Marriot or Hilton: Which to choose?

Started by CosplayDevotee, August 14, 2010, 01:56:49 AM

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CosplayDevotee

I have been going to Fanime on and off since 2006 and have stayed in the Marriott, Hilton and Larkspur (Sainte Claire). So far I prefer being attached to the convention center (even though the Larkspur has adorable paintings on the bathroom ceilings...srsly they are cute haha :D) and I am having a difficult time figuring out which hotel to stay at with my 4 friends for 2011. I am aiming for the Marriott and the Hilton. I have been reading some comments in multiple different topics and excluding the elevator issue, I don't see too many problems in the Marriott. My ONE deal breaker is having the ability to get a rollaway. EVERY TIME I make a reservation through the Fanime website it says that both hotels provide them, but when I go to grab a room that can house 5 people with the rollaway, the rollaway availability just magically "disappears." I can't imagine why it does and I have been told (even by the fanime hotline people which was creepy) "just sneak your 5th member in." I'm sorry, I'm an honest person and I don't like the possibility of getting kicked out. So this is my question:
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-Which of the two hotels REALLY has a rollaway no strings attached?

-How do you get it?  (and I'm aware it could just be first come first serve, but honestly, I make reservations within only a few HOURS of them being placed
                              on the Fanime website and still have issues)

-How much do the rooms WITH rollaways generally go for? (I have checked the website before, but nothing conclusive.)






BrightHeart76

My understanding that it is first come first serve.  However, it's not based on when you make the reservation, it's based on when you actually arrive.  Usually a request for a rollaway on a reservation is just that, a request.  The hotel can't be certain that you will arrive and if you do that you will still want that rollaway.  They make money from the rollaway so it's in their interest to rent them out as quickly as their requested so they make as much money as possible.  I would suggest contacting the hotel you choose a few days in advance of your arrival to talk to them about the fact that you want a rollaway.  They might be able to put your name on one then.   
Sometimes I'm glad I became a teacher.  Other times I wish I had simply become a ninja.

CosplayDevotee

Quote from: BrightHeart76 on August 14, 2010, 08:16:51 AM
My understanding that it is first come first serve.  However, it's not based on when you make the reservation, it's based on when you actually arrive.  Usually a request for a rollaway on a reservation is just that, a request.  The hotel can't be certain that you will arrive and if you do that you will still want that rollaway.  They make money from the rollaway so it's in their interest to rent them out as quickly as their requested so they make as much money as possible.  I would suggest contacting the hotel you choose a few days in advance of your arrival to talk to them about the fact that you want a rollaway.  They might be able to put your name on one then.   
Thank you for the information. Still concerned, as I did want a rollaway one year checked in at 3:00pm at the Marriott which was the earliest we could check in and they told me it wasn't an option. I'm not saying I don't believe you as it could have just been bad customer service that year. I will do what you advise and call ahead of time to double check. If both the Marriott and Hilton provide them, then I will call ahead. Thanks again!

Stythys

"We should not be less than what we are."

Kyra_Maverick

I can't find anything on Hilton's website about roll away beds, but Marriott's clearly states: "Roll-Away Beds for single occupancy, requested through the front desk can be rented for $22.00 per night." http://www.sanjosemarriott.com/accommodations.php

Also, if you call your hotel in advance, they will often let you check in early.

CosplayDevotee

ACK! I just wish the hotels were up now lol! That way I wouldn't have to worry about budgeting too much while waiting. Thanks for all the advice so far!

Jerry

#6
when the reservations link becomes available its best to communicate with them and/or coordination with the said hotel you reserved with-

usually charges can range from $20 to$40 for a rollaway bed, assuming that the hotel has any available [limited quantities of course] ---another budget idea would be to purchase your own air mattress from say Target / Walmart and for about the same price [$20~$40] you can have a compact/ convenient way to have another sleeping "bed" made. that plus these air matresses could be deflated to store and take back on your trip.

now as for check in times, most hotels have a check-in time about 3pm - however special arrangements can be made with hotel staff, for early arrival [ of course again situations and results may vary ]

of course some Con-goers [usually out of state/international] guests sometimes book their hotel wed or thursday before the Con even starts but of course that takes up more money, but may/may not help out with the chaos of everyone checking in on Friday/ or everyone checking out on monday afternoon.

now if you search "mariott vs. hilton" threads the consensus is usually you personal preference. the majority of pros for Hilton are usually: cheaper price, possible mini firdges, and locking bathrooms- the majority of the Con with Mariott is the elevator situation, but closer to staff sits like Rovers [ for cosplayers who check in props]

so we'll keep everyone posted on the hotel sitation...

for example last year our awesome hotel team was about to put up reservations up as early as mid january for Fanime 2010.

not to make any promises though - i would like to hope the hotel team will try to have fanime 2011 hotel reserves available by that same time frame.

