Goat Day 24: Hotelpocalypse
2Good afternoon, folks. Today, I'm finally going to continue my rant about the San Diego Comic Con Booking process. You can read part one here...
HOTELPOCALYPSE
After you get your badge for Comic Con, the biggest stress happens soon after (It started today). It's affectionately called "Hotelpocalypse." SDCC contracts a company called Travel Planners to book a block of hotels for guests at a discounted price. They have a whole range of choices. Here's the 2015 list:
It's a nice, varied choice. There are multiple areas you could end up.... but there are only two main places the majority of guests go: Downtown or Mission Valley. Downtown is great because the convention hall is right nearby, almost within walking distance. The Mission Valley Hotels are away from downtown, but you get free shuttle service to downtown if you choose. It's also a bit quieter.
Downtown hotels are most popular because they seem to contain the least amount of headaches, namely close to the convention center and food choices.
So how do you sign up? Well, here's a breakdown. Seems detailed right?
Well, I've done this process for 5 years in a row, and I have yet to ever score a downtown hotel that I chose. I did get one one year, but it was in an extremely expensive, $275/night Manchester Grand Hyatt... I never said I wanted to be in that place, specifically because I knew I couldn't afford that.
Now you may think "Billy Goat (Wow, why hasn't anyone called me this yet?), are you not following the process? Are you acting slow to the punch?" No. In fact I timed it this year... It took 2 minutes and 10 seconds for me to choose my preferred hotels. It took me similar times the years before. Why haven't I scored a downtown hotel? Because I'm too slow.
How fast do you think you could fill out that form when you factor in a 30-45 second delay in loading the page? It's a tad ridiculous.
Luckily, I've been able to score a cheap Mission Valley hotel a few weeks later... But damn it, I want to stay downtown one of these years...
Maybe this year? We'll find out in a day or two.
TODAY'S DEAL
Speaking of Comic Con, do you know how much bottled water costs there? $3.50 a bottle (Might be $4 now). I have a filtered water bottle at home (I received one in a Bag of Crap a few years ago). The convention center has water fountains EVERYWHERE. Guess what? You buy today's bottle and bring it to a convention setting, and you've already paid for them after two fill-ups. Pretty sweet, huh?
ABE VIGODA UPDATE
Still alive.
TODAY'S QUESTION
What item have you bought that paid for itself rather quickly?
Until tomorrow, BLEAT!!!
- 3 comments
- Comment
This was in the early 2000's ... one year, I stayed up in San Marcos, about 30 miles out (under $60/night). That Friday night, a couple was at the front desk, desperate. "I have $200 - do you have ANY room at all?"
After checking their system, "The closest rooms I see available is up in Temecula."
Temecula is 60 miles out from San Diego.
As much as I miss seeing SDCC, I don't miss the chaos that comes with it. It's way different than it was back in the 90's, that's for sure.
I prefer to buy things after they've been paid for by the client . . . Funny how often it works out that way. Just work it into the bid . . .
My MVNO cell phone. Switched from Verizon ($87/mo) to MVNO ($34.65/mo). Phone cost $100. Paid for itself in two months. That was about three years ago. Since then, I figure the cumulative savings is around $2,000.