I'm glad I booked early cause :twisted: will freeze over when Anime Expo is at the Hynes the same weekend as PAX East.
Anime Boston is alright, but definitely not as big as PAX. I went to it in 2010, the week after PAX on a saturday and it looked like a sunday's PAX attendance cut in half.
I'm glad I booked early cause :twisted: will freeze over when Anime Expo is at the Hynes the same weekend as PAX East.
Anime Boston is alright, but definitely not as big as PAX. I went to it in 2010, the week after PAX on a saturday and it looked like a sunday's PAX attendance cut in half.
You can't beat PAX attendence. It's not even fair of Anime Boston to compare them. Its like saying "man have you seen all those people in the US?...pshh, they look like a half populated city compared to that China place." :P
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KailKeeper of AwesomenessWMASSRegistered Userregular
edited November 2011
Just booked for the Renaissance Seaport. Seems like everything close is starting to fill up. Look forward to meeting new people.
Note: on a hunch i decided to call onpeak and see if any rooms were freed up. They were very friendly and helped switch my hotel. Just remember if you want a hotel try and call. its worth the shot.
Kail on
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Seaport is where some of the coolest of cool people will be. So cool, in fact, you might have to bring an extra sweater because the Seaport is going to be so chill.
I know juju started up a google doc so people can start (stalking)friending/following others in their hotels or nearby, you should give that a whirl. (It's up on the first page, guarded by a cute pokemon avatar)
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2009 Omeganaut
For the most part people here seem to use their rooms to hold their clothes sleep and shower.
This is 100% fact lol.
Yeah, that's about it. But since we didn't end up getting back until about 3 AM, there wasn't much sleep to be had.
You vant to cross, maybe?
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I'm surprised to see just how booked the Westin is! I already had my reservation done for the PAX weekend and decided to an extra night so that I could leave on Monday morning instead of late Sunday. They could not find a room! :shock:
I'm surprised to see just how booked the Westin is! I already had my reservation done for the PAX weekend and decided to an extra night so that I could leave on Monday morning instead of late Sunday. They could not find a room! :shock:
Sunday night and Thursday night fill up first. I think they get far smaller room quantities for those two nights. I booked at the Westin an hour after the twitter announcement, and there were no more thurs-sun doubles left.
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After wanting to cry because the Westin was booked (I use a cane so being on site was really helpful last year), we're now booked at the Seaport since it's the next closest, and we could see itfrom our room at the Westin last year.
So it seems that the Westin and the Seaport are both sold out. What's the next best hotel? I'm looking at the Colonnade Boston looks to be the nicest of the ones left but also the furthest away at 2.7 miles away. Can you take the train or how would one get the the convention center? Or the Doubletree by Hilton Downtown Boston which is the cheapest and fairly close by 1.4 miles. This will be our first trip to Boston and our first PAX so I'm looking for opinions. It seems that things are selling out quick please anyone help me!
So it seems that the Westin and the Seaport are both sold out. What's the next best hotel? I'm looking at the Colonnade Boston looks to be the nicest of the ones left but also the furthest away at 2.7 miles away. Can you take the train or how would one get the the convention center? Or the Doubletree by Hilton Downtown Boston which is the cheapest and fairly close by 1.4 miles. This will be our first trip to Boston and our first PAX so I'm looking for opinions. It seems that things are selling out quick please anyone help me!
The Renaissance is the next closest hotel after the Westin and the Seaport. It is also very close to the BCEC and is a nice hotel.
I believe the hotels that are further away have shuttle service (provided by PAX) to and from the hotels.
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KailKeeper of AwesomenessWMASSRegistered Userregular
So it seems that the Westin and the Seaport are both sold out. What's the next best hotel? I'm looking at the Colonnade Boston looks to be the nicest of the ones left but also the furthest away at 2.7 miles away. Can you take the train or how would one get the the convention center? Or the Doubletree by Hilton Downtown Boston which is the cheapest and fairly close by 1.4 miles. This will be our first trip to Boston and our first PAX so I'm looking for opinions. It seems that things are selling out quick please anyone help me!
