With so many people frustrated that they can't get downtown rooms for the convention, I'd like to know why the following information is deemed private instead of public.

1. How many rooms in total are available through the housing block from downtown hotels?
   
2. How many of those rooms are available to general attendees who do NOT have a VIG badge?
   
3. How many of those rooms have double beds?  (since those seem to be mythical)
   

As much as I love Indianapolis, perhaps it's time to either move to a city with more capacity downtown such as Las Vegas or maybe the time has come that GenCon needs to be broken up into two conventions: an East and West GenCon for example.

I appreciate anyone else's feedback regarding this.

Thanks and best of luck to all!

I think you're operating under a misconception that "the problem has gotten out of hand."  A very vocal, very small (relatively) minority making a fuss on the forums is not a sign that the system is broken, IMO--just that demand is crazy-high. 

But as for your desire for transparency, I'm pretty sure most of this info has been made available in the past:

Total rooms in housing block: I beleive Gen Con usually publishes this data at some point (often in response to the moaning about housing selling out so fast, but also possibly in their annual report)

VIG: I believe VIG members get 1 room, so figure out how many VIG badges there are and there you go

Percentage of double bed rooms: there I think you may be on your own, though I know those always go the fastest, since most people want to share the costs of a downtown room, which is easier with multiple beds.

My mistake--renewing VIGs can reserve up to 2 rooms.

EDIT:

I don't remembe the cutoff date, but after all the VIGs have booked thier rooms, what is left is retured to the general housing block.

Regarding your "time to move gencon" comment, I'm reposting from a different thread to save everyone time and effort.   Originally written by wjpennington.

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Been watching this tired argument repeat for the better part of a decade. I'm going to sum it all up in advance to save time. 
And here's how It goes: no one finds a better place...even by the standards of forum members who really have no idea what is really needed. 
Places are suggested. Most shot down. Usually someone insists horrible location is the best...but tries to deny that their support is because it's where they live. Occasionally some grognard suggests Gencon move  back to its origins. Few people even bother responding to that idea each year despite how bad it is. Sympathy for the elderly restraining them possibly. 
Sone one suggests Vegas. Usually a desperate virgin with fantasies of being a high roller who has never  been to Vegas. Those who have been to Vegas respond with the many reasons why it would be horrible for GenCon. 
Once all the other bad ideas are shot down (New York, St Louis..oh heck all of the big bad cities ) the topic then spirals to all the things GenCon or Indy should do. Most are laughably beyond GenCon power. Many are out of touch with reality. Topic slowly dies out, with a few diehards insisting they know better, and GenCon could do better if they just cared...without having any actual knowledge of the area or professional experience in event coordination. 
There. Saved you all the trouble. Entire thread in one post, 
You're welcome.

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56% Got a room and are not complaining.
16% Got a room but are not happy with it.
13% Didn’t get a room.
15% Don’t need a room (commuter).
 

I think that poll says a lot, even if it is only 499 people. It shows that the majority of people got a room they are happy with. as far as the 13% that didn't get a room; there are still rooms available in the block. Thy may not be the rooms they *want*, but there are rooms to be booked. 

As for my suggestion to move to a city that could better accommodate what GenCon has grown into, I suggested Las Vegas as an option.  Why you ask, well let's see, Las Vegas has over 169,000 rooms with 62,000 of them downtown right on the strip.  Indianapolis has about 33,000 rooms with just over 7,000 of them being downtown.  You don't have to take my word for it, look it up.  It’s very easy to find those facts.  I don't make this suggestion because I'm young and naive or because it's more convenient for me to travel to Las Vegas.  I live in Michigan so Indianapolis is definitely a much easier location for me to travel.  I only suggested it as something that needs to be considered based on the fact that GenCon has grown - in my opinion - beyond the capacity where Indianapolis can host it. 

You have to remember, it's not just the folks that are currently attending GenCon - there needs to be room to continue growing.  The downtown room problem was horrible last year and again this year.  Look at the tremendous rate of growth the past few years and you realize that this problem is only going to continue to get worse.

Take any informal (or even formal) polls with a grain of salt--the participants are people who 1) saw the poll and 2) decided to vote in it.  So what the poll is actually saying is "about 30% of the people who responded to the poll aren't satisfied with how housing works."  Now compare that number to the number of people who took part--successfully or otherwise--in the the lottery (I, for example, didn't vote in the poll, but took part in the lottery (unsuccessfully, in that I didn't snag a downtown room))--granted, we don't have those numbers, but it's safe to say tens of thousands, I think. 

The fact that 500 people responded is impressive--but 30% of 500 of the tens of thousands who took part in the process isn't that compelling, from a data POV, in my experience. 

It's a little confusing to say "Downtown on the strip" as those are two separate locations in Vegas.

The issues with Vegas are not hotel related for the most part.  Its geographic location means many current attendees who drive would have to fly, the weather in August can be oppressive, the porn slappers don't create a family friendly atmosphere, and the stronger unions would mean a more expensive convention, which would pass those costs onto attendees.

By the way, the cities in the U.S. with the most hotel rooms are: Las Vegas, Orlando, Chicago, Wachington DC, New York City, LA, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Phoenix.  Indianapolis doesn't even come close.  If you are interested in the numbers, check out this link:
http://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2013/10/09/top-ten-u-s-cities-by-hotel-rooms/
 

And another very similar one was already locked by admins.

I would propose a new drinking game where we take a shot every time someone suggests Las Vegas as a new location and we have to explain why that won't work.  I would propose it, but I don't want to get alcohol poisioning.

This thread is not for the endless nearly pointless discussion of where to move Gen Con.  If you must continue to discuss it, take it to the off topic area please.  

Also, Indy has street homeless people who can be just as "unfriendly" as "porn slappers", which was resolved long ago. You dont even need to venture outside air conditioning now with the monorail transport available.

Please stop trashing Vegas as family unfriendly. It is family friendly. Its not the 80's.