TOPIC: GenCon 2017 Hotels Reservation Updates

We got:

Sunday, February 12 at 3:51 PM Eastern
Sunday, February 12 at 4:37 PM Eastern
Sunday, February 12 at 6:10 PM Eastern
Sunday, February 12 at 6:14 PM Eastern
Sunday, February 12 at 7:33 PM Eastern

Is that good at all? 3:51 is the best time. Not sure there will be much left? Probably need two room minimum, so relying on at least the 4:37 as well.

From the Gen Con website

"Attendees again should note that with this new process, access to the Housing Portal will be spread out over a longer span of time during the opening of Housing Registration than in past years. For instance, downtown housing still should be available after 2 pm (Eastern)"

Not sure how much longer after 2 pm, but wishing you good luck.

I wish you luck, happily being a volunteer I don't have to have this fight each year

I got 4:26. Kinda frustrating, since I'm suspecting anything after 3:30 or so is a no-go, but it's close enough that I have to stick around and hold out (possibly irrational) hope. If I got something like 9:45 it'd be clear that I'm not getting one and could get on with my life.

I know the likelihood of this is about the same as a super model walking into my home and forcing her self on me right now.

But imagine how awesome it would be for Jeff to get together with a DT hotel, and reserve the whole thing just for TD people, and theme the whole hotel out like TD.

I'd be up to pay a little more for a hotel stay like that.

A legit complaint i see is the having to buy a badge before housing and pay a fee if you end up refunding. I'm in the category if it's no downtown room then i'm not going. I do thank TD for being able to play at smaller cons to make that choice easier for me.

If i traveled on my own wouldn't care about downtown, traveling with a group makes organizing car rides/taxi's/uber too much pain.

Everyone has their own perception of value on hotel location. I'll respect yours if you respect the value i place on what means doable/go-no go. I like the gencon indy fb group but i've functionally have to ignore it until after housing winds down.

Matt wrote: A legit complaint i see is the having to buy a badge before housing and pay a fee if you end up refunding. I'm in the category if it's no downtown room then i'm not going. I do thank TD for being able to play at smaller cons to make that choice easier for me.

If i traveled on my own wouldn't care about downtown, traveling with a group makes organizing car rides/taxi's/uber too much pain.

Everyone has their own perception of value on hotel location. I'll respect yours if you respect the value i place on what means doable/go-no go. I like the gencon indy fb group but i've functionally have to ignore it until after housing winds down.

Matt, I do understand that not having a DT room is a deal breaker for some, but I do wonder how much effort some put forth into finding one.

First of which, over the course of the first month, rooms in the hotel block do find many canceled for various reasons. Checking daily one can come across a room. Happens every year.

The Gencon page also has a section in the forum of people looking to ether trade off a room, so not to pay the $50 fee. or people looking for roomies to split a room's cost.

Beyond that, there are a select few that do keep rooms out of the booking block.

The Alexander
Hyatt
Staybridge Suites Indianapolis Downtown

All three of those currently have rooms out of the hotel block, but their price for those rooms are almost double then the block prices.

Then there are other choices. Like using Airbnb. Currently they have several private condos in the DT area you can rent. They are pricey but all are fully furnished private condos.

Lost the lotto this year. Anyone ends up with a spare DT room or one they want to get rid of lmk.

Allen John wrote: I got 4:26. Kinda frustrating, since I'm suspecting anything after 3:30 or so is a no-go, but it's close enough that I have to stick around and hold out (possibly irrational) hope. If I got something like 9:45 it'd be clear that I'm not getting one and could get on with my life.

The earliest time of my five draws is after 3:30 P.M. That would be strange (and I think it may be someone has a finger in the pie) that a five chance draw got no rooms. On average I think that less than 20% would get a DT room to be way out of the norm. This is the first year they have done this. Is there some stat or additional information that points to the 3:30 line in the sand for DT rooms? Information like how many the were allocating for each minute would be nice.

As a heads up, once you click make reservation you'll be taken to another website which will put you in a Queue. Be ready to click the "Yes" button right after you click Make reservation.

My guess is they are letting through 50 every minuet or something, or maybe folks that aren't clicking right at their specific time.

As of this moment, yes sorry I got a great time, there are still plenty of rooms.
No more Queen/Queens are the Embassy but I suspect those all went to VIG folks.
All the other places are fine.

I do feel for those folks that got a 10pm time, they are going to have to get a room at the airport or something far

Good luck to you all.

valetutto wrote: As a heads up, once you click make reservation you'll be taken to another website which will put you in a Queue. Be ready to click the "Yes" button right after you click Make reservation.

My guess is they are letting through 50 every minuet or something, or maybe folks that aren't clicking right at their specific time.

As of this moment, yes sorry I got a great time, there are still plenty of rooms.
No more Queen/Queens are the Embassy but I suspect those all went to VIG folks.
All the other places are fine.

I do feel for those folks that got a 10pm time, they are going to have to get a room at the airport or something far

Good luck to you all.

Can you still log in and track available rooms?

We have 4 times in our group our earliest is 2:40pm, last 9:50pm. There still seems like a tremendous volume of people between 12-2; which is wild, not much hope unfortunately of getting downtown at 2:40 from the reports I'm hearing it's almost already sold out.

Do you think there is a significant up tick in the number of people buying badges/rooms early? Sort of seems that way.

Is skipping GENCON even an option?