Springhill Suites, every year since I started (which admittedly was only in 2010)

Free (if meh) breakfast, free Wi-Fi, a room with couch that folds out into a bed in addition to the King/2 Queens, good location that is basically the same as the JW Marriott, but it's a good 20-30 bucks less a night purely because they don't have a restaurant built directly into the hotel (but there are several accessible walking out across the parking lot or down a hallway or two to the JW)

So not too bad, all in all. 

L-

Personal favorite is the Embassy suites for creature comforts. For locality i absolutely adore the Omni severin, hoping to get that this year especially with the True Dungeon move to opposite corner of where it used to be.

Question overall what does the community think is consistently worst hotel(s) year after year?

1. Comfort Suites City Centre. Check out their tripadviser page. Lots of guest posting complants about funny buisness with pricing and lost personal belongings. And yes, I had stayed at this hotel. And yes, I had experianced their funny buisness with their pricing.

2. JW Marriott Indianapolis. May be a newer hotel. But the rooms are tiny. They are WAY overpriced. They charge you for anything and everything they can. Personally wouldn't be surprised if they put a coin opp on the TP rolls in the bathroom with how they charge on everything. Friends stayed there 2 years ago. Was told they had a room with a wonderful view of the river by their bellhop. When they opened their window to see the view, they enjoyed the view of the AC units on the roof and the high wall behind them.

3. La Quinta Inn Indianapolis East. It's on the list. To be honest, I've stayed here a few times. And at all possible, may again. Reason is - it's cheap. Rooms are ok in cleanlyness. Parking is free. But the down sides. Drive in sucks, ether interstate during rush hour. Or gheto side streets to avoid rush hour traffic. Hotel is very dated. Some rooms reek of the cheap egg breakfast they serve. The food they offer is limited and not the best. It's a two story hotel, WITHOUT AN ELEVATOR! So if you have lots of lugage to take to your room, be prepaired to huff it up the stairs, down the long halls to your room. No carts on the second floor. And the only internet you get is in the lobby.

My current favorite hotel is The Westin. It's connected, and a "virtual" straight shot to the Exhibitor's Hall, without too many twists and turns to get there.
Before I moved to The Westin, I stayed at the Hyatt Regency. It was nice, but it became too hectic, with all the repairs to the elevators. Each year, there seemed to have something new pop up. Not to mention, the housekeeping problems. I remember one year receiving note from housekeeping to ask for support in their disagreement with management. That was the last straw. I still walk over to the Hyatt from The Westin to eat breakfast at Subway in the lobby, 'cause I got tired of the wait at Steak & Shake.
I hope to get The Westin again this year.

I like the Hyatt for its central location between the con and lots of food options (plus plenty of tables for pickup games).

We've stayed downtown and suburban.  We were at the Embassy last year.  Nice room layout, dig the breakfast setup, but the staff seemed overwhelmed and stunned by the GC crowd.  Prior to that, we were at the Courtyard at the Capitol.  Smaller rooms but it's not a suite-style hotel so it's okay.  Rooms were nice, nice lobby space to game, nice staff, and a mini-Starbucks.  It's also very close to the Marsh if you need to make a quick run.

We'd been at the Omni for a few years and wound up at the Crowne Plaza Union Station last year. We really liked that. Super close to ICC via habitrail. 

I really like the Westin. Its super close and attached. Has a Starbucks and a FedEx. A giftshop for some snacks. The gym is pretty good. The staff is nice. Its clean. The elevators are fast. Ive always had a good stay with them. 

My favorite is likely the Conrad . Nice rooms , pretty good restuarant attached , decent wine bar as well. Not too crowded.Its nice to have a place to escape from the Gencon crowds ..
 I have stayed at most of the others. The Westin is pleasant but crowded, Omni, generally clean and ok if you like small rooms. JW is nice ,but not the wonder hotel some would have you believe . The others are all about the same .No hotel seems good if you exceed the beds to people ratio by more than 1 .

I've stayed at the JW Marriot and the Downtown Marriott Indy.  I definitly prefer the JW over the other for the service level, the room quality, and the convenience as it ends up being where most of my tabletop sessions end up. 

