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[PRIME] PAX Prime 2012 Hotel Discussion
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A whole ton of stuff is sold out. There are no waiting lists that I know of. You can try calling OnPeak and asking them over the phone.
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I see that most the 2 - bed rooms are sold out. The Westin Seattle has a bunch for Fri, Sat, Sun, but none for Thursday.
Rooms will open back up as people cancel their reservations. You just have to click the "Hotel Availability By Night" button and keep refreshing to see when a room opens up.
I'm going to try giving them a call monday. Email response time is slow, which is understandable considering the amount of email I'm sure they are getting.
BTW, has anyone stayed at the Hilton Seattle (not the Homewood) before? What is the 'net access like? Their web site references LodgeNet (the leading provider of interactive media and connectivity services according to their web site, which sounds like a pay-by-the-day ISP) when referring to the entertainment (flat screen, pay per view movies, etc), but says the desks have 'internet plugs' when referring to the power jacks at the desks.
Forum Badge [ ] Waiting semi-patiently [X]
They had no problem printing me 3 keys, didn't bat an eye, but our friend has to sleep on the floor.
Electronic composer for hire.
Fairly certain the Sheraton Club is an exclusive club for folks who are at a certain "guest level" or whatnot.
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Our group is staying at the Sheraton this year. Anyone know if they do anything to prevent game consoles and whatnot from being connected to their in-room televisions?
The Sheraton Club refers to a set of rooms they have. The Sheraton Club Rooms are larger, more expensive rooms on the 32 thru 34th floors. I guess there is a private lounge up there as well.
I thought it was a little ambiguous how they list the club lounge information on the onpeak website. They should be more clear those features are only valid with a club room.
I also didn't see any "club rooms" offered through onpeak when I booked (about an hour after it went live).
Right, that was my thought as well. Since it was listed and there weren't any special rooms offered, I thought it was something special just bundled with the PAX rooms, indicated by the $ symbol as well as the breakfast symbol. Was pretty excited about getting a free breakfast, even switched my reservation from the Red Lion to the Sheraton because of that, figuring it would be worth the extra money. Ah well, live and learn, right? Great times will still be had by all!
Electronic composer for hire.
I can't speak for the Grand Hyatt specifically, but the airport has direct access to a light rail station that takes you to the Westlake Center (which is only a few blocks from the convention center), it's only about a 30 minute ride and if your hotel is in walking distance of the convention center you should be perfectly fine. From what I remember the entrance to the rail is through the airport parking garage, and the fee is only like 5 - 10 dollars.
A question about the Westin, but does anyone know how their internet access is and anything about the hotel quality in general? Also does anyone know anywhere that provides storage lockers for the day or something? This is the first year I've gone that I need to check out on Sunday, and I'd prefer not to have to haul my luggage all over the place if possible.
Light rail from the airport to down town is $2.75 (40 min ride) and the Grand Hyatt is only a 5 minute walk away.
You dont need a locker if you are checking out on Sundy. Hotels have a bag check service where they set aside a room to hold everyone's bags that are checking out that day. They attached a number to your belongings and give you a ticket. Someone is always guarding the room.
This is not a special service just for Pax, all good hotels do this every day for no charge (you still need to tip). Just remember next time you stay somewhere that you have to check out early, but your flight doesn't leave until much later, to check your bags at the Bell Desk and have a worry free day.
Thanks for the info, do you know how much someone should normally tip for that kind of thing?
A note on bag check. The Hyatt has a nice bag check, huge locking room the whole nine yards, but on Thursday (checking in at least) they got a bit busy and it was hard to find our relatively generic bags in the huge mess. So do like they say at the airport and put a ribbon or something on the handle to make it distinct. (we had one bright red backpack that stuck out and they had no problem with me looking in the room and pointing it out to them to make it easier to find.)
Just to emphasize, they didn't lose my bag, everything was safe, but the hotels are (obviously) swamped so our bag was hard to spot in the sea of bags that was the check room.
When registration opened there was only a couple rooms at the homewood available. A few more opened up a couple hours after that but I never saw It go higher than the single digits. When I saw that I also assumed that they were holding some aside for exhibitors.
Attendee: ♥ Prime '12, '13 ..♥ East '12
It started at around 40-ish actually, they just went /really/ fast.
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I'm actually a little floored by how fast hotels are going this year. I was going to say "Last year I booked so late..." but it actually appears I booked on 4/28 last year (still, adjusting for the time everything went up later in the cycle last year.) Although last year I booked then because (IIRC) the Sheraton had sold out, this year for a Thurs-Monday stay there are only 4 total hotels left (and my guess is soon to be 3, since the W has only 7 rooms for that time period.) Granted, it seems like there are signficantly more total rooms in the "Friday-Sun." part of the block overall.
Speaking of, I think I will be in one of those floors this year--if available. ...I do frequent Sheraton hotels when I travel.
Your ever-awesome Frog-Backpack Girl.
Okies I haven't stayed at that particular Hilton before (tho I am for PAX) but if its the standard Hilton setup (which I would assume) then it just means that there is a CAT5 network cable next to the power sockets which you can use rather than relying on the WiFi - it still costs tho and US Hilton's are generally around $10 a day (tho there are usually 3-day and week passes). Also as the hotle is a bit further away from the Con I would suspect it's internet won't be getting hammered as much as the hotels which are closer.
@shadowscoutuk
Eh, you're not missing much by not being at the Sheraton. Just go there after PAX and chill out then walk back to your room.
My friends and I had a great experience at the Paramount last year so we wanted it again and it was gone on the website. I was able to book a standard rate room directly through the hotel that night "just in case", and called OnPeak in the morning and booked a 2-bed room (website showed it was totally booked) for the better price.
Internet wise, I had very good luck with the 4G service there (through Verizon) last year.
Can't speak for the westin, but may I suggest Styrofoam coolers? They've come a long way in recent years and aren't $50
Guys, clearly the scalpers are buying the hotel rooms!!For those of you still looking for cheap, close hotels, I suggest The Baroness and The Inn at Virginia Mason.
Thanks for the info. Hopefully they can provide a rollaway bed as well (I was only able to get a king bed reserved). While I obviously like my friend who is coming with, I don't exactly like him that much. :winky:
Forum Badge [ ] Waiting semi-patiently [X]
Hilton used to have a deal where if you signed up for their free rewards (Hilton Honors) you'd get free wifi during your stay. It was active the last time I stayed a Hilton about a year ago (sorry don't travel much.) My wife has stayed at a hilton more recently than that and says it's still around (YMMV). But it's free, so just do it. And do it before hand so you have your info. (We never used the wired internet so I don't know if that's included.)
Electronic composer for hire.
Which is a better hotel generally? Roosevelt or Warwick? Similar prices but Roosevelt is closer but Warwick has an extra star...
I'd like to know anyone's thoughts on the Warwick as well. I booked it several months ago for a very reasonable rate and held onto it in case I couldn't get something at the Sheraton (surprise surprise) and it looks like it's going to be my group's hotel for this year's PAX Prime. Any information about the actual rooms? Outside of that all I know is it's got a pool, whirlpool, and an exercise room.