The Renaissance is the next closest hotel after the Westin and the Seaport. It is also very close to the BCEC and is a nice hotel.
I believe the hotels that are further away have shuttle service (provided by PAX) to and from the hotels.
Also call onpeak every now and then. If there are any cancellations they will switch your reservation for you. It's how I got into Seaport.
It's always worth a shot.
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So bummed that I missed the Westin yet again... back at Seaport this year. Not to say that I didn't enjoy it last year, but the whole idea of not having to walk outside to get to the convention was a big sell for me. Cold and I are not on speaking terms.
Thanks zerzhul and Kail for the information. The Renaissance looks nice but it's one of the more expensive hotels. Is it worth it to stay closer to the convention center? I see that most of the hotels offer the shuttle service how is that? What are the typical hours?
Also now that I'm looking at the onpeak booking system is seems that they don't charge you until you actually stay? So I could book and if I decided to change my mind or look at a different hotel there wouldn't be a penalty?
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KailKeeper of AwesomenessWMASSRegistered Userregular
Thanks zerzhul and Kail for the information. The Renaissance looks nice but it's one of the more expensive hotels. Is it worth it to stay closer to the convention center? I see that most of the hotels offer the shuttle service how is that? What are the typical hours?
Also now that I'm looking at the onpeak booking system is seems that they don't charge you until you actually stay? So I could book and if I decided to change my mind or look at a different hotel there wouldn't be a penalty?
From what I read after I booked was that they require a 72 hour notice for any change of reservation. Though i know there will be a deposit (usually one nights stay) you should get most of that back. I have decided to stay closer to PAX due to not having to worry about the T shutting down at 2. I also have a lot more friends staying closer (at Seaport) so the decision was logical.
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So it seems that the Westin and the Seaport are both sold out. What's the next best hotel? I'm looking at the Colonnade Boston looks to be the nicest of the ones left but also the furthest away at 2.7 miles away. Can you take the train or how would one get the the convention center? Or the Doubletree by Hilton Downtown Boston which is the cheapest and fairly close by 1.4 miles. This will be our first trip to Boston and our first PAX so I'm looking for opinions. It seems that things are selling out quick please anyone help me!
I stayed at the Colonnade for PAX East 2011 (our first PAX). We ended up taking cab rides to get there (which was about $10ish if I remember correctly..) and taking the shuttle back to the hotel. We could have waited to be picked up by the shuttle but we wanted to get there uber early for the lines. Our room was very nice.. and the view from our floor to ceiling window was amazing to wake up to! AND you get a little Colonnade rubber duck! /relevant.
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Thanks zerzhul and Kail for the information. The Renaissance looks nice but it's one of the more expensive hotels. Is it worth it to stay closer to the convention center? I see that most of the hotels offer the shuttle service how is that? What are the typical hours?
Also now that I'm looking at the onpeak booking system is seems that they don't charge you until you actually stay? So I could book and if I decided to change my mind or look at a different hotel there wouldn't be a penalty?
From what I read after I booked was that they require a 72 hour notice for any change of reservation. Though i know there will be a deposit (usually one nights stay) you should get most of that back. I have decided to stay closer to PAX due to not having to worry about the T shutting down at 2. I also have a lot more friends staying closer (at Seaport) so the decision was logical.
OnPeak transfers the reservations to the actual PAX hotels about two weeks prior to PAX. I would say that you'd need at least 2 weeks prior to PAX to switch your booking with OnPeak. That's separate from the 72 hour cancellation notice for the hotel itself once the reservation is transferred to the hotel.
If you book with a credit card, you are not charged unless you cancel with the hotel with less than 72 hours notice. A deposit will be "authed" to your card close to PAX to verify that your payment method is valid, but you will only be charged that deposit if you fail to check in to the hotel or if you cancel with less than 72 hours notice. Otherwise, the deposit auth will go away once you check in and you will only be charged once your stay is completed. This is how it's worked for most of the hotels in the past, but as I do not represent the hotels or OnPeak, YMMV.
The hotels themselves don't offer the shuttle service, it is a service provided by PAX to and from the partner hotels that are further away (not the seaport, renaissance, or westin). Not sure on the hours. I believe they ran right up until the end of PAX, but I'm not sure how often they showed up.
