Cheaper Hotels?

[sakura.summers]

I'm planning on going to Fanime this year, but we're having problems with hotel arrangements. We have a group of 3+ and want one hotel room for just us (we don't want to share with other people) but we can't afford to pay for the Hotels on Fanime's list of hotels. Does anyone know of any cheaper ones that are within walking distance?

[NerdyBirdAsh]

There really aren't any cheaper hotels within walking distance of the con. The cheapest rates you can really get are through the FanimeCon housing. Downtown San Jose is expensive on it's own, plus it's a holiday so that adds to cost. Finally, hotels are well aware of FanimeCon's existence so prices can be raised a bit for that as well.

[SpiritOfKairi]

To piggyback on what ash_chan said, pretty much the whole point of Fanime housing is to give convention attendees the best rates possible for the closest hotels.  They book the most convenient hotels within walking distance and negotiate with them to provide people with cheaper prices.  There are other cheap hotels in the downtown San Jose area, but they pretty much require you to drive to and fro between the room and convention center, and they might not be in the safest neighborhoods.  So, if you don't want to book through Fanime housing (which is pretty much all booked up except the DoubleTree at this point), you're not really left with any options as far as cheap, walking-distance rooms go =(.  If anyone wants to do a search and prove me wrong then go for it, but far as I know, it's either Fanime housing, or something within driving distance.

[otakuya]

It's not the most convenient, but there are cheaper hotels and motels on Market Street and Monterey Road south of the downtown area. You can take the buses that go north towards downtown, just stay on Monterey Road that turns into Market Street.

[cutiebunny]

My advice to you is to rent or drive your own car.  There are some reasonable parking fee lots around the convention center.  I think I paid $5/day last year for a parking lot about 2-3 blocks away from the convention center.

I am not familiar with San Jose, but there are several cities around San Jose that are very safe.  If you're looking for cheaper rates in a safer area, try booking something in the city of Fremont or Union City.  If you have any questions about location, send me a pm and I'll let you know if that particular area is safe or not.  Most of Fremont is pretty safe though, even at night.  I'd estimate that you'd be looking at a 20 mile commute to the convention center, daily...but..considering that it's happening on a holiday weekend, the traffic shouldn't be too bad.  It wasn't for me last year, and I drove the same route.

[LadyNessa]

My advice to you is to rent or drive your own car.  There are some reasonable parking fee lots around the convention center.  I think I paid $5/day last year for a parking lot about 2-3 blocks away from the convention center.

I am not familiar with San Jose, but there are several cities around San Jose that are very safe.  If you're looking for cheaper rates in a safer area, try booking something in the city of Fremont or Union City.  If you have any questions about location, send me a pm and I'll let you know if that particular area is safe or not.  Most of Fremont is pretty safe though, even at night.  I'd estimate that you'd be looking at a 20 mile commute to the convention center, daily...but..considering that it's happening on a holiday weekend, the traffic shouldn't be too bad.  It wasn't for me last year, and I drove the same route.

Well, since I live in Scotts Valley (in Santa Cruz County which is somewhat close in itself) going to Fremont would be kinda pointless. I was just wondering if there were cheap "motel 6" like places that are close to the convention center for convenience.

[SpiritOfKairi]

@ LadyNessa - I don't know of any Motel 6s that are nearby, but there is an America's Best Value Inn about a mile from the convention center.  One word of caution though, from what I've heard from my friends who have stayed there before, you'll want to be careful going back to your room at night as it's close to a bar and people coming out of it late can be rowdy.  However, if you mainly care about getting a cheap room not terribly far from the convention and can drive to and fro, it might be a decent option for you.

[otakuya]

You can also try the motels near the HP Pavilion and down the Alameda; like Motel 6 and Arena Hotel