In other words any thoughts to what the cutoff point is for a hotel lottery time to be considered "bad"? Around what time did they start vanishing last year?
Depends on the year. Usually 3 hours within the start time is a good chance.
But I've seen years where they were gone within the first hour, and some odd years they have lasted up to 5 hours. But if you get something within the first 3 hours, you should stand a good shot at one.
I would concur with gib on this with one caveat. If you're looking for a room with one bed (i.e. a king) those tend to last a bit longer. If you need two beds in a room...you're always taking a chance with the Gen Con housing lottery.
Note that this forum and the Fans of GenCon page on Faebook usually keep an up-to-date list on what downtown hotels still have 2-queen and 1-king rooms available as the day progresses.
Last year, downtown rooms sold out at 3:55pm. Access times were much more spread out last year compared to prior years though. I'm not sure if they'll again change the spread this year.
_____________________________________ Alec Usticke, Fans of Gen Con Facebook Group
Also, as other threads like this say elsewhere on this forum - and every year - Gen Con is a fantastic experience whether your hotel is downtown or not. If you don't get a downtown hotel, don't let that sour you on Gen Con.
Demand *far* outstrips supply for downtown hotels.
If I could play devil's advocate for a minute...
You shouldn't even bother if you don't get a DT room. I mean do you REALLY want to put up with all that extra effort to get back and forth from the outskirts of town? And then if you are in a group its even worse! I mean everyone who doesn't get a DT room should just stay home. You only go to Gen Con to be in DT Indy anyway.
(waits to see if reverse psychology works)
I got 1:13pm, that's a decent time isn't it?
yes 1:13 is a solid time, if the times are spread out like they were last year, as downtown rooms did not sell out till around 4:00pm if however the times are closer together they have sold out as quickly as 1:00pm in the past. but even then I believe generally 1:30pm is when they would sell out.
I got 6:55pm :[
I need to find someone to let my wife and I tag along! :D