Queen, King or Roll Away

     So, I have to say that perhaps it's only some friends being kind, but it looks as though I may actually have some interest in this little endeavor, so I figure I will keep the ball rolling and see where it takes us.

     The last entry I rambled on and on about making lists, this time I'm going to steer in a slightly different direction and ramble on, (and it may run a bit long), about the mundane task of getting yourself all booked and ready for the trip to begin with.  It's so easy to jump on the bandwagon and get yourself all psyched up for the road trip, the friends, the convention, and of course the miles of dealer specials; but the thing is, you have to have a place to rest your head each night. Unless you, like me, are the one doing all the legwork, its easy to overlook how tiresome it is to find a good hotel that is within your desired distance of the convention, has all the amenities you want, and is able to accommodate your budget. So, for those that are just starting out on the fun "business" side of convention traveling, lets start at the beginning.

Things to Decide:

     As this section says, you need to decide on a few things. Every person is different, just as every convention is vastly different, so what one person considers a top priority may not be the same as the next person, but I will do my best to break it down as it falls in my book.

     Budget:
        It's just as it says, budget. That nasty little thing that always seems to get in the way of all the thrills and frills of any good convention. For me, it unfortunately is the ruling factor of my life. If I could avoid it, erase it, let it go with the wind, trust me, I would! But, since it doesn't seem as if it will ever let go of my leg, I will use it as good place to start. Whenever we decide to even begin considering attending a convention, I begin looking at the numbers involved. And the biggest number always seems to fall with lodging for the entire length of the Con. No, there is no set in stone rule that if you attend a convention that you have to attend all the days that are offered. But I will be honest, if you have the leave and have the budget, it's well worth it! But finding the little tricks to saving some serious Con Funds is something that takes a little tinkering with. And of course looking at your budget goes hand in hand with one other factor in helping decide your slumber location, and that is...

     Location:
        Pretty simple actually: how far away are you willing to be and how much are you willing to spend? When traveling to any Con, you have to look at where it is being held and how far are you willing to be away from the central attraction? Many conventions are held in adeptly named Convention Centers, which are oddly enough, located directly near, *dun dun duuun* a hotel! But here is the sticky wicket about that convenient hotel, it's 1.) Going to be jam packed. 2.) It's going to cost more. 3.) Have some heavy foot and vehicle traffic all hours of the day.  The positives about it are, 1.) Free parking. 2.) Walking distance. 3.) Close proximity for dropping off any loot in the room. 4.) Makes catching early morning and late night events a breeze. 

     So back to deciding on the question: how far away and for how much? I have to agree that the appeal of being right next door to the Con is oh so tempting. But I have to be honest, I have never actually been able to do it! Mainly for three deciding factors, 1.) The price! The closer you are to any major city event, the higher the price goes up for lodging. Unfortunately, the hotels know they can squeeze more out of patrons, because there are so many willing to pay the asking price, for the convenience offered. 2.) They are booked way, way, way, way in advance! These close lying hotels are like gold mines! The serious veterans that attend every year, usually book their room in the same hotel every year, even for the next year, before the Con is even fully underway. (Now, there are a few ways around that, because the hotels have gotten smarter, but I will talk about that in a little bit.) 3.) Too many events and people! Many of these closer hotels, may actually be participating in the convention! Many times their ballrooms, and conference rooms will be rented out to event holders throughout the duration of the Con. And the times these rooms are being used, do not always follow the same schedule as your typical 9-5 work/sleep schedule. So that means when you're wanting to sneak back to your room and rest up for that early morning gaming event the next day, you may not exactly be getting the peace and quiet you were hoping for. Also, having a gaming event moved into whole hallways of a hotel, is also not uncommon.