So it seems that the Westin and the Seaport are both sold out. What's the next best hotel? I'm looking at the Colonnade Boston looks to be the nicest of the ones left but also the furthest away at 2.7 miles away. Can you take the train or how would one get the the convention center? Or the Doubletree by Hilton Downtown Boston which is the cheapest and fairly close by 1.4 miles. This will be our first trip to Boston and our first PAX so I'm looking for opinions. It seems that things are selling out quick please anyone help me!
To be honest this has been covered a bit in the thread, but I would understand why going through 8 pages would be a bit... annoying.
Here's my take.
First off, as long as you have a positive attitude about going to PAX, your choice of hotels and what not won't affect your experience. Having a good travel plan is just icing on the cake.
As far as I am concerned there is no definitive guide to "Staying in a hotel that's a bit far from PAX", but I can tell you that it's doable. If you have access to a shuttle service then most of your problems should be solved, but if not, there's always a cab near a hotel and a line of them at the event. Boston has a good public transportation system as well, but it won't last late into the night when PAX closes. It's still worth looking into though since it will help with all day time and evening travels to and from should you need it. Keep in mind that a 7 day pass is only 15$. You could use the service all day and use a cab when the event closes - just know that there's a considerable line up when the place shuts down.
To help you plan ahead there are cab fair calculators out there for Boston, however in my experience the results were off. They kept telling me my rides should be about 7$ tip included but it was usually 10%.
The real thing you have to take into account is fatigue. PAX can (more like... will) be very demanding both physically and mentally. It can have a cascading effect on your plans if you aren't too careful. Plan yourself at good two trips back during the event (not counting the first time you go there and the time you intend to leave), that will probably help out the most. Don't make it so that you will feel "stranded", if you know what I mean. My best tip on this matter would be to get on with all the important, "can't miss" shopping early on and carry everything back to the hotel early on so you don't have to carry or worry about any of that.
Send me a PM if you want to talk about it in depth.
I'm staying at the Hyatt Regency Boston, which is 1.4 miles away from the hotel - maybe a 15 minute walk. I stayed at Hyatt Cambridge last year and though it was a little hike, it was probably one of the most enjoyable hotels I've stayed in.
It seems like Hyatt is one of the last hotels to fill up and it's kind of a nice little secret lol.
You can't spell assassin without sin, and twice the ass!
I'm staying at the Hilton-Boston/Downtown kind of nice being able to use the employee discount for Pax weekend It's about a mile from the convention center, but with a free shuttle I'm not complaining at all.
Ok, so on a whim, I decided to check the PAX site to see when they were opening registration and low and behold, it's not only already open but the Westin is sold out (dammit)! So I'll have to book at another hotel. When the hotel amenities mentions a "shuttle" does that basically mean a non-stop shuttle type vehicle that goes from the hotel to the convention at no extra charge? Anyone know how late they tend to run?
Ok, so on a whim, I decided to check the PAX site to see when they were opening registration and low and behold, it's not only already open but the Westin is sold out (dammit)! So I'll have to book at another hotel. When the hotel amenities mentions a "shuttle" does that basically mean a non-stop shuttle type vehicle that goes from the hotel to the convention at no extra charge? Anyone know how late they tend to run?
PAX arranged the shuttles to and from various hotels, free of charge. Most of the shuttles ran every 55 minutes from 8-11 AM and then every thirty minutes from 5-8 PM. They also ran every 30 minutes from 12AM-3AM Friday and Saturday nights.
Ok, so on a whim, I decided to check the PAX site to see when they were opening registration and low and behold, it's not only already open but the Westin is sold out (dammit)! So I'll have to book at another hotel. When the hotel amenities mentions a "shuttle" does that basically mean a non-stop shuttle type vehicle that goes from the hotel to the convention at no extra charge? Anyone know how late they tend to run?
PAX arranged the shuttles to and from various hotels, free of charge. Most of the shuttles ran every 55 minutes from 8-11 AM and then every thirty minutes from 5-8 PM. They also ran every 30 minutes from 12AM-3AM Friday and Saturday nights.