HYPE for fanime 2010 :D

EDIT - more hype for Fanime 2011! :P
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jerry.pang


Games, Friends & Fanime oh my! :D

Kyra_Maverick

Quote from: Jerry on August 15, 2010, 04:46:36 PM
HYPE for fanime 2010 :D
I think we've done all we can for 2010, time to hype 2011!

Lizchan33

Ditto what everyone else said. But the major thing I notice is there is never supposed to be more than 4 people in the room. I.E. double occupancy = 2 people per bed.
In single occupancy rooms it would be 2 people total, rollaway on request as if they didn't want to sleep together.
That's my two sense on the subject.

Rin_chan

not sure if anyone else had this problem at the Marriott, but I had 4 people in my room and there was no fan/vent in the bathroom and the windows didn't open up(maybe just cause we were on the top floor? not sure about lower level rooms)

needless to say after two people took hot showers the room was muggy, steamy, and unbearable to be in.

lummy

^ I've had lower level rooms level 10-15-ish, and we had vents and our windows opened... like a crack, but enough to stick your hand out.
nothing elaborate, pretty anti-social
Been doing Fanime since 2002
has a Tonberry Cosplay... from 06. :D

kittymaxwell2004

Okay, so I've stayed at the Fairmont for the past 3 years now, and just last year the hotel charged us an extra $100 something a night for some odd reason. So all together I had to have the amount for my room every night about $500 something and then on top of all that an extra $500 something for the security thing every night. Thats a ton of money for me to keep in my account and not touch. When I asked them why, the man at the desk at the Fairmont said it was because all Fanime attendees reservations were through a third party. He also said a lot of guests for Fanime at the Fairmont were having a hard time finding out how much extra it was going to cost them. Sooooo I kind of don't want to have to deal with that again. Anyone who stayed at any of the other hotels last year, have to pay the extra cost that I'm talking about?? I'm wondering if the Fairmont is the only one who did that or maybe all hotels did that. Btw, I'm not talking about a regular security deposit, last year was the first time they did this. Thanks for anyone with info! :D

Nina Star 9

They only did the security deposit if you reserved the room with a debit card instead of a credit card. If someone if your group has a credit card, use that next time instead and you will avoid that. (Believe me, I'm wishing that I did that instead of using my + my sister's debit cards to reserve it last year! They didn't remove the hold until much later than they said they would so we had trouble paying because our accounts were mostly frozen. It doesn't make sense to hold the money for the room in our accounts if they don't release the hold so we can't pay for the room... It took them about a week after we checked out to finally release all the holds they had.)

My sister and I had problems with the Fairmont in regards to payment, as did friends of ours. They seemed to like putting on unspecified or inaccurate charges for extra last year (not to mention all the craziness with them taking multiple incorrect versions of the payments out of my account, realizing their mistake, and then putting it back... in my sister's account). They really did not seem to be on their game with money last year, since our friends (in another room) had very similar issues. Were you able to get the extra $100 charge taken off or at least find out what it was for?

Needless to say, I am not staying at the Fairmont again.

As for the other hotels, it is really up to you. I have stayed more in the Mariott, but this year I am going to try for the Hilton because the elevator situation tends to be a bit better. The Fairmont was the first time I stayed in a hotel other than one of the two directly connected to the CC, so I have no opinion on those.

kittymaxwell2004

Quote from: Nina Star 9 on January 11, 2011, 09:08:35 AM
They only did the security deposit if you reserved the room with a debit card instead of a credit card. If someone if your group has a credit card, use that next time instead and you will avoid that. (Believe me, I'm wishing that I did that instead of using my + my sister's debit cards to reserve it last year! They didn't remove the hold until much later than they said they would so we had trouble paying because our accounts were mostly frozen. It doesn't make sense to hold the money for the room in our accounts if they don't release the hold so we can't pay for the room... It took them about a week after we checked out to finally release all the holds they had.)

My sister and I had problems with the Fairmont in regards to payment, as did friends of ours. They seemed to like putting on unspecified or inaccurate charges for extra last year (not to mention all the craziness with them taking multiple incorrect versions of the payments out of my account, realizing their mistake, and then putting it back... in my sister's account). They really did not seem to be on their game with money last year, since our friends (in another room) had very similar issues. Were you able to get the extra $100 charge taken off or at least find out what it was for?

Needless to say, I am not staying at the Fairmont again.

As for the other hotels, it is really up to you. I have stayed more in the Mariott, but this year I am going to try for the Hilton because the elevator situation tends to be a bit better. The Fairmont was the first time I stayed in a hotel other than one of the two directly connected to the CC, so I have no opinion on those.

Hmm, yeah I used my Debit/ Credit card which work as a credit card, which is what they ran the room as. I was able to get the money back, but no one told me in advance so I did a little research and took some extra money just incase. But yeah, I'm thinking of going with the Hilton as well! :D

lummy

I guess maybe I had no problems because I used a credit card, but when I stayed at the Fairmont it was the price the third party people told me in the e-mail confirmation. I guess its a little different with everyone. Something even came up and I had to leave early and they didn't charge me for the last night, I guess it depends on how nice the person at the desk is and how well they do their job.

