Annual "Make Housing Fair" Discussion (Summary)
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Posted by k_dog64 tony_4
#51

tony_4 wrote:
Hotels rewards aren't really viable I don't think.  I travel a lot for work and have a bunch of hotel points.  For example right now my I have around 96K Hilton Honors points and am Gold level (Platinum being the highest), but the Hilton was long gone before my turn came around, and if I tried to book it separately, out of block, 96K would net me maybe 1 night.  I would of course get a free water and cookie for my loyalty. :)
Holiday Inn offers better stays vs. rewards for my membership with them, but it won't get you any special privileges, except maybe a slightly discounted rate or a free night depending on your points.  It definitely won't get you preferential treatment vs. a full price customer.
I used my Marriott Points a couple years ago for a downtown connected hotel.  Was a little over 100k points for all 4 nights.  I believe I should have enough points to do this again next year.  I'm not sure what the difference is in the Hilton Rewards program.  What I have found is that the earlier you look for points rooms, the better.

Posted by roderick austicke
#52

austicke wrote:
roderick wrote:Steve, There shouldn't have been any rooms designated as ADA available online to VIG or Attendee.

Was it a fluke these rooms are listed in the housing portal? Are they just listed as sold out but were actually never available?Hyatt Regency Indianapolis
ADA Double with Shower
Indianapolis Marriott Downtown
ADA Marriott Suite
The Westin Indianapolis
ADA King Room
ADA Double/Double
Hampton Inn Downtown
ADA Queen Suite
_____________________________________
Alec Usticke, Fans of Gen Con Facebook Group

Alec, I sent you a PM. 
​​​​​​​

Posted by austicke roderick
#53

roderick wrote:Alec, I sent you a PM.​​​​​

I didn't receive it, but now I sent you a message. :)

_____________________________________
Alec Usticke, Fans of Gen Con Facebook Group

Posted by mythicfox tony_4
#54

tony_4 wrote:
Hotels rewards aren't really viable I don't think.  I travel a lot for work and have a bunch of hotel points.  For example right now my I have around 96K Hilton Honors points and am Gold level (Platinum being the highest), but the Hilton was long gone before my turn came around, and if I tried to book it separately, out of block, 96K would net me maybe 1 night.  I would of course get a free water and cookie for my loyalty. :)
Holiday Inn offers better stays vs. rewards for my membership with them, but it won't get you any special privileges, except maybe a slightly discounted rate or a free night depending on your points.  It definitely won't get you preferential treatment vs. a full price customer.

In my experience, a number of hotels won't let you cash in free nights at all during certain in-demand times and/or around events like, say, a 50k+ attendee convention (not to mention other stuff that might be going on that weekend).

Posted by jpaulchell_15
#55

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?

Posted by austicke jpaulchell_15
#56

jpaulchell_15 wrote: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.

That's not a change. Same as last year.

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

Posted by jpaulchell_15
#57

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.

 

Posted by austicke jpaulchell_15
#58

jpaulchell_15 wrote:2. Families with under 16 children. 

Don't make me have more kids just to get preferential treatment! I'll do it!

(Or at least claim I did.)

Posted by jpaulchell_15
#59

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?

Posted by jpaulchell_15 austicke
#60

austicke wrote:
jpaulchell_15 wrote:2. Families with under 16 children. 

Don't make me have more kids just to get preferential treatment! I'll do it!(Or at least claim I did.)
LOL:  I'd have more if I wasn't the age I am.

Posted by jpaulchell_15 austicke
#61

austicke wrote:
jpaulchell_15 wrote: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.

That's not a change. Same as last year.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

Last year I was online at noon and got into housing at 12:02 and got 2 rooms downtown no problem...  so I guess the "lottery" was behind the scenes.... I've never not been downtown.  the Sheraton was the furthest out... 
Don't mind my sour grapes....   I'm going and will have a blast yet again...  despite the 13 mile jaunt to the boondocks.

Posted by roderick jpaulchell_15
#62

jpaulchell_15 wrote:
austicke wrote:
jpaulchell_15 wrote:2. Families with under 16 children. 

Don't make me have more kids just to get preferential treatment! I'll do it!(Or at least claim I did.)
LOL:  I'd have more if I wasn't the age I am.
 
How about if they have more than 16 children? 
 

Posted by drich02s suburbaknght
#63

suburbaknght wrote:
Just thought I'd post my piece preemptively this year.
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


Posted by clertola
#64

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.

Posted by jpaulchell_15 drich02s
#65

drich02s wrote:
suburbaknght wrote:
Just thought I'd post my piece preemptively this year.
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.


Yep.  Competition for scare resources will always lead to gripes from the under-served.  At least we have free speech to air them.
 

Posted by fethbone mythicfox
#66

mythicfox wrote:
tony_4 wrote:
Hotels rewards aren't really viable I don't think.  I travel a lot for work and have a bunch of hotel points.  For example right now my I have around 96K Hilton Honors points and am Gold level (Platinum being the highest), but the Hilton was long gone before my turn came around, and if I tried to book it separately, out of block, 96K would net me maybe 1 night.  I would of course get a free water and cookie for my loyalty. :)
Holiday Inn offers better stays vs. rewards for my membership with them, but it won't get you any special privileges, except maybe a slightly discounted rate or a free night depending on your points.  It definitely won't get you preferential treatment vs. a full price customer.

In my experience, a number of hotels won't let you cash in free nights at all during certain in-demand times and/or around events like, say, a 50k+ attendee convention (not to mention other stuff that might be going on that weekend).

I was able to get 4 nights at the Crowne Plaza outside of the Gencon block for this year and used points. At 30-35K points/night (unlike Hilton, IHG doesn't change the required number of points for a property depending on the time of year), it's a steal, and if you have the credit card, it's also in a tier eligible for the free anniversary night. They did initially charge me a deposit for the entire stay at the rack rate at that time, but after I called the Rewards hotline to complain (I have never had a property charge a deposit unless it was understood I was doing the pre-pay rate option), they took this off.

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.

Posted by gib_rebeg jpaulchell_15
#67

jpaulchell_15 wrote:
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.
 
MINIMUM NIGHT STAY RESTRICTIONS

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.

Posted by jpaulchell_15 clertola
#68

clertola wrote:
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.

My brother was on at 1 pm and only two were available...  By 3 another friend said all were gone.

Yeah, I'd love to "data science" the lottery...

Posted by jpaulchell_15 gib_rebeg
#69

gib_rebeg wrote:
jpaulchell_15 wrote:
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.
MINIMUM NIGHT STAY RESTRICTIONS 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.

I stand corrected.  Thanks for the clarification on the downtown min stay.  Good to know/

Posted by fethbone jpaulchell_15
#70

jpaulchell_15 wrote:
clertola wrote:
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.

My brother was on at 1 pm and only two were available...  By 3 another friend said all were gone.Yeah, I'd love to "data science" the lottery...
My friend got a room at the downtown Hampton at 1:16pm, but yeah all the connected hotels were long gone. Per austicke's live housing coverage, all downtown rooms were initally booked by 2:11pm.

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