Well, I jumped into the fray of the Comic-Con International hotel reservation system and made it across to the other side, getting through by phone after 1 hour and 20 minutes. I never did make it past the “waiting room” page online.
The weird thing about the phone reservation system is that I don’t actually know which hotel I’ve gotten yet. They took my name, contact info and top 3+ choices (I gave them 5), then handed the info to their processing center. They’ll call back (later, I assume, after the rush is over) to let me know which hotel I got. I do have a backup that I reserved directly, but the convention discount is significant, especially when you add up four days.
It was interesting watching commentary streaming by on Twitter (search for “comiccon,” “comic-con” or “comicon”) as people started out commenting, then complaining, and eventually celebrating (after about an hour) when they finally got through. Or really letting loose when the system dropped them.
Cross-posted at K-Squared Ramblings
Where/What was your backup hotel?
.-= Brandan’s latest Twitter post: SpeedsterSite: I find it really depressing that most of the people I follow are all booking ComicCon hotels, and I’m reading books. =-.
I don’t like to post the name of the hotel online before or during the con, but I will say it’s in the downtown area and close enough that it would be possible to walk (though nowhere near as close as the Horton Grand, which is where I stayed last year).
That last line is pretty funny (or my imagine of it sure is).
It’s kind of interesting to hear that the con discounts are significant since MegaCON’s hotel discount was anything but… for certain years, anyway. This year, I didn’t check the rates from the con website versus those quoted by going through the hotel, directly.
Even a ten dollar discount x 4, as you say, adds up nicely. Hm. I’ve never gone to a con for that many days. 3, tops, iirc.
.-= West’s latest blog post: NPR and a Tale of Forgiveness =-.
Yeah, when they posted the list of hotels a few days ago, I thought it might not be worth the effort, but then I reminded myself everything was x4.
I actually listed my backup hotel among my top 5 choices, since it’s a decent location and I could save ~$20/day over the rate I got booking directly.
SDCC is the only con I’ve been to for 4 days (actually 4.5 last year, since I went to preview night), but that’s partly because it’s so frakking BIG that it takes several days to see everything, especially if you’re going to any panels or events.
Got an email confirming my reservation. It’s a bit farther out, but there’s a shuttle. Now to weigh ~$100 vs. walking distance and figure out which room to keep and which to free up for someone else who needs one.