Oh wow, so the shuttles run pretty constantly then? I was thinking every half hour or so one would arrive, and I did not realize that the shuttles ran until the end of concerts. Thats great to hear
All this talk about PAX is making the wait even harder, I can sleep soundly once I can secure my badges and hotel haha.
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whypick1PAX [E] Info Booth Manager~2' from an LCDRegistered Userregular
Oh wow, so the shuttles run pretty constantly then? I was thinking every half hour or so one would arrive, and I did not realize that the shuttles ran until the end of concerts. Thats great to hear
Shuttles don't run throughout the whole day though. They go in the morning to ferry people to the BCEC, after expo closes (I think?) and around closing time. Outside of those bands, you're going to have to bus/cab it.
Hotel parking is about 30 to 40 a day and you can come and go as you please. For the Westin you were charged as an extra fee at the end of your stay and the renewal period was at 5 pm if I recall. You can so fin parking at the BCEC but it's not overnight if I recall.
The hotel parking is still cheaper than public parking which can go up as high as 60 on a weekend evening and higher on a workday. That's what I remember from the Hynes...
I am planning on traveling to PAX EAST in 2014. I'm pretty worried about the getting a ticket, and not finding a hotel. Is it safe to say that if I land a ticket, I will be able to get one of the blocked rooms on the PAX site? Should I try to book a room in the area right now, just incase? IF someone could explain the process to me, that would be super. Thanks! The closet hotel i can find right now is 1.3 miles away, at 299$ a night... Ideas?
I am planning on traveling to PAX EAST in 2014. I'm pretty worried about the getting a ticket, and not finding a hotel. Is it safe to say that if I land a ticket, I will be able to get one of the blocked rooms on the PAX site? Should I try to book a room in the area right now, just incase? IF someone could explain the process to me, that would be super.
Thanks! The closet hotel i can find right now is 1.3 miles away, at 299$ a night... Ideas?
I will try to answer as much as possible (sorry I am away and I only have a cell phone at the moment).
Hotels should not really be a problem, at least not at first... Soon, the company in charge of providing special accommodations (OnPeak) will let everyone book their stays at discount prices (they reserved most of the rooms in many hotels and this event basically let's you on in them) . They usually have a couple of hotels available to choose from bit the most popular ones are going to be the ones closest to the event which tend to go fast but the rest usually have vacancy for sitter while at least. If that fails you can just as well book outside of OnPeak but you would miss out on said discounts and the possibility of having a shuttle service should your booking be a bit off site. This does not mean it's a bad thing. Look back a few pages in this thread for a link on booking hotels with and without OnPeak (one of my previous posts)
You can park at the cheap 'remote' airport parking lots (IIRC, it's about $15 a night). Take the (usually free) shuttle to the airport. Take the (still usually free) shuttle from the airport to your hotel. Done!
I'm also new here and I have a few questions about the shareroom thread. I see that the nearest hotels will run out of room very fast and I may not be able to get a room there. So, I assume the thread about people who managed to book a room and are looking for a roommate to share it with.. If that's so, how do people organize it? I mean, is the hotel notified of the other host? what if the other person suddenly can't go? could I check-in if the person who booked the room isn't going? I'd appreciate all the information you can give me about this
I've never used it but I think that it is all very unofficial, I'm personally not comfortable with that, however I haven't seen anyone complain before here.
I'm also new here and I have a few questions about the shareroom thread. I see that the nearest hotels will run out of room very fast and I may not be able to get a room there. So, I assume the thread about people who managed to book a room and are looking for a roommate to share it with.. If that's so, how do people organize it? I mean, is the hotel notified of the other host? what if the other person suddenly can't go? could I check-in if the person who booked the room isn't going? I'd appreciate all the information you can give me about this
Like FireWater said, it's not official in any capacity. People are basically just arranging roommate agreements among themselves through the thread. What does and does not happen as far as the hotel is concerned is up to the parties arranging the agreement. It's up to the individuals to get whatever proof of confidence that they need to make sure they don't get screwed. In general I don't think people getting screwed happens a lot, but there's nothing we do specifically that can prevent it from happening. Just be smart about it.
