Author Topic: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd  (Read 293406 times)

Offline RustyPonds

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #225 on: March 21, 2017, 10:23:47 AM »
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...If it were possible for badge holders to get first dibs and THEN allow everyone else to participate after, that would seem to me to be a decent compromise.  It's not really necessary for those who don't have a badge and are not going inside the convention center for any reason to be staying at the Bayfront or the Marquis.  Those hotels especially make it easier for the con-goers to get sleep, swap in and out of line with other line savers during the night and to shower and be clean for the next days events (not that a lot of people bother with that  ??? ).  Why should those who are just hanging out in the area and taking advantage of the outside events need the immediacy of the next door hotels?  Just saying.  I mean it's not like they are in a rush.

Exactly! I don't have any issues with non-badge holders getting hotel rooms. Just not downtown ones. At least not at the same time as badge holders who have paid for the use of the Convention Center.

Offline stl_ben

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #226 on: March 21, 2017, 10:27:49 AM »
Trying to limit the hotels to just whatever group you fit into isnt ever going to happen.....
What about volunteers, booth workers, guests, grandmas that come into town to watch the grandkids during the convention, people coming into town for one direction concerts and on and on and on.....

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #227 on: Today at 03:16:38 AM »

Offline Jonathan

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #227 on: March 21, 2017, 10:56:51 AM »
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Trying to limit the hotels to just whatever group you fit into isnt ever going to happen.....
What about volunteers, booth workers, guests, grandmas that come into town to watch the grandkids during the convention, people coming into town for one direction concerts and on and on and on.....

I've been saying this ALL ALONG. It seems like if someone paid for a badge, they feel entitled to a room. Not everyone has a paid badge yet during the hotel lottery. That's fact. Even badges themselves are not guaranteed. So you get a badge, now you're guaranteed a downtown room too? Just unfair. Nothing is more fair than everyone having the same shot. A badge =/= a room.

I want to pose a very interesting question for those who advocate badge holders get first access to hotel rooms. What about badge holders who only bought say 1 day? 2 days et all? So say someone has only Friday or a Saturday badge. They're allowed to access the hotel lottery and get a room for the entire con? It seems those who advocate the hotels for badge holders are under the assumption EVERYONE has a 4 Day badge, but that is not true. Not everyone could get that or want that. Now explain how they then deserve a hotel room, but someone else doesn't?

As I've said, there's so much going on, it's just never going to be fair for everyone, unless everyone has the same access to the lottery.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2017, 11:05:15 AM by Jonathan »

Offline dolphina

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #228 on: March 21, 2017, 11:03:27 AM »
Putting my two cents in, when I purchase tickets to an event, whether it be SDCC, Wondercon, Blizzcon, Comikazi, D23, SWCA or Gallifrey One and these organizers have negotiated rates with hotels for THEIR attendees to reserve rooms at, then it is my belief that the attendees should have first dibs at the hotels, there will be hotel rooms available for others who may only be coming for the off-site activities but maybe not at MMM or Hilton Bayfront, Hard Rock.
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Offline Miclpea

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #229 on: March 21, 2017, 11:06:21 AM »
Quick question: can anyone name a major event where non-ticket/badge holders are given the discount rate of badge/ticket holders?


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Offline semigeekgirl

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #230 on: March 21, 2017, 11:07:36 AM »
Obviously getting a badge is never going to guarantee you a downtown room. There are nowhere near enough downtown rooms in the block to guarantee each badgeholder a downtown room. There aren't even enough total rooms in the block to guarantee every badgeholder a room at all. That's just hyperbole.

And FWIW I don't believe CCI should be "guaranteeing" rooms at all. However, CCI is the reason everyone is downtown that weekend. They negotiate special rates with the hotels for the express purpose of holding their convention. I don't think it's at all absurd or unreasonable to expect that only people directly connected with the convention should have the first opportunity to reserve those rooms.

Many other conventions make that stipulation. If fact, a few years back the Manchester Grand Hyatt decided to book an entirely separate event during Comic-Con weekend (some sort of healthcare conference). They dropped out of the CCI hotel block, but they did offer attendees of the healthcare conference a discounted rate for the weekend. Several CCI attendees found the code for the discounted rate and used it to book rooms, intending to use the rooms to attend CCI instead. The MGH employed a verification process. When they discovered that the CCI attendees had no connection to the healthcare conference, the MGH cancelled their rooms.

I understand that there are reasons that CCI may not want to limit the hotel sale to badgeholders. But let's not pretend that it's not a totally normal thing for a convention to do.

Offline Jonathan

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #231 on: March 21, 2017, 11:12:43 AM »
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Putting my two cents in, when I purchase tickets to an event, whether it be SDCC, Wondercon, Blizzcon, Comikazi, D23, SWCA or Gallifrey One and these organizers have negotiated rates with hotels for THEIR attendees to reserve rooms at, then it is my belief that the attendees should have first dibs at the hotels, there will be hotel rooms available for others who may only be coming for the off-site activities but maybe not at MMM or Hilton Bayfront, Hard Rock.

This has been brought-up before. But let me start by saying you mentioned Wondercon, Blizzcon, Comikaze aka LA Comic-Con, SWCA and Gallifrey. Do you know their attendance numbers? If not, let me give you them.

