Room block full?

[Kat]

Another good plan ^_^

[Greg Hines]

voltron, have you already booked your room at the Super 8? I checked their web site when making the list of hotels I made earlier and they said there weren't any rooms available for that weekend. That's why it didn't make my list. (That may have been a problem with the web site rather than actually being sold out, though.)

[Zarabadoo]

Ok, the official word is that the hotel is packed to the gills for the weekend. I recommend to start calling up the other hotels in the area if you still need one since they will start filling very fast. Unfortunately, I don't think any hotel in the city would be able to hold us all for an evening.

[mastergods]

Since we are talking about Rooms I have a question.

What is the best time to check in to the Hotel? last year I got my room around 1ish and got a room topfloor, far back T_T it felt like it took forever to go up and down to the con every time. If I showed up around noon do you think I would get a beeter room?

[Zarabadoo]

Not really as far as I know. I have usually gotten there around 3PM or later myself and have gotten rooms on the second floor of the lower part of the building. You can try requesting a lower room with your reservation.

[Pestilence]

Thank goodness for proactive friends.

[Joel Berger]

Edit: Pretty well everything in this post has been superseded by the information Amanda posted below.  It's still here for clarity of the thread, but it should not be considered accurate as Amanda's information comes directly from the hotel and is most likely based on what's specifically set out in the contract. Sorry for any confusion I may have caused. -Joel

With regard to check-in times, I think they actually try to get most of their room assignments done before the prior night's check-out.  At the very least, last year when I checked in I had to do some juggling due to changing arrangements (had doubled-up reservations for various reasons, had to cancel one and move the other into the first one's space) and discovered that they had already assigned a room to my reservation.

I've done a similar process before (it bears a big resemblance to seating people for season tickets in a theatre), so I would expect that the process is mostly automated and goes something like this:

• Disability access
  
• Large group contracts (you can bet that the con has specific provisions for where and what the rooms  are for guests, for instance)
  
• VIP upgrades (1,048,576 reward points beats the guy who's never booked a room before)
  
• Guaranteed room attributes (room type/price tier, bed size/count, smoking preference, etc.)
  
• Special requests (rollaway, crib, room location/pairing, etc., first-come/first-served)
  
• Un-picky people with reservations
  
• Walk-ins (beggars can't be choosers)
  

That fifth bullet is key; you can make special requests of this type either on the website when you set your reservation, or by calling the hotel directly the week of the event (for a con, think sometime between Monday morning and Thursday evening for a Friday afternoon check-in).  Just be aware that the hotel still has to honor the first three bullets first, as well as anyone who requested/reserved (not sure which, though I'd personally go for reserved) before you.  This is cool, and it works; so far, I've gotten atrium rooms both years we've been at the Marriott.  I'd also recommend joining the hotel's reward program, especially if you also attend Starfest or have any other occasion to stay at a Marriott during the year.  A few nights a year might not seem like much, but it doesn't take so many to get some discounts, a free night, whatever, not to mention that more frequent use gets the VIP status mentioned above.

Hope this information is helpful to those of you who've already booked, or anyone who gets a lucky break between now and then.  For the rest ... well, based on past years' experience, I do expect to hear about an overflow block at a nearby hotel soon.  Selling out the hotel really is good for everyone...

[Curucar]

Eh, I haven't ran into the pre-assigned rooms yet. Last year I requested two ajoining rooms with twin beds in each room, and when I arrived, the woman behind the counter was scouring the computer for ajoining rooms. There happened to be one set left, but it was twin beds in one and then a single king in the other. Our group ended up being on two seperate floors. >_>

[Joel Berger]

Hm, weird.  Maybe the other factor involved was the fact that I wanted adjoining rooms with someone who arrived on Thursday night, while I wasn't able to show up 'til Friday morning because of cash constraints.  I could've hoped...

[Execdirec]

Okay Folks, 

I had a lovely meeting with our hotel rep this week, and I wanted to set the record straight on a couple of things.  This is the official word that the hotel has given to me, so here it goes.

PARKING:

1.  Parking will be free for the entire weekend of NDK.  Parking will stay this way as long as we are at this hotel.  It is in our contract, and we should never have to pay for it.

2.  There will be only 2 rows of valet parking available, which is less space than last year, leaving us with a little more wiggle room. 

3.  This is important:  THE HOTEL WILL NOT HESITATE TO TOW VEHICLES THAT ARE PARKED ILLEGALLY.  There was a huge problem with this at a convention earlier this year, and the Marriott is not playing around with this.  So, do yourselves a favor, and park in designated spaces.  There is not an "official"  overflow parking lot, although the business complex across the street does not seem to mind us parking there on the weekends.

HOTEL ROOM RATES

1.  All of our hotel room block is sold out.  This means that the rate we get for the convention at $72 per night is not available to anyone who books a hotel room on Friday or Saturday night.  There are group rate rooms available on Sunday night however, so if you are considering getting a room on Sunday, it will be less expensive, as there are still rooms available at our rate on this night.

2.  Believe it or not, the rate that they are offering people who did not make the room block is a discounted rate as well.  The rooms are usually priced from $209 to $225 dollars on a normal weekend.  The $149 per night is a corporate rate that they usually offer to large groups.

3.  The hotel is not willing to increase our room block.  I tried to negotiate this over the past 2 weeks, but to no avail. 

4.  If you have not booked a room yet, and you are looking for a less expensive rate, you might want to consider going to the Wyndham, which is right across the street.  When I checked this afternoon, the rooms were at $89 per night. 

HOTEL ROOM SIZES & BEDS

1.  The hotel does not guarantee room sizes or beds.  It is considered a request, not a guarantee.  So even if you requested a double, there is a distinct posibility that you might not get one.  There are only so many doubles in the hotel, and everyone wants one.  Try to check in early if possible.  According to the hotel, the best time is around 3:00 PM.

2.  The room size given is a first come, first serve basis.  It has nothing to do with disablilities, special requests, or Marriott rewards program.  Whoever makes it to the hotel desk first will be the one who has first pick on a room. 

3.  The $72 per night rate is only for single occupancy.  It is $20 per extra person per night.  If you are planning to have more than one person in your room, keep this in mind for your budget. 

4.  In that same train of thought, if you have requested a rollaway bed or crib, there is an additional charge per item of furniture requested. 

5. Keep in mind that the hotel is very close to being sold out completely right now, so if you plan to purchase a hotel room at the Marriott, it would be wise to act quickly.  The hotel has told me that there are less than 50 rooms available for both Friday and Saturday night.

Whew!  I think that is all of it.  Thank you all for listening, and I can't wait to see you at NDK!!

-Amanda L.
Executive Director
Nan Desu Kan   

[Joel Berger]

I'd like to take this moment to officially apologize for any misinformation or confusion I may have caused on this issue.  What I posted was based on past years' experience including some advice from the hotel itself, but hotel management and policies change, and there's a good chance I've misinterpreted even what they told me a year or two ago.  I've edited the post above to reflect the fact that more or less none very little of it appears to be accurate information (I still recommend getting a rewards card), while trying to keep the thread coherent (hence the reason I didn't delete the post entirely).

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