17.7 is the highest recorded (St louis Mo)..  So indy being at 17% is amongst the top 3 highest..
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/06/booking-a-hotel-these-cities-have-the-highest-hotel-taxes/index.htm

Most others are 10% or so..

Actually, Indianapolis is not even in the top 10 in the most recent report...

Indy is tied for 11th-18th at 17.00%

Las Vegas is the highest at 18.00% as of 2015 (which are the numbers this 2016 report looked at.)

http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/pdf16/HVS082916.pdf

The hotel tax, especially during large conventions/events is almost understandable. In a lot of cases, you need extra traffic monitoring, police presence, garbage pickup, in addition to the higher crime, traffic incidents, and such. I am sure that this along with the additional revenue, offsets some of the additional costs to the city. Since EVERY area has this, which I am sure is probably not a choice of the hotel owners, it is a reality that we will have to deal with. GenCon is a LUXURY that I am fortunate enough to be able to enjoy. As long as I have the budget for it, I will continue to attend. 

That is not true. The Las Vegas room tax rate is 12.9% and will only rise a bit under 1% if the raiders come to Vegas. It is one of the lowest convention city tax rates in the nation, just below Orlando.

http://www.ktnv.com/news/las-vegas-stadium-breaking-down-the-room-tax-impact
 

While Vegas objectively has more hotel rooms, they are actually much more spread out relative to the convention center than Indy. You wouldn't have nearly as many actually close rooms(across the street from the convention center), but you would have a lot more within one mile. For me, once you get more than one block away, it's too far for me to conveniently hike back and forth all day.

I'm in the camp that there really isn't a better city than Indy. No city is going to have the hotel configuration to meet the demand we have for nearby connected hotels.

However, enough hotels within 1 mile.....Vegas clearly does.

I'm probably the only person in the world who wouldn't mind a trip to Vegas for Gen Con each year - but that's because, besides Gen Con, it's my favorite place in the world. :-P

Flights can be usually found for cheap, and if you gamble even a little bit, you can usually get a great rate on a hotel room. 

I love Indy... I'm just saying I would only mind a little bit if we moved to Vegas. :D

I hope your friend got compensated for all that damage done by that TSA pleb!

Arguably more people would have to fly to Vegas than Indy, though. There's a lot more overall population density in the Midwest than out in the desert.

My group really wants the "across the street" hotel room, so there really isn't a better option for us than Indy.

Friends Indy has the package and will continue to have the package, convention center, rooms, and place to eat, near the geographic population center of the country. The Cities main industry is not cars, or steel, or making hamburgers but putting on Conventions. Unlike other town or places we don't look at Gen Con as bunch of freaks in costumes but people who have come to our City to have a fun time. The Cops invoke senority on who is going to work security for Gen Con, they love the show. We quickly intergrated Food Truck culture into our Convention Center, where other Convention Centers are writing laws to keep them away. Most other cities you are not going to find a Grocery Store within a few blocks of a Convention Center. It's the package and me and alot of other local attendees will continue to keep Gen Con in the minds of our local officials.
Randu

There are a ton of cities with better public transport. Many have light rail service directly to their convention center.

The vast majority of people can no longer stay downtown. There is simply not the space. So the fact that it has a nice downtown is less useful when you have issues even getting there.

Comparing available rooms to attendance doesn't really convey a good picture. For example, my circle of friends that attend comprises 14 people. Last year we had three rooms for the 14 of us. I've crammed 8 to a room before, and I've attended by myself. I've had the number of people in my room change on a nightly basis. Lots of variation in over 20 years of attending. Vendors and staff need rooms too, and I'm not sure whether they're counted in the attendance numbers. The point is that you can't just say 60k people, 10k rooms. It's not nearly that simple.

I like Indy and I support staying. I think the idea of a "better" city is either a unicorn or uses a definition of "better" I disagree with.

I don't want to get off on a tangent here but you are not supposed to cram 8 into a room. It's a fire and safety issue.

But if the response would be "we'll people can't afford to go otherwise".....then you have made my point about hotel prices.

I really like Indy. But there are serious problems that cant keep being swept under the rug and must be dealt with.