Anything that is under 2 miles I say walk "unless rain" My hotel was a little over a mile away last year. Walking through Boston to the convention center is one of the funnest parts!
Is the Westin Boston Waterfront [Connected to BCEC] really 500$ a night atm or am i missing something...:( is there a promo code for pax?
Edit NM sounds like they are booked solid and giveing huge numbers to try and over book.
pax discount is obtained by booking through the pax site. westin is booked up, but many other area hotels are still available. booking outside the pax reserved block is not recommended, both for price and because if the hotel overbooks, reservations outside the block will be the first to get bumped.
booking outside the pax reserved block is not recommended, both for price and because if the hotel overbooks, reservations outside the block will be the first to get bumped.
I "believe" that hotels also generally prioritize paid-in-full/advance customers from prior experience, but that could also just be luck.
booking outside the pax reserved block is not recommended, both for price and because if the hotel overbooks, reservations outside the block will be the first to get bumped.
I "believe" that hotels also generally prioritize paid-in-full/advance customers from prior experience, but that could also just be luck.
that depends on if you booked directly with the hotel or if you booked via hotwire or some other site like that.
"we're just doing what smalllady told us to do" - @Heels
booking outside the pax reserved block is not recommended, both for price and because if the hotel overbooks, reservations outside the block will be the first to get bumped.
I "believe" that hotels also generally prioritize paid-in-full/advance customers from prior experience, but that could also just be luck.
that depends on if you booked directly with the hotel or if you booked via hotwire or some other site like that.
Which is why I don't like booking through third parties. Heard enough horror stories.
booking outside the pax reserved block is not recommended, both for price and because if the hotel overbooks, reservations outside the block will be the first to get bumped.
I "believe" that hotels also generally prioritize paid-in-full/advance customers from prior experience, but that could also just be luck.
in general that's probably true, but with a con block situation it is very much in the hotel's best interest to keep con folk happy, even at the expense of some angry individual customers. also, last year the westin did overbook and a lot of outside-the-block people were, in fact, bumped.
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peetsnackTeam Green Poké Assist, Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Head Girl House HufflepuffThe Cleave LandsRegistered Userregular
booking outside the pax reserved block is not recommended, both for price and because if the hotel overbooks, reservations outside the block will be the first to get bumped.
I "believe" that hotels also generally prioritize paid-in-full/advance customers from prior experience, but that could also just be luck.
in general that's probably true, but with a con block situation it is very much in the hotel's best interest to keep Robert Khoo happy, even at the expense of some angry individual customers. also, last year the westin did overbook and a lot of outside-the-block people were, in fact, bumped.
Fixed it for ya.
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Moe FwackyRight Here, Right NowDrives a BuickModeratormod
edited November 2011
Yeah, I think the hotels have learned not to cross Robert Khoo since the PAX 09(?) Oakland Raiders debacle.
For those of you who don't remember or weren't there. Back in 2009 (I think), the Oakland Raiders were in town for a preseason game the same weekend as PAX. The Grand Hyatt bumped a bunch of PAX people (booked in the PAX block) over to the Hyatt on Olive 8. The Grand Hyatt being across the street from the convention center and the Hyatt on Olive 8 being about a half-mile away. In addition to regular attendees, enforcers and possibly friends of PA were bumped. Robert Khoo went down and had a "talk" with the management there.
In the end, the Oakland Raiders were removed from the rooms they had already checked into and sent packing.
Thus is the power of Robert Khoo with a contract.
And THIS is why it's in your best interests to book inside the PAX block through OnPeak.
Yeah, I think the hotels have learned not to cross Robert Khoo since the PAX 09(?) Oakland Raiders debacle.
For those of you who don't remember or weren't there. Back in 2009 (I think), the Oakland Raiders were in town for a preseason game the same weekend as PAX. The Grand Hyatt bumped a bunch of PAX people (booked in the PAX block) over to the Hyatt on Olive 8. The Grand Hyatt being across the street from the convention center and the Hyatt on Olive 8 being about a half-mile away. In addition to regular attendees, enforcers and possibly friends of PA were bumped. Robert Khoo went down and had a "talk" with the management there.
