Yep, a couple of days ago I took the afternoon off work to wait for a package and while surfing the internet I just randomly decided to check the housing and bingo scored a king at the Sheraton. Not connected but only a couple of blocks away within easy walking distance, good enough, and better than the 7-8 miles away I had though expedia. Yay I get to sleep late if I want :)
 

I was just able to randomly upgrade my room from a king at the Hilton Garden Inn (5 blocks away) to a king at the JW Marriott, so rooms are still available.

If nothing else, there's one at the Hilton Garden Inn right now :-)

EDIT:  Gone now.  Looks like it lasted less than 5 minutes.

King Room available in Hilton Inn downtown (3 blocks) right now.

Just started typing this while waiting for my lovely new reservation one block from the convention center to go through. Then I found that it'd gone already while I was taking it. Sigh. Don't we have a solution to that problem already?

As it is, I'm going to be either renting a car or Uber-ing some 12 miles into the convention center in order to run games at the Hyatt starting at 9am and ending at 12pm. Woo.

There's a room available at the JW Marriott one block from the con from Wed–Sat, at the low, low price of $1127/night. If anyone is desperate enough to pay five grand for a hotel room.

It's very expensive, but in all fairness the JW suite is not one room. It's two rooms and one of them is twice the size of a normal hotel room and comes with a large gaming table. Add in a rollaway and it sleeps eight in beds.

Someone in my larger group has gotten suites in the past to fit many people and give a private area for our group's gaming. If you have the funds and a large enough group, it has value.

Does the suite have two rooms, like, two rooms with two queens, or by two rooms does it mean that it has one room with two queens and one living area?

I tried to find pictures of it on Marriott's website, but can't find the room anywhere. Though I did find several downtown hotels now have availability through their own websites.

Here is the floorplan of the suite: http://www.jwindy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mpr_jw_marriott_indy_hospitality_suite_floor_plan.pdf

According to the description on the GenCon housing site, the reservation is for both the suite--with it's bed--and a connected queen/queen room. So you are getting three beds right off the bat. Getting rollaways is a bit tighter during the con, but I would imagine they would give priority to their suite holders. The members of my group that have gotten suites before at other downtown hotels haven't had an issue.

I realized afterward that the JW room was probably a suite. I've wound up booking a Super 8 about 5 miles down the road as a standby because I get a 20% corporate discount (so: $73/night), and I'm still looking for anything around the $220/night mark in walking distance.

Actually, I won't be using that one, since I just glanced at the GC hotels page and a five-night run at the Conrad, three blocks from GC, opened up at $275/night. It was a little above my price range, but apparently it has a skywalk to the ICC (three blocks?).

Hm, maybe I should have looked at its proximity to the Hyatt Regency, since I'm running all my games in there… *shrug*.

Just goes to show— keep looking. Even if you've got something close, you might just find something cheaper. That's likely the reason these not-quite-inexpensive rooms are popping up now, I'd guess.

Congratulations on getting a room. I've never stayed at the Conrad, but I've spoken with staff and found them very friendly and helpful.

In general, the increased price you pay to stay close is worth it in all instances. This year it looks like the hotels are totally overbooked and nothing is really freeing up when I would see a lot available by this time in past years. 

Anything you can get a hold of and reasonably afford downtown is worth it. Driving in and out each day is a hassle, and if it's all you've ever done, once you've experienced staying downtown you realize the world of difference and how much different the convention feels. 

I basically hit refresh for 4 months until I got lucky.  This will be my last Gen Con for awhile, I just can't fight that battle again in the near future.  

Just checked and there are 3 downtown hotels available (searched Wed-Sun): The Marriott, the Hyatt, and the Alexander.

Despite checking daily, I never seem to hit the magical window where rooms suddenly appear. Two more months left to hunt I guess.

Haven't been to the con since 2008, didn't remotely have this much trouble getting a room then.

I get SO sick of people every year with their crying about how their programs/scripts don't work. EVERY YEAR people get in ahead of them. Stop writing scripts, clearly they don't work. 
Do your work, get on every day and you WILL find a room. 

Check early morning
Over the last couple years I've gotten them each time that way
 

got my King at the JW today! someone had two rooms and no longer needed one. Just post what your looking for in the trade form. Worked for me.

I just released a king at hyatt. Managed to get my double double at hyatt so that king should now be available.