Okay, totally unofficial then... I'll hope to get a room for myself. It would be great if people who have used the share room thread could tell me about their experience or any tips, just in case
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EscoBladesProduct Marketing Manager at UbisoftRegistered Userregular
Bucking the trend....i tend to prefer to book hotel rooms through reliable third party sites. I'm well aware there is a small chance those reservations could be bumped in cases of over-subscription, etc, but in the 4 years i've been using them (2 for PAX), i've never once had an issue.
They give flexibility in the ability to Pay when you stay and most have a free cancellation option too.
Of course, you will almost always get the best rate through OnPeak, but just thought i'd leave that there.
Bucking the trend....i tend to prefer to book hotel rooms through reliable third party sites. I'm well aware there is a small chance those reservations could be bumped in cases of over-subscription, etc, but in the 4 years i've been using them (2 for PAX), i've never once had an issue.
They give flexibility in the ability to Pay when you stay and most have a free cancellation option too.
Of course, you will almost always get the best rate through OnPeak, but just thought i'd leave that there.
I can at least say I used to agree with this. To make a long story short, a few years back, when PAX East was at the Hynes, I had booked with Hotels.com and was bumped. I had looked very recently before I was bumped and saw that there were rooms available, only for more money. So, I talked to Hotels.com and they got me booked at the Mandarin Oriental, a normally $300+/night hotel, which was right next door to where we were bumped from, for the same price as we were supposed to pay for the far cheaper hotel, and then sent me a $100 gift card for Hotels.com to apologize for the inconvenience.
The next year, I was able to book a package at the Seaport that was $5 LESS per night than the PAX group rate, and included free breakfast buffet every morning (normally something like $20/person).
Since then, I try to book with them for everything. Customer service++.
That said, I checked prices early on with them and unfortunately, they were showing the crazy $300/night rates that the Westin/Seaport were showing, without using OnPeak. So, I'm down to using OnPeak this year, only because the prices are just stupid without it.
(And as a side note, has anyone contemplated the possibility that rates have just gone through the roof for the local places? What happens if hotel prices come out through OnPeak and are closing in on $300/night? It would still be a "discount" compared to before, but still a ridiculous price.)
(And as a side note, has anyone contemplated the possibility that rates have just gone through the roof for the local places? What happens if hotel prices come out through OnPeak and are closing in on $300/night? It would still be a "discount" compared to before, but still a ridiculous price.)
As I've mentioned elsewhere, I found a backdoor into the OnPeak site a couple weeks ago, which I reported to Khoo and has since been patched. Prices seemed normal. Specifically, the westin was $189/night. So you should be good as long as OnPeak doesn't hike the prices before they go live.
do we have a list of hotels and the distence they are from the center that way we can kinda go down the list when hotels go on sale.
Also if you miss out on one of the 3 real close ones would you. 1. just book on furthur away or 2. try to get a roomate situation with someone in one of those 3.
If you are going to book now, book at a hotel that can cancel your reservation without charging you a fee.
Because you might get one of the OnPeak hotels that are cheaper/closer. Having a badge does not guarantee an OnPeak rate room.
I am planning on traveling to PAX EAST in 2014. I'm pretty worried about the getting a ticket, and not finding a hotel. Is it safe to say that if I land a ticket, I will be able to get one of the blocked rooms on the PAX site? Should I try to book a room in the area right now, just incase? IF someone could explain the process to me, that would be super. Thanks! The closet hotel i can find right now is 1.3 miles away, at 299$ a night... Ideas?
If you are going to book now, book at a hotel that can cancel your reservation without charging you a fee.
Because you might get one of the OnPeak hotels that are cheaper/closer. Having a badge does not guarantee an OnPeak rate room.
Even better. Get your price from Kayak THEN call the hotel directly saying you could book cheaper elsewhere. They usually price match.
Whenever possible, try to avoid booking with a third party. Except if it's OnPeak for PAX EAST. They don't count :-D
In response to the reports that the Seaport no longer has available reservations, here is this:
As far as I can tell, the room are a little pricey without OnPeak, but if you want to cover your bases, or book directly through them, there are still rooms available.
sacratoy on
PAX Prime 2014: Pass [x] Hotel [x] Flights [x] Vacation Days [x]
What is OnPeak and how/when do we use it? Looking at their site, I just see a very generic explanation page. How do I book through OnPeak?