In the end, the Oakland Raiders were removed from the rooms they had already checked into and sent packing.
Thus is the power of Robert Khoo with a contract.
And THIS is why it's in your best interests to book inside the PAX block through OnPeak.
Zerzhul told me that story at last PAX. He added, "Beware the wrath of Khoo".
Colonnade Boston
Courtyard Boston Tremont Hotel
Hilton Boston Back Bay
Hilton Boston Financial District
Holiday Inn Boston Brookline
Hyatt Regency Boston
InterContinental Boston
MidTown Hotel
Omni Parker House
Park Plaza Hotel & Towers
Radisson Hotel Boston
Doubletree by Hilton Downtown Boston Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel Seaport Hotel Westin Boston Waterfront [Connected to BCEC]
Strike-though = Hotel is sold out for at least one of the nights of PAX {Thursday Night - Sunday Night}
FYI
"we're just doing what smalllady told us to do" - @Heels
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juju[E] Line Entertainment!Brookline, MARegistered Userregular
edited November 2011
For those scrambling for remaining hotels:
The ones on the list that are still close and VERY accessible to the convention center are the Intercontinental Hotel, Omni Parker House, and the Hyatt Regency. The last two are short walking distance from the 7 Bus, which runs approximately every 5-15 minutes from the corner of Milk St and Summer St and stops directly in front of the BCEC. The Intercontinental is close to the convention center and an easy walk, but not for someone who is not comfortable with lugging around swag and plans to acquire many things to carry.
The Hilton Boston Financial District is an excellent option for anyone who will be doing a lot of pre-PAX Community events. It is the closest hotel to the Pokecrawl and any Faneuil Hall events the community will plan. It's a pretty inexpensive taxi ride as well.
Courtyard Boston Tremont Hotel, Radisson Hotel, and Park Plaza Hotel are near the Boylston/Arlington area of town, which is a very manageable cab ride fare especially when split. The one on Tremont is in a weird area, a mix of food courts, night clubs, and concert venues. Park Plaza is in the middle of many upscale restaurants and a short walk from ritzy shopping. They are manageable especially with the shuttles.
Colonnade Boston, Hilton Back Bay and MidTown Hotel are far, close to the old PAX East 2009 venue. If you can navigate the T well or utilize the shuttles, it may be worth it with the preplanning. The area around it has more things to do and relevant nightlife/eats for the average PAXer than the Boylston/Arlington hotels. Be prepared for a ~25-30 minute commute to PAX, though. If you're okay with that, it may be worth the value.
The Holiday Inn Brookline... hmm. This puzzles me as to why it's on the list because it's so, so very far. I live walking distance from this hotel and I'm hotelling it much closer :P The cool thing about it is that it seems wicked cheap compared to the other hotels and it's in a greaaaat neighborhood (but I'm biased, it's my neighborhood). If you want to take the T to the BCEC it will set you anywhere from 35-50 minutes depending on T traffic and time of day, so use the shuttles and plan accordingly.
juju on
PAX East '10-16 Pokecrawl || Team Green's Awesome PokeProf! PAX Prime '10-'13 Triwizard Drinking Tournament || Hufflepuff Head of House! Twitter: @jujukoo
[E]
I stayed at the Intercontinental last year. It was a pretty nice hotel, shuttle service at night was nice. It was a pretty easy walk to the BCEC (maybe 10 to 15 minute walk at the most) and you are right by South Station which is nice. With the Westin and Seaport both being gone I would recommend the Intercontinental.
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Anime Boston is alright, but definitely not as big as PAX. I went to it in 2010, the week after PAX on a saturday and it looked like a sunday's PAX attendance cut in half.
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You can't beat PAX attendence. It's not even fair of Anime Boston to compare them. Its like saying "man have you seen all those people in the US?...pshh, they look like a half populated city compared to that China place." :P
Note: on a hunch i decided to call onpeak and see if any rooms were freed up. They were very friendly and helped switch my hotel. Just remember if you want a hotel try and call. its worth the shot.
