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So, I went to Trivago (hotel booking site) and I set the dates for May 27th-May 31st set the address to the Convention center, and set the distance to under 2 miles away..  and I did get some results, and the prices are about equal to the Fanime housing prices.  So people may have some luck with that.  Of course being further from the convention center is a pain.  But public transport and such may make it a bit more manageable.

Also hopefully the roommate thread will start seeing more activity soon.

I did the same as soon as the Fairmont and Westin booked up on the 25th. I have a room at the Holiday Inn and wait list request for three closer hotels, but I also booked a hotel on 2nd street outside of the fanime site just to be safe.

Personally I think this was the worst booking year so far. Such a major lack of communication and information.

After 30 minutes of website crashes and being on hold over the phone I got a room at the Holiday Inn and emailed to be put on the waiting list for Marriott and Hilton. I ended up checking on hotels.com and got a room at another hotel on 2nd street outside of the fanime hotel block for 145/night double beds. I hope my wait list pulls through, but I'm glad I checked for a backup hotel that's way closer to the con. Not happy with how this years housing situation went down, but at least I have a plan. Just more complicated then I'm used to it being...I haven't heard many good reviews of this years housing.

My kingdom for AT LEAST a hotel price breakdown by property/occupancy.

YES YES YES. And hopefully a real breakdown unlike last year that just had the cheapest price and highest price for each hotel. I prefer to know the difference between one bed/two bed for each hotel.

I'm actually quite happy with this new system. I'm sure there will be issues since it's the first year it's being tested, but I'll hold my opinion until it launches. If this system does work out I'll definitely register at con this year for next years show so I could be higher on the list for hotel opening. My only complaint at the moment is I wish they announced this new system when the registration went up in December. Like others have said though, hotels will always be an issue since there will just never be enough rooms to go around. It's an unavoidable reality.

I have 1-16-16 on my calendar as hotel reg open date, from Facebook.

I haven't seen any formal announcements yet. Plus I think a Saturday would be very unlikely since I think the CMR company is a Mon-Fri gig(I think). I've seen lots of people in the past suggest a weekend release so more people have to the chance to book without school/work obligations, but I think it's been shot down every year since the company isn't open on the weekends.

I believe I've read somewhere else that if you want to upgrade your badge (like from just Saturday to a full weekend badge, which is what I think your asking about?) you go to the special registration booth and just pay the difference in price. I'm not a staff member, but I'm sure I've read that in another thread. Sorry I can't answer your other questions! I've always done pre registration so I don't know how buying at the convention works or which is faster.

Does anyone who's stayed at the Ramada remember how much they paid per night? I've called the hotel twice and got no answer...

Is there a way to edit hotel booking info online for a room that isn't connected to my registration? Or is calling the only way to change things? Asking so I can switch the card on file to a friends who will be getting there a day earlier then me to check in.

Can you still purchase full weekend badges online after May 1st?

I believe you just start a registration account without actually having to purchase a badge.

These are two solutions I could think of that would help make things more convenient for people to book a hotel. 1. Add the numbering system for people who bought a badge to be able to reserve a hotel that fanime originally attended to implement. 2. If somebody who reserves a hotel without a badge are REQUIRED to purchase one and if they don't within a certain number of days, your reservation will be canceled and people who do have a badge can snag the room. This was something I've seen Anime Expo implemented.

And yes, I've heard the complaint's about "This is unfair! I don't have the money to purchase a badge yet!" Well I hate to sound like a jerk but TOO BAD! First of all if your either a new person or a regular fanime attendee then you should have saved up in advance for a badge. It's like this, You don't have the money to purchase a 55$ badge compared to reserving a hotel that will cost you at least close to 100$ a night? That doesn't make any sense! I was the majority that was extremely upset when fanime decided not to implement this system. It could have possibly prevented ANY crashes or overload during the website!

Though from what I hear people couldn't reserve a hotel without buying a badge.

I was all for a system requiring a badge to get a hotel room, but since it happened by accident this year there's now some evidence that it won't make getting a hotel room any easier. There might be ways to alleviate the problems like server load during hotel registration, but I don't think having to register up front is going to make any more rooms available.

Actually, it does make sense that people don't have $55 to spare at sudden notice but do have $100 a night for a room since once you book the hotel you know how much to save for. This is the first time since I started attending that it's gone up so early and some people live paycheck to paycheck with little wiggle room. I do agree that having to purchase a badge in order to book a room might lessen the stress on the servers, but I think(as I've seen other people say) Fanime is just outgrowing downtown San Jose. It gets harder to book a room every year because every year there are more people attending. I'm sure there are ways that can make it an easier process, like requiring a badge to book a room and having a limit of so many rooms per badge number, but I don't think it's completely avoidable anymore.

