If you want one of these are your computer won't show them for some reason: call them.

Thanks all. I am looking into some options now. I appreciate it. 

I was looking at those exact same rooms yesterday, truelink!  There has been quite a lot out there.  Staybridge was selling their rooms before the portal opened.  I am sure more will become available as other hotels put their rooms on the market.  
If you cut your ticket prices in half every time attendance doubled it would be a terrible con.  You have to raise prices just to limit attendance.       
 

I think that this is something Gen Con needs to post in their office, the average cost per day for an attendee to go to the show, and then work to make worth the price to go. In a few years Gen Con will be competing with Disney World and other major attractions for a cost to thrill ratio. Dad thinks, for the same money we can go to Disney World or Gen Con? That maybe some people will be thinking about in a few years.

Randu

I can go to Dinsney any time of the year. 

. I think what the poster meant was provide an average cost of badge, 5 hours a day of events, hotel costs and food averages if visiting the food trucks or local restaurants. This is very reasonable for gencon to provide. Travel and "pluses" would be on you to add in.  But just the basics would give you a rough estimate on things.   

Again, the question is is it for the rich or well off.  Sure, a rich or well off person can go to disney world anytime they want, but hte average family has to budget it at least a few months out and certainly couldn't go to disney world twice in a year. Which would be the equivalent of going to disney world and gencon in the same year. 

Why is GenCon supposed to be cheaper than Disney? I can stay at a cheap Disney hotel and have to ride the bus...or I can stay at an expensive place and hop directly on the monorail...options.

In fact - lots of people go to GenCon to shop and demo things...they don't even buy tickets. When you 80 year relative wants to join you at Disney but not ride any rides...let me know if you pay less for them?

There is nothing GenCon can do to make more rooms available downtown. Short of buying a fleet of vans to make shuttling more conveinent...it is a limitation that they are working around.

I guess if you want to get down to brass tacks on if it's for the rich or not I'd point to Marimac's reply, it's for everyone.  But for what you're asking you still need more information on the who are you talking about to gauge on what you're really asking.  Events and a badge are actually quiet cheap with the exception of a few things, it's the everything else that gets pricey (room, food, drinks). 

Badge: $99 at Will Call
5 hours a day of events: ranging from $10-80+ depending on events (e.g. AEG Game Night with swag box), average person probably spends $20 a day on events, so $80 total
Hotel costs: can vary wildly, but most everyone wants downtown, so let's say for a four person occupancy room within walking distance of the ICC, it's probably around $60 per person per night in block.  If a person comes in on Wednesday and checks out Sunday, that's $240 per person.
Food costs: again, can vary wildly depending on where you eat and how much you eat and if your hotel provides a free breakfast.  I'm just ball-parking this on my experience with my friends, but I would say an average of $30 a day is about right.  For someone who is there Wednesday through Sunday, that would be $150 in food cost.

If my math is correct, that comes to about $569 per person for Wednesday through Sunday.  For a family of four, that would be $2,276.

And sure, that's because that's what I choose to go to. I'm sure mine run much cheaper than most people. But basically all of this is based on what people choose to do at the con, not, as is explained above, the con itself. But honestly, what are your estiamtes based on? Your family and your friends?

And this is what I was specifically responding to to begin with:

"I think what the poster meant was provide an average cost of badge, 5 hours a day of events, hotel costs and food averages if visiting the food trucks or local restaurants. This is very reasonable for gencon to provide. Travel and "pluses" would be on you to add in.  But just the basics would give you a rough estimate on things."

Your numbers seem fine. Although, to the point of variance that others were making, you could also go signifigantly lower with a non-downtown hotel and less costly events. $328 per person by my estimates (based on my GenCon experience from two years ago combined with today's badge prices) or $1,312 for a family of four.

I feel like what you're really complaining about is not that Gen Con is expensive, but that the way you want to do Gen Con is prohibitively expensive. As plenty of people have said, you can do Gen Con on a budget. If you want to have a luxury trip, why are you so upset that you're expected to pay for it?

To begin with I have  to agree that Gencon (or the company that owns it) does not target a specific group with its marketing or -I would guess- its business plan . They mostly market to niche group of people that are  already aware of Gencon .
I have seen no indication that they are aiming at the middle class ( $2000 for a long weekend for 4 does not fit any definition of being wealthy ) .
Hotels : Try the Conrad, JW -they both have  rooms -you just wil pay more for them . They will not have any rooms available for the discount plans (government or other )Or if you are important enough and work for a banking or insurance company ,most have apartments downtown for their travelling VIP's.  Or you can rent a condo for a week or so .

Remember also that because of the popularity of Gencon most Hotels raise their rates for the time period (usually double or almost triple), Why ?? because they can .When Gencon first came to Indy they couldn't get away with that .

Please also remember that Gencon has control of only a portion of the expenses listed (maybe 20%) . The rest is up to Indianapolis businesses.

Comparing it to Disney is not a good comparison for many reasons .One of the prime being that Gencon doesn't own any of the Hotels /lodging  attendees use .
I think a more useful comparison for expenses  would be Comicon, or the largest Anime convention . Gencon is cheaper .

If you wont cater to your tourists/convention goers...you should risk losing them.

Gencon responded well during the LGBT fiasco last year.....but I havent seen anything about Public transport or hotel prices, even though those things affect everyone every single year....

Everyone has their own definition of "fair."  I agree with you that the lottery is fair, until of course I don't get a downtown room or no room at all. ;)  

Personally, even knowing I would take a back seat to many, I am still in favor of a loyalty perk akin to how football season tickets are done.  Pay every year whether you go or not, get priority something whether it be games or hotel rooms.  See who is really serious about it.  If profit is the model, don't shy away from owning it.

And for the record I am by no means rich. $2000 for a long weekend IS a lot of money to me regardless of what we're getting and it is rarely zeroed out by the time I leave.  I afford Gen Con because it is a priority and I cut in many other ways in order to do so.

I think we are all lucky they aren't doubling the downtown room rates and capping the number of people that can stay in them.  2-3 per king, 4-6 per double, period.  I doubt that last part will happen because that means fewer attendees in the exhibit halls but I bet it has been suggested.  

There are more complaints about availability/lack of space for demand than there are about costs, at least IME.  With this much demand there would be not much stopping them.

No it isn't. The majority of the downtown hotel rooms are already given to GenCon. They appear to do a fantastic job negotiating this. Saying that they should just demand full control of all rooms is insanity.