Messages

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.

I got another email as well. 2 emails, one for each member of my group. My other group member will be there with me, but I wonder how that will work for group leaders of larger groups?

I still have the first barcode I got from my inital email from Experient and that has both my group members on it. I wonder why the new emails broke up the groups?

1. Swap Meet is open to everyone with a badge, no extra fees to shop. In the past Thursday has been honor system where they don't check badges since people arriving late may not have been able to pick up their badge before registration closed. Friday there will be people checking for badges.

2. Single day badges differ in price depending on the day.
FanimeCon / Clockwork Alchemy 2016 Membership Prices:
Full Weekend: $75
Friday: $45
Saturday: $50
Sunday: $50
Monday: $40
Half-weekend (Sunday and Monday): $65

3. Are we still talking about Swap Meet? Some sellers may have a way of taking cards as payment, but mostly cash will be perfered.

4. I'm afraid I don't have any info about volunteering.

I first emailed Experient on May 16th, I got a response on May 18th and was finally able to have my issue resolved today, May 23rd. That's a long time for an issue I used to be able to handle myself in previous years (I just wanted to update a fan name).

Last minute hiccups are one thing, but I wish this would have been advertised.

I did not request a new barcode, it was just sent to me. I thought everyone got a new one, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I got a reply to my email, but the person I talked with didn't make it sound like there was going to be any way to check on things myself.

I also got a new email with a new barcode for picking up my group's badges.

Cool.  I had thought that I may have found a way in through the old CMR links but sure enough, it's now just a redirect and still no way to login / print / resend the QR code.

https://www4.cmrreg.com/fanime2016/

This is a pretty enormous oversight, Fanime.

Yeah, I found that too and even emailed CMR asking if they still had access to reg accounts. They responded within 5 mins, but I haven't heard back from the new company besides an automated "we recieved your email" response yet. I'll try calling tomorrow, but their call center hours are much shorter than CMR's so it's a lot more inconvienient.

I emailed the new company on the registration page yesterday and hope to hear something soon. I don't recall there ever being this many technical difficulties with reg and hotels this close to con before.

One of the great things about a convention as large as Fanime is the variety you get with it. All kunds of costumes from all sorts of fandoms and in a huge assortment of skill level.

I'm sure plenty of people would love to see Xena, myself included.

It's been a few years since I've sold so rules may have changed a bit by now.

Jewlery - I've sold small things like necklaces and bracelets that could be used for cosplay but was mostly just scene/costume jewlery. As long as it's not overwhelmingly jewlery you're selling it should be fine.

Maps - Another user posted a link to a map in the General Convention board that might help with layout. Basically Reg and Swap Meet are on the same side of the convention center with Reg being in the Marriott on the second floor and Swap being on the ground floor in the large blue/white stripe building just past the Marriott.

Items Check - when I sold, staff just sort of riffled through your selling boxes to make sure everything was on the up and up. Throughout the night they would walk the sales floor making sure you were following the 18+ rules and thats also when they could get a better look at any potential counterfit goods. If you had something they didn't allow they would ask you to set it aside and not sell it.

Does anyone know if the Hotels are gonna do a Fanime discount for parking again? I'm staying at the Marriott and in years past they charge about $20 instead of $34 for valet.

The housing website says valet parking at Marriott will be $15.50.

It would be best to clarify with the hotel since every hotel handles deposits differently.

Sorry it didn't work out this year. It's great to see such passion behind your campaign for the Art Show and hopefully it can return better than ever next year.

I will ask this at the meeting Saturday. Its got my attention now too.

Thank you, it's very much appreciated.

I don't think staff would be able to help much in this situation anyway since housing is handled through a 3rd party.

If rooms were availiable on the website but not assigned to people on the waitlist that's a huge issue/oversight on CMR's part.

Unrelated but another weird thing with CMR's system - I booked my room under my friend's name who was rooming with me since she had an earlier booking window. The system was orginally set up so you couldn't adjust the name on the reservation through the website. You had to email them with all the information so they could switch it for you. I even tried it just to test it out and it wouldn't let me. On Monday I tried again since my friend wont be available to check in until 9pm and even though the website had the same warning that you couldn't update the name on the reservation it let me do so. They sent me a new confirmation email and everything with the updated information.

Did the company we go through for reg change? I remember it being CMR, but now it's Experient? I wanted to log into my account and double check a fan name for someone in my group but I don't see a way to log in anymore.

Haven't stayed at the Hilton in a few years, but I don't imagine much changed. I always noticed it filled up by Friday afternoon, so if you arrive on Thursday or early Friday you should find something, but if you move your car you might not get your spot back. I don't recall if they have an overflow lot or if you'll have to find public parking around town.

I also suggest you call the Hilton to ask if you'll have to pay double parking since your room will have 2 vehicles.

whats the difference between the two
FanimeCon Membership [$65.00]
Clockwork Alchemy Membership [$65.00]
last year i did in person but dont remember which one i bought.

Whichever convention you want to support, as your registration will count towards that convention's numbers. Either option will get you into both conventions.

the con back east that had serious amounts of damage by attendees also went through CMR (an outside vendor for convention housing) and screwed it up for all anime/fandom conventions.

From what I hear, all the hotel contracts needed to be renegotiated. >Some comments removed< If you notice, there are huge changes that were made by cmr for housing this year, including a deposit (per day) which could almost double the amount you think you are paying.  This is not something the con did, this is what the convention community did to themselves.

This makes sense to a point, but Katsucon was held in February and our badge/hotel update was announced in January. Unless we're talking about a different con? That's the one I know of that had damage photos circulated.

For all the staff who have responded, thank you. You dedicate a lot your your time already organizing this event, so the extra time needed to read through these comments and respond is really appreciated. To me, it's obvious that all of us love Fanimecon and only want to see it improve. Unfortunately while airing our grievances it can feel like all the issues outweigh the positives, but there is a reason so many of us come back year after year, and for me at least it's not just because of location. Fanime has shown itself to be receptive to feedback, and while it may take a few years to implement a system that really works it's uplifting to see those changes happen.

Thought I'd share this update I saw on facebook today. Registration is moving this year to the San Jose Ballrooms in the Marriott.

https://www.facebook.com/FanimeCon/posts/773348496030711

I imagine this will free up that room for other uses. It was basically empty every time I walked by, kinda a waste of space since reg became so streamlined.