(this might be useful to have in the first-timer thread, too.)
I booked through travelocity last year, which was my first year, and couldn't get much more than a small room at the Club Quarters Boston. This year, I'm bringing 2-3 people with me, so I'm trying to get the hotel situation figured out as soon as possible.
I believe (someone feel free to jump in and correct me if I'm wrong) that you get to the OnPeak booking page through the east.paxsite.com site. On the top navigation banner there is a "Hotels & Travel" option. Click that, and then on that page there is a "Book Your Hotel" link that will take you to the OnPeak site configured for PAX East. I do not know of any other way to do the booking through them aside from that.
Think of OnPeak as an online reservations portal. PAX through OnPeak negotiate rates with various Boston area hotels which in turn offer up blocks of rooms for the conference. My understanding is that when registration opens, the hotels often open at the same time (though not always the case). When the portal opens I suspect it will permit booking of the reserved block for the various hotels allocating until the inventory is gone. OnPeak itself runs the online reservation system. This will not preclude you from booking elsewhere or even at the hotels in the PAX list, however the rates negotiated would not be applicable (you could not book now with Seaport for example and expect to receive the negotiated PAX rate, likely you will pay standard rack rates.)
aBByNormaL on
PAX East 2016 .... gots my Passes [x] Hotel [x] Flights [x] Packed [..] .... ok we're all good !!!!!
Thank you both! I will wait until ticket registration is made available and look at hotels through that. I wasn't aware of that last year and booked through Travelocity, which was not fun.
Also, do the hotel reservations fly off as quickly as the registration tickets do?
From what I hear the close ones certainly go fast, the others less so but I would not delay. Personally I have a fully cancellable reservation in place at Seaport for non-PAX rates and if I get lucky enough to find a room elsewhere I can always cancel it. Or if the hotels go fast and I am not happy with what remains then I can keep the reservation and accept having to pay more than the PAX rates.
PAX East 2016 .... gots my Passes [x] Hotel [x] Flights [x] Packed [..] .... ok we're all good !!!!!
1. book a hotel furthur away but accept you will have to use the shuttle
2. not book one and wait for the room share thread to come up and hope you can find someone that is shering a room closer that will not be a flake or a person you would not want to room with
this is the debate I think I will have if I can not get a room. Also if I get a room but can not get enough people to share it with me can I cancel it if I do it through on peak. I just ask cause I know I want to have roomates with me to keep the cost down. I dont want to have to pay 500 or 600 just for the hotel.
Also don't be afraid to check onpeak if your hotel gets sold out before you can book. Last year I got lucky and I was able to book the seaport well after the initial sale of PAX badges. Someone must have canceled.
Not all the time. Be careful and ask about cancellation policies, especially when dealing with third party booking companies.
This is not bad advice, but is misleading in this case.
When you reserve one of the PAX hotels through OnPeak, they will give you a copy of the *OnPeak* cancellation policy and a cancellation date. If you do not cancel by the date they specify, with onpeak, you will have to deal with the hotel directly. But up until like 2-3 weeks prior to PAX, you can totally cancel through OnPeak. If you're worried, you can always call OnPeak (they have real life customer support) and they can explain it to you after the booking.
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All this talk about PAX is making the wait even harder, I can sleep soundly once I can secure my badges and hotel haha.
Shuttles don't run throughout the whole day though. They go in the morning to ferry people to the BCEC, after expo closes (I think?) and around closing time. Outside of those bands, you're going to have to bus/cab it.
PAX East 2019!
Badges [X] Hotel [X] Time off request [X]
https://www.pinnypals.com/pals/Streetlight345
I don't even think they're an option.
Trade me pins! - https://pinnypals.com/pals/TheAggroCraig
The hotel parking is still cheaper than public parking which can go up as high as 60 on a weekend evening and higher on a workday. That's what I remember from the Hynes...
