_____________________________________ Alec Usticke, Fans of Gen Con Facebook Group
My gripe this year: I bought 5 badges for my entire family to go (4 adults, 1 child). I bought them day 1 at 12:02. I got a 6:10 pm time - basically no way to get a downtown hotel.
So, the change in the system means that I would have been better off having each person buy their own badge so I'd get 4 lottery draws to try to get a time before 1 pm.
Not fair to have the lottery draw tied to the purchaser. I should have gotten one draw for each ADULT badge I bought, right?
I've repeatedly recommend people buy their badges separately for more housing lottery entries.
Sorry you had bad luck with your time.
_____________________________________ Alec Usticke, Fans of Gen Con Facebook Group
A thought here: GEN CON should consider a few things for next year: 1. Attendees that are planning to be there all 4 days (4 hotel nights) should have preference for downtown over people with 2 or 3 nights 2. Families with under 16 children. 3. Families needing two rooms - would be very nice to be in the same hotel for obvious reasons. GEN CON does not in any way facilitate this and in past we have been split across mutiple hotels.
(Or at least claim I did.)
News flash:
It may be that some company is buying badges just to secure rooms and then flipping them online. We saw the Hilton downtown available through some hotel booking site for 460 per night. A nice little profit. Spend $100 or so for a badge, get a room for 4 nights, flip for 3 to 5 times the cost.
Just like the secondary market for concert and show tickets.
How does GEN CON prevent this?
Okay, here we go: the annual Gen Con Make Housing Fair Again discussion:- Someone points out the current system is unfair citing their particular case as evidence. This is not in any way biased. - Various people suggest tying housing to other measures of need/value/merit including years of attendance, events run, personal need, etc. By sheer coincidence these suggestions just happen to be measures that would favor these people. - Someone suggests doing away with housing entirely. - Free market vs. communism discussion occurs. Shockingly enough no one makes an Ayn Rand reference.- Someone points out that it's possible to have a good Gen Con experience without a downtown hotel. No one listens to them. - People point out that some people need a downtown hotel room due to kids, disabilities, etc. When someone responds that going to Gen Con itself is not a need they will be met with an angry response about "my vacation" that does not actually address the point. - The admins, having been quite for most of the discussion, issue a warning against personal attacks. - A month after the convention Gen Con sends out a series of customer satisfaction surveys. The results from the thousands of attendees who fill these out guide the convention's future decisions instead of the comparatively fewer angry people on the forums. Our argument has solved nothing and serves merely as a bunch of sound and fury signifying nothing. - After billions of years, the sun becomes a red giant and expands to several magnitudes its current size. The first four planets are engulfed. Earth and with it humanity die. Competition for downtown housing drops to an all-time low. There, I saved you some time. Okay, now that was funny. I enjoyed the post. -Scott
Okay, now that was funny. I enjoyed the post. -Scott
So, were all the downtown hotels really booked up before 1:00 PM ET Time? If so then at least I will know for all future con's if I don't get an early time in the lottery then I might as well book outside of the con housing portal. Would be interesting to see a break down lottery stats time vs hotel availability.
Someone points out the current system is unfair citing their particular case as evidence. This is not in any way biased. - People point out that some people need a downtown hotel room due to kids, disabilities, etc.
If you're in an upper tier in a hotel loyalty program, the big three -IHG, Marriot, and Hilton- have a guaranteed availability perk as well. If money is no object, this might be a way to get a room as well. IHG at least does have a caveat that it's at "Manager's Discretion" during peak times, but I am sure if you're willing to push them on it they'd be more than happy to give you a room and charge you double the Gencon block rate.
Minimum night stay restrictions are in effect for all hotels in the downtown area. Requests for hotels in the downtown area must consist of three or more consecutive dates and must include the night of Saturday August 3, 2019. Minimum night stay restrictions will remain in place throughout the housing registration period. Room assignments at suburban hotels are not generally subject to minimum night stay restrictions, though some exceptions may exist.
Yeah, I'd love to "data science" the lottery...