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I know juju started up a google doc so people can start (stalking)friending/following others in their hotels or nearby, you should give that a whirl. (It's up on the first page, guarded by a cute pokemon avatar)
2009 Omeganaut
Yeah, that's about it. But since we didn't end up getting back until about 3 AM, there wasn't much sleep to be had.
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PAX East 2014 Checklist: Passes Purchased [X] Passes Received [ ] Transportation [ ] Hotel Reservation [X]
Sunday night and Thursday night fill up first. I think they get far smaller room quantities for those two nights. I booked at the Westin an hour after the twitter announcement, and there were no more thurs-sun doubles left.
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The Renaissance is the next closest hotel after the Westin and the Seaport. It is also very close to the BCEC and is a nice hotel.
I believe the hotels that are further away have shuttle service (provided by PAX) to and from the hotels.
Also call onpeak every now and then. If there are any cancellations they will switch your reservation for you. It's how I got into Seaport.
It's always worth a shot.
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Also now that I'm looking at the onpeak booking system is seems that they don't charge you until you actually stay? So I could book and if I decided to change my mind or look at a different hotel there wouldn't be a penalty?
From what I read after I booked was that they require a 72 hour notice for any change of reservation. Though i know there will be a deposit (usually one nights stay) you should get most of that back. I have decided to stay closer to PAX due to not having to worry about the T shutting down at 2. I also have a lot more friends staying closer (at Seaport) so the decision was logical.
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I stayed at the Colonnade for PAX East 2011 (our first PAX). We ended up taking cab rides to get there (which was about $10ish if I remember correctly..) and taking the shuttle back to the hotel. We could have waited to be picked up by the shuttle but we wanted to get there uber early for the lines. Our room was very nice.. and the view from our floor to ceiling window was amazing to wake up to! AND you get a little Colonnade rubber duck! /relevant.
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OnPeak transfers the reservations to the actual PAX hotels about two weeks prior to PAX. I would say that you'd need at least 2 weeks prior to PAX to switch your booking with OnPeak. That's separate from the 72 hour cancellation notice for the hotel itself once the reservation is transferred to the hotel.
If you book with a credit card, you are not charged unless you cancel with the hotel with less than 72 hours notice. A deposit will be "authed" to your card close to PAX to verify that your payment method is valid, but you will only be charged that deposit if you fail to check in to the hotel or if you cancel with less than 72 hours notice. Otherwise, the deposit auth will go away once you check in and you will only be charged once your stay is completed. This is how it's worked for most of the hotels in the past, but as I do not represent the hotels or OnPeak, YMMV.
The hotels themselves don't offer the shuttle service, it is a service provided by PAX to and from the partner hotels that are further away (not the seaport, renaissance, or westin). Not sure on the hours. I believe they ran right up until the end of PAX, but I'm not sure how often they showed up.
To be honest this has been covered a bit in the thread, but I would understand why going through 8 pages would be a bit... annoying.
Here's my take.
As far as I am concerned there is no definitive guide to "Staying in a hotel that's a bit far from PAX", but I can tell you that it's doable. If you have access to a shuttle service then most of your problems should be solved, but if not, there's always a cab near a hotel and a line of them at the event. Boston has a good public transportation system as well, but it won't last late into the night when PAX closes. It's still worth looking into though since it will help with all day time and evening travels to and from should you need it. Keep in mind that a 7 day pass is only 15$. You could use the service all day and use a cab when the event closes - just know that there's a considerable line up when the place shuts down.
To help you plan ahead there are cab fair calculators out there for Boston, however in my experience the results were off. They kept telling me my rides should be about 7$ tip included but it was usually 10%.
The real thing you have to take into account is fatigue. PAX can (more like... will) be very demanding both physically and mentally. It can have a cascading effect on your plans if you aren't too careful. Plan yourself at good two trips back during the event (not counting the first time you go there and the time you intend to leave), that will probably help out the most. Don't make it so that you will feel "stranded", if you know what I mean. My best tip on this matter would be to get on with all the important, "can't miss" shopping early on and carry everything back to the hotel early on so you don't have to carry or worry about any of that.
Send me a PM if you want to talk about it in depth.
