Annual "Make Housing Fair" Discussion (Summary)
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Posted by buffythecatslayer 6 years agoon 1/29/2019 at 8:11 PM
#101

I wouldn't object to strengthening this to a 4 night minimum which must include Th/F/Sa night - but I don't think it would change much.  If you were able to get Th/F/Sa today you could easily get W out of block somewhere at a reasonable price.  Same for Sunday night.

That would be unfair to the people that can arrange to arrive Thursday morning.  The Con spans 4 days, so only 3 nights are really needed.  The current 3 night/Sat night stay required is perfectly fair.

Posted by qwaserity mathistopheles 6 years agoon 1/29/2019 at 8:35 PM
#102

mathistopheles wrote:
GenCon housing problems? Back in my day we slept in the skywalk between the Millwaukee convention center and the Arena across the street. Grumble grumble dice with more than 6 sides and WWII.
DICE? DICE? I'm so old that I've actually played Dungeons and Dragon with a cup full of chits!!!

Now google "chits" and see what comes up...

Posted by maijstral2 qwaserity 6 years agoon 1/30/2019 at 2:09 AM
#103

qwaserity wrote:
mathistopheles wrote:
GenCon housing problems? Back in my day we slept in the skywalk between the Millwaukee convention center and the Arena across the street. Grumble grumble dice with more than 6 sides and WWII.
DICE? DICE? I'm so old that I've actually played Dungeons and Dragon with a cup full of chits!!!Now google "chits" and see what comes up...
I slept in a Van in the parking lot of The University of Wisconson one night so I could get in line at 3am for the tickets on pegboards. :)

And I've actually played D&D using bottlecaps and whatever instead of those fancy miniatures we have nowadays.

I'll 4 yorkshiremen all of you :P

Posted by dranthor 6 years agoon 1/30/2019 at 3:25 AM
#104

Posted by dranthor 6 years agoon 1/30/2019 at 3:26 AM
#105

I booked my room about a week after gencon last year and got it for $25.00 more than the in lottery rates this year. I was going to try for the lottery to see if I could get a better rate but again this year my time was after 4 pm so I didn't bother to get on. I'll pay the extra $25.00 a night to stay at the JW.

Posted by drich02s suburbaknght 6 years agoon 1/31/2019 at 1:54 AM
#106

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. 

Eh. If I didn’t get a room, it’s only an hour drive from Lafayette. Fortunately, I snagged one connected by the skywalk. Probably helped that we had four separate badge purchasers queuing up for rooms.

Posted by wells drich02s 6 years agoon 1/31/2019 at 2:58 PM
#107

drich02s wrote:
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. 

Eh. If I didn’t get a room, it’s only an hour drive from Lafayette. Fortunately, I snagged one connected by the skywalk. Probably helped that we had four separate badge purchasers queuing up for rooms.
Singles and pairs are at a distinct disadvantage trying to get a downtown room.

Posted by raidkillsbugsded wells 6 years agoon 1/31/2019 at 4:09 PM
#108

wells wrote:Singles and pairs are at a distinct disadvantage trying to get a downtown room.

This is true, but not necessarily unfair, and I say that being part of a “pair” rather than a larger group...It’s like buying more tickets in a raffle...

Posted by squirecam raidkillsbugsded 6 years agoon 1/31/2019 at 11:03 PM
#109

raidkillsbugsded wrote:
wells wrote:Singles and pairs are at a distinct disadvantage trying to get a downtown room.

This is true, but not necessarily unfair, and I say that being part of a “pair” rather than a larger group...It’s like buying more tickets in a raffle...
I partially agree with this.

If you are a group of 6+ people, staying in one room, then you should have 6 Lotto shots, to obtain those types of rooms. However, many 6+ groups take rooms not intended for the size of their party, such as a 1 king bed room. I wish singles or pairs had "better" lotto shots at the king rooms, and large groups had better lotto shots at the double/double rooms. 

Posted by mootmacleod 6 years agoon 1/31/2019 at 11:22 PM
#110

With the growth of Gen Con continuing at this rate there won't be any downtown hotel rooms available for attendees as they'll all be taken by vendors, exhibitors, staff and special guests.

Which leads to my question.  What is the percentage (or number of rooms) of downtown hotels that are set aside for the vendors, exhibitors, staff and special guests?  

online
Posted by brooks 6 years agoon 2/1/2019 at 10:37 AM
#111

It's my understanding that rooms are not set aside for the VIG program. Instead they're simply given access to the same general housing block 2 weeks early. I also want to say there's roughly 500 people in the program, but could be wrong on that one. 

Posted by fethbone mootmacleod 6 years agoon 2/1/2019 at 5:43 PM
#112

mootmacleod wrote:
With the growth of Gen Con continuing at this rate there won't be any downtown hotel rooms available for attendees as they'll all be taken by vendors, exhibitors, staff and special guests.
Which leads to my question.  What is the percentage (or number of rooms) of downtown hotels that are set aside for the vendors, exhibitors, staff and special guests?  
I remember talking to an exhibitor working at the con last year and she was complaining about how she got put up at the JW and it was "so far" to walk. Eyeroll.

Posted by san_fan_49 6 years agoon 2/1/2019 at 7:08 PM
#113

We did not get a hotel downtown this year (did last year).

I was figuring keep my eye out for a cancellation and if I could not get one downtown then cancel our badges but my girlfriend talked me into giving a hotel a little further out a try (her first year was last year and she/we had a lot of fun and she seems really psyched to go). I probably won't cosplay this year though (last year was my first time and actually came in 3rd in one of the costume contest categories).

Posted by dranthor 6 years agoon 2/2/2019 at 4:20 PM
#114

I you absolutely have to have a DT hotel then the suggestion for next year would be book it in an outside block so you have it incase you don't get a good lottery spot.  that is what i did  - I use a scooter to get around and loading it into and out of a car each day is something that I'm not going to do. too difficult for just me to do it.  Did it first year I went and needed to use it but had lots of help that year from friends who went to convention also.  Last year didn't have help but was lucky and got DT hotel.  Booked hotel 1 week after convention last year and got a hotel this year out side of the block. Only 2500 more than in block price.

Posted by buffythecatslayer 6 years agoon 2/2/2019 at 6:17 PM
#115

Only 2500 more than in block price.

 


Please tell me that’s a typo. 

Posted by lehane buffythecatslayer 6 years agoon 2/2/2019 at 8:30 PM
#116

buffythecatslayer wrote:
Only 2500 more than in block price. 

Please tell me that’s a typo. 

I was wondering that myself. Last year we booked a suite that split 4 ways was $900 each so $3600.00 (This is after taxes and fees). We ended up splitting it five ways and actually got just a double queen room so I got money back on both those. This year we got lucky and got a double queen for roughly $1450.00 in block. 

So a move from a dual queen room in block to a dual queen sofa suite out of block was roughly $2150.00 or so. Depending on the type of rooms it could be that. I will ask the friend that put that room on her credit card to see if she still knows the final price. 

A couple years ago I went to Phoenix Comicon and got a king bed suite to myself for the same cost as my share of the Gencon room that year ran me and we split that room 4 ways that year and it wasn't a suite. 

Posted by bigfathairyguy 6 years agoon 2/4/2019 at 4:22 PM
#117

I have never found it even close to $2500 more to book out of block. Not know exactly how much a double room at the Conrad was (Gencon only publishes a range) my difference between an in block vs out of block was somewhere between $140 to $106 a night. While more expensive it isn't even close to a $2500 difference. I think a lot of people don't include the 17% tax rate in their calculation for the in block rooms when doing the comparison.

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