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[snowbunnie]

Is it faster by phone? I've heard of people refreshing for hours to get a hotel through the housing website and I've also heard of people getting their reservations faster by calling Fanime Housing using the international line, not the domestic line. Is this true?

[echoshadow]

It's all true.  But it depends how lucky you are, and if your the first 100 callers.

I had one of my friends get a room via the website at 12:02 right before the site crashed. I called the housing number at 12:01 and was getting a busy tone for half an hour and I finally got in only to wait 40 minutes on hold.

So it's really up to luck and how fast you act. If I would have called right at 12:00 on the dot I would be on hold for at lest 45 mins. But I'll have my spot already.

[OtakuAngel87]

Unless you're willing to pay more and reserve your rooms now then wait for the chaos, that's easiest way to guarantee a room. However, as mentioned before, it kind of depends on luck. Since I didn't have internet access while at work my bf was handling the room reservations. He was on 3 different computers and on the phone (since the reservations opened) and he couldn't get on the site and he kept getting a busy tone. After about 4.5 hrs, still no luck, I got off early that day so I also tried and within 45 minutes I got the rooms for us. Sad to say unless they change the system it'll all come down to luck. 

[Admiral Donuts]

Keep in mind they messed up on the online system this year; you needed to have paid for a badge to access the room booking site.

I got through on the phone after about 40 minutes, I think I was using the international line, since I'm calling from out of the country.

Best suggestion is to get he group of people you're going to share a room with and have them all call and use the website all at the same time. Get the direct link ahead of time instead of waiting for them to update the link on the main page.

[luffy77]

I screwed up in for Fanime 2014 and 2015 and didn't realize when rooms went up for for Fanime 2011 and 2012 I was able to easily reserve a room the day housing went up without the site ever crashing.  Was the site crashing during housing registration for Fanime 2014? 

[echoshadow]

Yes. The site has always been flooded evey time since 2011. Before then it was not that bad, but still a hassle although you could still find some rooms with in an hour or two.
Comes to show how much attendee has grown since then.

[luffy77]

Would you say it is as bad as comic cons site when trying to buy tickets?

[SpiritOfKairi]

Would you say it is as bad as comic cons site when trying to buy tickets?

Haven't been to ComicCon personally (don't really make enough to make the trip down from Northern California), but I do remember a year or two ago on the forums someone mentioned that Fanime's system still blew theirs out of the water.  Now 2013 was when things started getting really bad for hotel registration, and this year was definitely the most frustrating.  But from what I hear, ComicCon has the worst badge/hotel registration system, which is a shame, considering how large and prominent that event is.

[echoshadow]

Compared to comic con, no. Comic con sells out, Fanime would never. The only redeeming factor Fanime has on the hotels is the possible wait list option. Even if all the hotels are booked up, there is a chance a lot of people cancel right before the April deadline. 
But like I said it all depends where you at on the list.

[luffy77]

I have never been to comic con either, but I tried getting tickets once and it was crazy.  Right at 8 am the site crashed and it was near impossible to get in and for some people that did get in the site would still keep crashing while trying to pay.  From what I hear it is always like that for comic con.  How long did it take for last years hotels to sell out?  I remember in Jan 2014 I didn't realize housing went up until around 7pm or so and by that time all 4 days in all the hotels except for the 4 points were full.

Get the direct link ahead of time instead of waiting for them to update the link on the main page.

What exactly do you mean by direct link? You mean a link to the housing page?

[Admiral Donuts]

What exactly do you mean by direct link? You mean a link to the housing page?

Exactly. People were waiting for the "RESERVE HOTEL" link to go live but that didn't happen before the site went live, so people who already knew how to get there via the registration page were already trying to get hotels.