It seems like Hyatt is one of the last hotels to fill up and it's kind of a nice little secret lol.
I'm doing the exact same thing with Hyatt! Haha. Do you guys have comp rooms, too?
PAX arranged the shuttles to and from various hotels, free of charge. Most of the shuttles ran every 55 minutes from 8-11 AM and then every thirty minutes from 5-8 PM. They also ran every 30 minutes from 12AM-3AM Friday and Saturday nights.
Perfect. Thanks!
Edit NM sounds like they are booked solid and giveing huge numbers to try and over book.
pax discount is obtained by booking through the pax site. westin is booked up, but many other area hotels are still available. booking outside the pax reserved block is not recommended, both for price and because if the hotel overbooks, reservations outside the block will be the first to get bumped.
I "believe" that hotels also generally prioritize paid-in-full/advance customers from prior experience, but that could also just be luck.
that depends on if you booked directly with the hotel or if you booked via hotwire or some other site like that.
Which is why I don't like booking through third parties. Heard enough horror stories.
in general that's probably true, but with a con block situation it is very much in the hotel's best interest to keep con folk happy, even at the expense of some angry individual customers. also, last year the westin did overbook and a lot of outside-the-block people were, in fact, bumped.
Fixed it for ya.
For those of you who don't remember or weren't there. Back in 2009 (I think), the Oakland Raiders were in town for a preseason game the same weekend as PAX. The Grand Hyatt bumped a bunch of PAX people (booked in the PAX block) over to the Hyatt on Olive 8. The Grand Hyatt being across the street from the convention center and the Hyatt on Olive 8 being about a half-mile away. In addition to regular attendees, enforcers and possibly friends of PA were bumped. Robert Khoo went down and had a "talk" with the management there.
In the end, the Oakland Raiders were removed from the rooms they had already checked into and sent packing.
Thus is the power of Robert Khoo with a contract.
And THIS is why it's in your best interests to book inside the PAX block through OnPeak.
Zerzhul told me that story at last PAX. He added, "Beware the wrath of Khoo".
Twitter: @MrArcys
Thy suit and thy iphone, they comfort me.
FYI
The ones on the list that are still close and VERY accessible to the convention center are the Intercontinental Hotel, Omni Parker House, and the Hyatt Regency. The last two are short walking distance from the 7 Bus, which runs approximately every 5-15 minutes from the corner of Milk St and Summer St and stops directly in front of the BCEC. The Intercontinental is close to the convention center and an easy walk, but not for someone who is not comfortable with lugging around swag and plans to acquire many things to carry.
The Hilton Boston Financial District is an excellent option for anyone who will be doing a lot of pre-PAX Community events. It is the closest hotel to the Pokecrawl and any Faneuil Hall events the community will plan. It's a pretty inexpensive taxi ride as well.
Courtyard Boston Tremont Hotel, Radisson Hotel, and Park Plaza Hotel are near the Boylston/Arlington area of town, which is a very manageable cab ride fare especially when split. The one on Tremont is in a weird area, a mix of food courts, night clubs, and concert venues. Park Plaza is in the middle of many upscale restaurants and a short walk from ritzy shopping. They are manageable especially with the shuttles.
Colonnade Boston, Hilton Back Bay and MidTown Hotel are far, close to the old PAX East 2009 venue. If you can navigate the T well or utilize the shuttles, it may be worth it with the preplanning. The area around it has more things to do and relevant nightlife/eats for the average PAXer than the Boylston/Arlington hotels. Be prepared for a ~25-30 minute commute to PAX, though. If you're okay with that, it may be worth the value.
The Holiday Inn Brookline... hmm. This puzzles me as to why it's on the list because it's so, so very far. I live walking distance from this hotel and I'm hotelling it much closer :P The cool thing about it is that it seems wicked cheap compared to the other hotels and it's in a greaaaat neighborhood (but I'm biased, it's my neighborhood). If you want to take the T to the BCEC it will set you anywhere from 35-50 minutes depending on T traffic and time of day, so use the shuttles and plan accordingly.
PAX Prime '10-'13 Triwizard Drinking Tournament || Hufflepuff Head of House!
Twitter: @jujukoo
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