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 we’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.
Update: A reporter interviewed me about the Comic-Con hotel reservation experience. Update (3/20): Here’s the article at the Union-Tribune. I’m not quoted.
Update: I got an email confirming our reservation. It’s farther out than the backup, but it’s ~$100 cheaper (over the course of 4 days – possibly more, depending on how much the other hotel charges for internet access) and 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.
See Also: Convention Photos & Write-Ups
Where/What was your backup hotel?
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.
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.
Congratulations! We didn’t get into the fray this year…decided to commute. A friend got into the waiting room page with no trouble, and got all the way to actually booking the hotel she wanted, when the site hung on her. 😛 Her backup is okay, so she’s not too frustrated, but the fact is, the system really doesn’t work!
My experience was identical to yours, except that I only gave my top 3 choices to the phone lady with no backup, so my TP email told me nothing was available. I’d already decided that I’d rather pay full price at the Marriot than save a couple hundred bucks somewhere far out and take a shuttle. Just my preference.
I’m curious what happens to the people who already bought their passes but couldn’t get a room. Stay far out I guess.
Good Job! I tried getting through via computer and my page came up blank. I was also doing the phone lines while on computer. Got through the phone line first at 9:03. Have Confirmation number and it’s on the hotel page but have not received email. Kind of worried about the situation. did I or didn’t I get my room?
I had 4 chrome tabs open all in the waiting room at 9 on the dot. 3 got to hotel res screen – but only 1 of them made it all the way – the others got errors at various points in the reservation process – one of them at the very last stage!
Though if you’re jealous you can relish the fact my group and I couldn’t get the 4 day passes as they were sold out before we got them. So we had to get single day tix. Sob….