I just tried registering online to get to the screen you're stuck on... same problem. Doesn't want to let you pay for JUST a hotel it looks like.

Seems like a problem a lot of people had. I guess others who didn't have any membership information added didn't have to worry, but I'd already added my groups info since every where I looked said I didn't need to buy a badge before registering the hotel. I wish I'd known that any memberships on the account at the time of booking would be charged to the credit card...yeah, that would've been really handy to know ahead of time.

I don't think you can get to the hotel reservation page without entering membership information. so far the only people I know who registered online successfully had already pre-registered.

That's disappointing. I really hope this doesn't happen again next year. I'm lucky my group can pay me back for their badges this weekend, but if I'd known about this problem I would've only added myself so I'd be out less money.

^^^ Yes! That's the very problem I was having. Since I didn't have a badge attached, I didn't know what I'd be paying for in regards to reserving a hotel room. My gf was able to bypass this by calling CMR directly, but even then a heads up would've been wonderful.

A lot changed compared to last year. Hopefully next time they go back to how it was, or at least give clearer information about booking and memberships. Judging by other threads and facebook a lot of people where confused and missed out on rooms.

Quick question! The last part of the hotel registration is stating that "Your credit card will be charged immediately upon clicking 'Accept Conditions and Submit Payment'". Does this mean your card gets charged full amount? I can't seem to reserve a hotel any other way, and I'm hesitant to click on this if I'm going to be charged the full amount right away. This is the first I've seen this, so may I please have verification?

While I'm a little disappointed that I haven't received a response to this and thus lost my reservation, my girlfriend was able to get through calling CMR and winded up with a confirmed reservation for our group without getting this supposed 'payment submission'. I understood that we didn't need a paid membership with our hotel reservation, thus my confusion on the matter.

Whichever. Good luck to everyone else!

I just tried registering online to get to the screen you're stuck on... same problem. Doesn't want to let you pay for JUST a hotel it looks like.

Seems like a problem a lot of people had. I guess others who didn't have any membership information added didn't have to worry, but I'd already added my groups info since every where I looked said I didn't need to buy a badge before registering the hotel. I wish I'd known that any memberships on the account at the time of booking would be charged to the credit card...yeah, that would've been really handy to know ahead of time.

Is it possible to add to a group registration after you've paid for it? If not that's fine, just asking for a friend who unfortunately wants to add on after I already paid.

Hi,

Yes, that is correct. Please note that even if it says "FanimeCon Membership," it will still be under your name (or the first person who registered's).

Thank you for the reply. In my email confirmation it states my name as one of the badges so I'm less confused now.

After having added badge registration info, it still requires me to buy the badge before I could reserve a room, and I couldn't remove the badge information after signing up only to get the room.

However, due to Fanime's policies regarding refunds, I can't buy a badge before I can confirm I got a hotel room first.

I really hope pre-registration is not required, ever, for reserving rooms. Your policies make it very risky since it doesn't guarantee a room. And I can't go to Fanime if I don't have a room.

I had the same issue. I ended up just buying my groups badges because luckily they can pay me back this weekend, but I wish I'd known this ahead of time so I wouldn't have added any registration info at all.

Quick question! The last part of the hotel registration is stating that "Your credit card will be charged immediately upon clicking 'Accept Conditions and Submit Payment'". Does this mean your card gets charged full amount? I can't seem to reserve a hotel any other way, and I'm hesitant to click on this if I'm going to be charged the full amount right away. This is the first I've seen this, so may I please have verification?

I did this and it charged me for groups badges to hold the room.

I got thru on the site and booked the hotel, but...it seems like I HAD to charge for my badges to get the booking locked? I don't know if I misread something, or missed something completely, but now my bank account is overdrawn.

sorry to hear that. Yeah I ACTUALLY did the full part of this registration and I WAS VERY certain I have the marriott with me on my account, but when it gets checked out..
a huge hashtag apeared reading

## HOTEL ##
and not the actual registration "OF the hotel" and so far ended paying the badge instead..

THIS year was really difficult... I find it to believe the PHONE LINES are MUCH easier to get into. So as of now I have a hotel for my sister and myself at the hyatt.. only downside is that SHE has the thursday while mines is on friday!...

Fanime hotel registration Is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT that I am beginning to worried how Anime expo hotel registration is the same difficulty as Fanime! (with all the shut downs and what nots!)

as of now.. getting a hotel registration should be easier to apply for but sadly only one hotel remains since fairmont, hilton and Marriott are sold out!

I don't understand why it's so different from last year. Luckily my boyfriend and I have some cash in saving(for a different con) that we can put in the bank to cover this, I just find it insane. It was so much easier last year when housing and badges were separate.

I got thru on the site and booked the hotel, but...it seems like I HAD to charge for my badges to get the booking locked? I don't know if I misread something, or missed something completely, but now my bank account is overdrawn.