As for this year, I've been bouncing back and forth from Hilton and Marriot, I'm likely going to stay at the Hilton though, since they have mini fridges.
nothing elaborate, pretty anti-social
Been doing Fanime since 2002
has a Tonberry Cosplay... from 06. :D

Junon

I personally liked the Crowne Plaza Hotel for the comfort alone, plus the elevator situation isn't so bad during the con (only a bit of an issue the day it starts and the day it ends). Plus they have had some good rates with parking and always had self-parking available. It was across the street so it wasn't so bad.

But I have been stayed at the Hilton and Marriott before.

Last year I ended up at the Marriott, and got a room for my friends at the Hilton because they wanted to be connected to the convention this year.

Marriott

When I took the Marriott room, I realized what a huge mistake that was.

1. Elevator usage was a huge issue, it took from 10 to 15 minutes to get to the room (including waiting for the elevator, exchange of people, and getting IN the elevator after waiting my turn -- as well as stopping on each floor). I hated it.

2. They have no dedicated parking garage you can enter/exit at will, it's all valet parking. I don't like the idea of someone I don't know commanding the will of my car. I also didn't wanna have to tip someone for doing something I coulda done in a minute or so myself. However, I've been wired up to tip anyone who provides me service, whether or not I asked for it.

This also caused the issue of transportation. Often I'd leave to get food or go to the store for something I need, like Safeway 2 miles down from the con. This year I couldn't do that with Valet, because again, I didn't wanna spend all my cash on tips. Instead I ended up eating at local places, none I was too fond of.

3. The valet people also tend to be pushy about helping to take your possessions into your room (from my experience last year), and I couldn't even get a cart for my stuff when leaving, they said someone will bring it up AND help me take it down. At the end of the con, it took about 45 minutes to get some help. I ended up having to tip the guy who helped, and tip the valet who brought my car out. I shelled out about $40 in tips in total last year.

The only plus I have for the Marriott is that the room was much more comfy than the Hilton one my friends were at. In both lighting and beds. It seems the walls are thicker so I couldn't hear much outside the room as I could at both the Crowne and Hilton.

Hilton

This year I will be gunning for the Hilton. What I like about the Hilton is that the elevator situation is less epic than Marriott's, however it's still not perfect.

Also the Hilton has their own underground parking and they charge a reasonable weekend rate, so now I can drive in and out of the con whenever I'd like without having to wait 45 minutes to get my car from some valet setup.

Other...

In my experience with these three hotels, I found that rooms with double-beds will not get a roll-away bed because of a safety issue. Only rooms with a single bed (King and lower) will get a roll-away, but even then that's IF they are available. So far, I haven't been denied one. And I never got charged for one either.

Before last year, I was able to get a room for the full weekend, and after all fees and taxes, ended up paying a few bucks short of $400, but last year Marriott imposed a $100 deposit and they took out $500 right away. No big deal to me, I got it back 3 days later. I believe all Hotels will be doing this as well.

From what I also know, you can only stuff 4 people per room, but I doubt that stopped anyone (not me for sure). They won't know how many people are staying in your room unless someone comes up there like a maid, building service or other staff. They WILL count the amount of people in the room and report it. Best excuse to use, "My friends from the floor below came up to say hi." and then they shrug it off after a quick lecture.

I'd say go with Crowne Plaza if you can, because I need 3 Hilton rooms this year and I don't wanna have to fight anyone for it. :p

ewu

As a reminder, Fanime by no means endorses room stuffing...Keep in mind that hotel representatives and housing coordinators regularly check the threads to answer questions.
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FanimeCon Chairman
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Nina Star 9

Ah, that's another problem with the Marriott. Getting out of there.

I remember waiting over 2 hours in '09 to get someone to help bring the luggage down, and that was after multiple calls downstairs trying to figure out what was going on. They finally sent someone up, but it took a very long time.

I guess if you have everything packed up and ready to go earlier in the morning, though, it isn't so bad. We waited a bit later in the day, which was a mistake.

CosplayDevotee

 :-\ So it looks like no matter what every hotel seems to have a problem. *sighs* This is difficult. I prefer the Marriot, but I don't like the sound of the payment issues and this year my group WILL be driving a car rather than taking the train so we will need to house a car and I agree with Junon, I understand these people are trying to make a living, but it isn't in my budget at ALL to be forking over no less than $40 a day in tips.  :-[

ewu

cup half full people! perfection will never be attained with ~120 a night. Its about balancing the tradeoffs.

Take these comments and use them to make the best decision as to what the best place to stay is.

As they say, you pay to play.
Eric Wu
FanimeCon Chairman
FanimeCon Forums Moderator

ericATfanimeDOTcom