Hotelpocalypse: The Return

Hotel emails started going out for SDCC today, and it is, as they say, a total clusterfuck.

What we were told was that we'd be randomized in the waiting room and then let in to select our hotels, and then what we got depended on either what time we were let into the room, or what time we hit submit on the form. Either way, you should have some idea of what you were going to get. Aaaaaand then today happened. Emails started going out around 10:00 CST, and we hunkered down to wait for ours.

It would have helped a ton if they'd let us know what the process was actually going to be. Or if Comic Con International ever once enforced any rules or policies they actually put down but let's be real, that will never happen. We were left watching Twitter and trying to figure out based on people's timestamps from Tuesday. Last year they did it by hotel, so while we were still waiting for emails at 8 pm PST, it meant that we were just in the batch that got the Manchester Grand Hyatt. There was no such organization today. There were people who'd gotten in very early on Tuesday who were getting hotels in Mission Valley. Someone who got ushered in to fill out the form without having to wait ended up at Town & Country. As the day went on and thousands of us went without emails, the more it sank in that they'd completely lied about how they'd done their process. People on Twitter would talk to OnPeak, the company doing the bookings, and get different answers, including that it was all done randomly despite what we'd been told up until that point. And once again, this is on a workday, leaving all of us freaking out throughout the day that we wouldn't have anywhere to stay for the vacation we'd already dropped a couple hundred dollars on.

One person in my group got Crown Plaza, which we think is in Hotel Circle. It's on the shuttle route, at least, so while it's not downtown, it's not the worst. Another one in my group, who got in very early on Tuesday, got Town & Country. That's about five miles away, but it wasn't that far a drive when we had to go last year, so okay. Then the emails stopped, and I'd gone from freaking out to accepting that this was what we were getting.

And then Sarah's mom, who'd helped us out by trying from another computer, got the Marriott Marquis and Marina, right next to the convention center. We got extremely lucky, especially since we've stayed there four times in the past. The rest of us got rejection emails, no wait list. We'd watch other people not get anything at all and tell Sarah to hug her mom again. I have friends who have first crack at the other rooms we got, and have our room already reserved.

I know some of my readers here are here for the SDCC talk, and if you didn't get a room, don't lose hope. A lot of hotels go up for resale. People try for rooms in groups, and if they get something then they give the others back. So there's still a chance. Keep an eye out, and good luck.

Finding hotels for my trip this weekend is going to seem so much easier now.