shall see around 9am how this is going to play out.

That is one of the big things about CMR compared to about anyone else involved when there are problems like this - you can actually reach them on the phone, they answer, and actually attempt to resolve your issues.

[Kyra_Maverick]

It's reassuring knowing that CMR is taking it so seriously. I really hope they're able to come up with a solution for you!

[Firefury Amahira]

Fingers crossed that they can get it sorted!

[GunsmithCat]

Just got off the phone with CMR. Specifically Deborah (She is a wonderful person).

It is 100% Fairmont's fault. Apparently there are 30 reservations that they are saying they have no rooms for.

Fairmont:
- I would be put up in a new room and pay the same rate that I had reserved <------ LIE
CMR:
- Fairmont admitted fault and they are supposed to cover all night's costs for my reservation and the new hotel and when they called were supposed to inform me of this and the new hotel location. (Fairmont did neither when they called me)

So once I get the info, I will update again.

[Dreamlord]

My hotel double booked my room. I'm on the street Friday during Con. I need some help. I can only pay a total of $40 for floor space. 

[Kyra_Maverick]

I'm glad you'rw getting help sorting this out.

The way I imagine it works is the hotel tells CMR how many rooms it has available and then CMR books them out. But if the hotel gave the wrong info to start with there's no way for CMR to know that. I'm glad they're sorting it out for you.

[GunsmithCat]

CMR got everything worked out.

Fairmont called me again. I am thinking it was the boss of the on duty managers. She said the shuttle should take 10 minutes and will be going to and from the con in 15 minute intervals.

The hotel they have arranged for me to stay is the Fairfield Inn. Less convenient for me than I originally planned. At least it is free.

If you are staying at the Fairmont and booked through CMR, they are supposed to accommodate you with an alternate place to stay.

[ValkyrieAce]

So I'm not the only one! Thanks for creating this thread and for the regular updates. Yes I'm one of the 30 people screwed over by this and I was somewhat relieved to find this forum today. That's too bad you had to make so many calls to find out about the comped room... the representative who called me from Fairmont yesterday told me right away that our room at the Fairfield Inn would be fully paid for. A free (though c'mon, way less luxurious) room is something, but of course it doesn't make up for the fact that we now need to get on a shuttle if we forget something in the room, want to drop some things off, etc. I'm MORE than happy to pay for the convenience.

16 years attending and this is the first time I haven't been within walking distance. ...First world problems right?

[Gtamute]

I was one of the 30 contacted about the reservation.

For those of you complaining about the transfer to the hotel 4 miles down the road... Really?

The fairmont is PAYING for your room! Saved me 300+ dollars. If someone paid me 300 bucks to drive to the con, I sure as hell wouldn't complain.

[ValkyrieAce]

Right...

Yes, they're paying for your room. They are completely at fault, this is what's supposed to happen. They're not doing you a favor.

And okay, maybe there are those of you penny-pinching just to make it to the convention. And that's fine. This is probably great news for you. But for the rest of us, we want what we signed up for. What we spent hours trying (and supposedly succeeding) to get on that absolute wreck of a website the second reservations went live. Who are you to judge?

By the way, drive to the con? Because the parking there is so plentiful right?

[GunsmithCat]

I was one of the 30 contacted about the reservation.

For those of you complaining about the transfer to the hotel 4 miles down the road... Really?

The fairmont is PAYING for your room! Saved me 300+ dollars. If someone paid me 300 bucks to drive to the con, I sure as hell wouldn't complain.

I guess you did not read the entire post. When the Fairmont contacted me first they said I had to pay the same price for the hotel they were moving me to. I had to contact the Fairmont twice. Both times no mention of what hotel that was and no mention that they were taking care of the hotel cost. The only reason I had to contract them twice is cause they said they would email me details soon. Later in the evening I still had not heard back from them so I called again.

So I paid for a room at the con as did 30 other people. The Fairmont tried to tell me i would pay for the new room somewhere else without even letting me know where that is.

The director of CMR had to contact then to let them know they were violating their agreement with the con. CMR reserved the full amount of reserved rooms needed. The Fairmont is the one that did not save 30 rooms that were already blocked off for con goers.

Also, there are people that aren't so lucky to have CMR represent them. They are just without a room for the con cause the Fairmont screwed up. So the Fairmont is doing no one a service, they had an agreement with CMR that they have to honor.

CMR let me know that the Fairmont was in the wrong and the Fairmont eventually admitted fault. Until CMR contacted them, the Fairmont kept saying it was the con's fault.