     All this together has always been why I choose to go a little further away. Now by choosing to forgo the free parking for a little bit of quiet, I of course have to look at that pesky Budget again; but parking is another entry topic. As for now lets just talk about ways to save on the hotels themselves. Now, most Cons have gotten smart and have teamed up with local travel sites to offer discounts on everything from airfare, car rentals, hotels and public transportation. They will offer even some of those coveted "golden rooms" mentioned earlier for a discount price, once you have purchased your Con Badge. You see the Cons know that they will be able to bring in a few more patrons, especially those traveling long distances, if they offer one stop shopping for them right there at the checkout screen. So they will work with hotels all along a roughly 3-5 mile radius from the convention center, to reserve rooms that can be offered at the discounted prices in what they call a Housing Block. Now, granted these can be great deals, especially when combined with airfare and car rentals; but for the rest of us who are a little closer and only looking at getting a hotel, they aren't that 'knock you out' great. After trial and error, everything from scouring page after page of hotels, looking at various travel sites, making dozens of phone calls, checking out the rooms offered by the convention Housing Block, and just plain old asking "where did you stay and how much did you pay?" of other Con attendees, I have found that the best prices can be found in a few simple steps:
     1.) Start looking early.  
        Most Cons start selling their badges way in advance, so their Housing Blocks become available for viewing around the same time. Take for example Gen Con; they begin selling their badges in January for the Con in August. The Housing Block opens up only a short week or so after the badges begin going on sale. So depending on when you buy your badge you can take advantage of first dibs on better rooms being offered in the Housing Block. But even if you are not looking at purchasing your badge at that time, you can still get an idea of what the pricing looks like at other locations to give yourself some comparisons. This is done easily enough now with the use of such websites as KAYAK which as the commercials say, "search one and done," but after fiddling with all the sites that popped up by using Kayak, only one, in my opinion, seemed to offer the best deals; and that was Hotwire.  The first year I used Hotwire, I got a Three-Star hotel, for four people, for three nights, for $41 a night. It was about 7 miles from the Convention Center but worth the 15 minute drive.  Now, I'm not getting any endorsements for promoting one site over another. I just have this crazy idea that if you find something that saves you money, you share it with others! And I have to say, so far, I've been impressed. Not only did the site save me a ton the first time, they have saved me a bunch this time around as well. This year I added an extra night, I got another Three-Star hotel in the same area as before, for the same amount of people, for only $53 a night; but the best part was, since I was a current member, the site had sent me a $20 coupon, off my next hotel reservation that I used during checkout. 
    2.) Keep on eye on prices
       Of course, as I mentioned earlier, my Budget has a way of  telling me what I can and cannot do. So, when I began looking at hotels in January, (like I said, start looking early), I was literally doing just that, looking. I knew that if I was going to make this whole thing work I was probably going to have to either save up, or wait for something to happen...say, a tax refund? Luckily, many of these sites have ways of helping you keep on top of prices and how they change. They offer email programs that will notify you when the dates and locations you're interested go on sale, so you have a little bit of notice, and can save a few more dollars at the same time. Which luckily enough for me one of those email kicked in the same week as I got that $20 coupon and my tax refund...it doesn't usually happen that way.
     3.) Be flexiable
        Sometimes you have to be willing to give up a few things to get a better location, or a better price. This is where knowing what amenities you just can't live without comes in. When you use sites such as Kayak or Hotwire they usually all have a checklist of all the things you are looking for in hotel. Use this to your advantage. Play around with the options you want, scope out the results you get and if you don't find anything that fits just right, start taking things off the list. Usually for me one of the first things to go is a swimming pool. I hate to do it, but lets be honest, unless you are traveling with children, you are going to be spending almost your entire day at the Con and won't have time to be cannon balling off the diving board anyways. From there, I just keep chopping things in order of my personal importance level, to include distance, until I'm left with the price range I want and the choices I can live with.

    I suppose in my round about way, what I'm really trying to say is: to get the best bang for your buck, know what you want. Know how close you want to be. Know how much you can spend. Know what amenities you want. And know what you realistically can do without, and what you are willing to settle for. Taking a little extra time to shop around, and even a little extra time to wait for a better price, sometimes can make all the difference in where you sleep during your Con-venture. Of course, I didn't mention at all if you are bunking up with other friends. Of course if you are fortunate enough to do that, then you have just saved yourself a whole two pages worth of headache. You just get to pay your share of the stay and away you go. Of course now the only question that remains will be, do you get the Queen, the King or the Roll Away?