This year I'm staying at the Fairfield as the 200+ price difference over the course of the four days was too good to pass up.  Hoping I won't be disappointed. 

JW like Omni can be pricey. JW is a little worse at it. They have great room service. An impressive lounge on the 1st floor. Nice features over all. I didn't care for the fact you can't get on an elevator without using your room key. They tend to charge you for just about anything they can. And the "Suite" we were given was fairly small. With 3 people in it - it was a bit cramped.

Omni had a bit larger room, it fit 4 of us fairly well. Downside was parking. They at the time we stayed there used part of the Pan AM parking garage. Which is in need of major overhaul. The stairwells to exit to the street heading the the hotel were all closed. Meaning you had to walk out the car entry road. And if you parked on the 3rd lvl like we did, you had to walk up the ramps instead of the stair wells.

While I didn't have to pay for the room itself since I was in the GM pool, I probably would have been better to stay someplace other than the Marriott (not JW) since the parking fees there are outrageous. $40 a night for parking in Indianapolis is stupid. I don't pay that for parking in the loop in Chicago. 

Has anyone stayed at the Le Meridien before? Any good/bad stories about it?

Marriott downtown is the best for me and my wife.  We have stayed at every hotel connected and the Marriott downtaon is n the thick of things, they know the Gencon crowd, the rooms are big and the breakfasts are the best. We have done Gencon over 10 years in a row now, tried many of the hotels and now we just do the Marriott.  We are there again this year and looking forward to it :)

I've only stayed at two hotels, and only one of them has been downtown. So I'm hardly an expert on GenCon hotels.

This will be my third year staying at The JW. I lucked into it a couple years ago when someone dropped or lost it an hour into the hotel frenzy. However, my party loved the hotel, so we try to get it each year despite the other 3/4 of our overall group pushing for The Westin each year.

The rooms are nice and the atmosphere is great. There are places for everything you need, and a nice but small pool. But what we love most of all is the staff. They're fantastic! Everyone seems friendly and generally interested in both the event and making sure everyone has what they need.

There are some downsides. Rooms are pricey and parking is even pricier. I haven't experienced the nickle and diming that others have mentioned. The size of the rooms can vary: last year we had plenty of space for two queen beds and two air mattresses, the year prior it was a tight fit for one air mattress, and we used a chair and ottoman instead of the other. They do queen-queen rooms instead of double-double, which eats up an extra 10.5 sq ft of floor space. But this could be good if your people share beds.

The other hotel I stayed at was the La Quinta Indianapolis East, which may not exist anymore. Maybe they moved. The stay there was good, but we had some problems with TV reception and lights going out.

We've stayed at two hotels for Gen Con, the Hyatt Regecy and The Westin since 2008 - 2009.

At first, we stayed at the Hyatt.  It was comfy.  The staff wonderful.  The rooms are larger than in The Westin, and there are tables on the second floor for quick games.  There's a Subway in the lobby for a quick breakfast, and a wonderful "house" restaurant, One South, for a buffet breakfast on Sunday, before our party parts ways, until the next year.  One of the things that made the decision to switch hotels was, every year, the Hyatt always had something wrong going on with the elevators.  The second, and final, thing that prompted us to move to another connected hotel was the problems between the Hyatt and its housekeeping staff.  On the last night of our stay, we noticed a letter from housekeeping to gain support in their struggle against management.

The following year, we moved over to The Westin.  I love the location of The Westin.  With the skywalk, it's a virtual straight shot to the Exhibitor's Hall.  Unlike the Hyatt, using the skywalk, where you have to back track to get to the Exhibitor's Hall.

The beds at The Westin are beyond comfortable.  The staff is very helpful, and will go above and beyond to make our stay as comfortable as possible.  Being "vertically challenged" and using a wheelchair, I find it challenging to climb into the beds.  So, one year, I came up with an idea to ask them to remove the pedestal in order to lower the bed to make it easier to get in the bed.

The Westin had a some hickups, when it comes to service.  Housekeeping would do a sub-par job cleaning the rooms we were in.  I would look past it because of the prime location.  I hope this year things will change, for the better.