Wondercon - 2016 - 60,000
Blizzcon - 2015 - 25,000
Comikaze - 77,800
D23 - 2014 - 45,000
SWCA - 2015 - 50,000
Gallifrey - about 4000 based on all I have attended.

Anyways, you would need to add a bunch of these conventions together and then they will surpass SDCC's attendance numbers. You're comparing apples to oranges. If SDCC only had 80,000 in attendance, I doubt we'd have as big of an issue with the hotels as we do.

And if you've read what  SDCC said last year, they didn't actually word it as THEIR attendees. It seemed that the hotel rates they negotiated were for all who came to SDCC (both on-site and off.) Again based on their own wording not ours.

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Obviously getting a badge is never going to guarantee you a downtown room. There are nowhere near enough downtown rooms in the block to guarantee each badgeholder a downtown room. There aren't even enough total rooms in the block to guarantee every badgeholder a room at all. That's just hyperbole.

I don't think it's hyperbole at all. You're telling me there aren't people here who believe that CCI should guarantee someone with a paid badge a room? I can even give you examples, because I remember what was said. Beyond that, the only exaggeration is believing that anything associated with SDCC can be deemed "normal."
« Last Edit: March 21, 2017, 11:23:21 AM by Jonathan »

Offline TardisMom

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #232 on: March 21, 2017, 11:35:36 AM »
When I am planning travel one of the things I do is to check the convention calendar in the city.  If there is a large convention, or a bunch of small conventions, I revise my plans because I know the hotels will be booked by people who have paid to attend those conventions.  I know if I go ahead and go there I won't get the hotel of my choice and will probably end up staying farther away.

Offline kiddo235

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #233 on: March 21, 2017, 12:22:06 PM »
I still think the first dibs thing would work.  They could do the sale in waves. 

Non-badgeholders don't need to stay downtown.
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Offline EscoBlades

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #234 on: March 21, 2017, 01:51:57 PM »
Managed to snag a room here via Hotels.com a while back

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Offline stl_ben

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #235 on: March 22, 2017, 07:31:31 AM »
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Quick question: can anyone name a major event where non-ticket/badge holders are given the discount rate of badge/ticket holders?


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Not the same at all as SDCC takes literally ALL of the rooms.  Not just some of them, ALL of them. 

Offline Transmute Jun

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #236 on: March 22, 2017, 07:56:04 AM »
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Not the same at all as SDCC takes literally ALL of the rooms.  Not just some of them, ALL of them.

Actually, to give a comparison....

GenCon takes place in Indianapolis each year. It is about half the size of SDCC (60,000-ish attendees, plus exhibitors, volunteers, press, pros, etc.) but is in a place about half the size. GenCon takes ALL of the downtown rooms. ALL of them. Plus the outlying areas in the suburbs and near the airport. EVERYONE wants a downtown room, and there wouldn't be enough if they had double the number of those rooms. GenCon faces many of the same issues that SDCC does in terms of hotels. And how do they solve it? The have a lottery to book hotels. But to enter the lottery, you have to login to your 'member ID' account to book. Each 'member ID' account with a valid badge is randomly assigned a time slot in the lottery. You find out when your time is, then come back at that time and book from live inventory, based on whatever is left. ALL downtown rooms go to people associated with the con.

Now that doesn't mean all downtown rooms go to attendees. Nope. GenCon holds back a certain number for special blocks, such as VIPs, guests of the show, staff, etc. While they may not know exactly who these people are, they do know how *many* rooms they will need and hold them back. Oh, and did I mention that the hotel lottery happens in January/February for a con held in August? MONTHS ahead of time.

I'm not saying that SDCC must do things this way (although I'd love it if they did) but this is an example of a con that is just as crowded/in demand in terms of downtown rooms and how only people associated with the convention get those rooms.

Offline Dubb

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #237 on: March 22, 2017, 04:55:28 PM »
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I still think the first dibs thing would work.  They could do the sale in waves. 

Non-badgeholders don't need to stay downtown.

No one needs to stay downtown. I've been lucky enough to get badges the past few years, but I always plan on going even if I am not lucky enough in any particular year. I love to stay downtown, and would love to do it even if I can't get into the convention.

Offline rickythump

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #238 on: March 22, 2017, 05:45:27 PM »
All these comparisons are interesting, but it seems like people are forgetting the presence and the amount of "offsites" that San Diego has that no one else has.

No one is going to make a special trip to Indianapolis for the Gencon offsites, they aren't that special. SDCC is completely different - Conan, NerdHQ, the MTV concert, special movie screenings, Adult Swim, Sci-Fi Channel event, whatever license buys out the Hard Rock, etc. etc. etc. We could all go on all day naming offsites - everyone knows that San Diego is taken over for SDCC, which encourages people to attend who don't have badges.

If everyone is up in arms about hotels, perhaps you should consider petitioning the hundreds of independent venues, studios and global brands that set up to promote at the event and ask them to limit entry to the people who are badgeholders. You won't get very far, but it makes a lot more sense than biting the ankles of the CCI about how we as badge holders are entitled to hotels before anyone else is.

edit: typo
« Last Edit: March 23, 2017, 03:25:47 PM by rickythump »

Offline nedoeht3705

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Re: SDCC 2017 Hotel Discussion, July 20th to July 23rd
« Reply #239 on: March 23, 2017, 09:13:33 AM »
Early bird sale

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