I will try to answer as much as possible (sorry I am away and I only have a cell phone at the moment).
Hotels should not really be a problem, at least not at first... Soon, the company in charge of providing special accommodations (OnPeak) will let everyone book their stays at discount prices (they reserved most of the rooms in many hotels and this event basically let's you on in them) . They usually have a couple of hotels available to choose from bit the most popular ones are going to be the ones closest to the event which tend to go fast but the rest usually have vacancy for sitter while at least. If that fails you can just as well book outside of OnPeak but you would miss out on said discounts and the possibility of having a shuttle service should your booking be a bit off site. This does not mean it's a bad thing. Look back a few pages in this thread for a link on booking hotels with and without OnPeak (one of my previous posts)
More when I get in front of a keyboard.
They give flexibility in the ability to Pay when you stay and most have a free cancellation option too.
Of course, you will almost always get the best rate through OnPeak, but just thought i'd leave that there.
Product Marketing Manager on Watch Dogs: Legion
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I can at least say I used to agree with this. To make a long story short, a few years back, when PAX East was at the Hynes, I had booked with Hotels.com and was bumped. I had looked very recently before I was bumped and saw that there were rooms available, only for more money. So, I talked to Hotels.com and they got me booked at the Mandarin Oriental, a normally $300+/night hotel, which was right next door to where we were bumped from, for the same price as we were supposed to pay for the far cheaper hotel, and then sent me a $100 gift card for Hotels.com to apologize for the inconvenience.
The next year, I was able to book a package at the Seaport that was $5 LESS per night than the PAX group rate, and included free breakfast buffet every morning (normally something like $20/person).
Since then, I try to book with them for everything. Customer service++.
That said, I checked prices early on with them and unfortunately, they were showing the crazy $300/night rates that the Westin/Seaport were showing, without using OnPeak. So, I'm down to using OnPeak this year, only because the prices are just stupid without it.
(And as a side note, has anyone contemplated the possibility that rates have just gone through the roof for the local places? What happens if hotel prices come out through OnPeak and are closing in on $300/night? It would still be a "discount" compared to before, but still a ridiculous price.)
Thank you
PAX East 2019!
Badges [X] Hotel [X] Time off request [X]
https://www.pinnypals.com/pals/Streetlight345
As I've mentioned elsewhere, I found a backdoor into the OnPeak site a couple weeks ago, which I reported to Khoo and has since been patched. Prices seemed normal. Specifically, the westin was $189/night. So you should be good as long as OnPeak doesn't hike the prices before they go live.
Also if you miss out on one of the 3 real close ones would you. 1. just book on furthur away or 2. try to get a roomate situation with someone in one of those 3.
Cool, thanks for the info.
https://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&q=hotels+near+boston+convention+center
Kayak is your friend. Organized by distance:
http://www.kayak.com/hotels/Boston,MA-c25588/2014-04-10/2014-04-14/2guests
If you are going to book now, book at a hotel that can cancel your reservation without charging you a fee.
Because you might get one of the OnPeak hotels that are cheaper/closer. Having a badge does not guarantee an OnPeak rate room.
Even better. Get your price from Kayak THEN call the hotel directly saying you could book cheaper elsewhere. They usually price match.
Whenever possible, try to avoid booking with a third party. Except if it's OnPeak for PAX EAST. They don't count :-D
As far as I can tell, the room are a little pricey without OnPeak, but if you want to cover your bases, or book directly through them, there are still rooms available.
PAX Prime 2014 Preparations Complete
What is OnPeak and how/when do we use it? Looking at their site, I just see a very generic explanation page. How do I book through OnPeak?
(this might be useful to have in the first-timer thread, too.)
I booked through travelocity last year, which was my first year, and couldn't get much more than a small room at the Club Quarters Boston. This year, I'm bringing 2-3 people with me, so I'm trying to get the hotel situation figured out as soon as possible.
Also, do the hotel reservations fly off as quickly as the registration tickets do?
1. book a hotel furthur away but accept you will have to use the shuttle
2. not book one and wait for the room share thread to come up and hope you can find someone that is shering a room closer that will not be a flake or a person you would not want to room with
this is the debate I think I will have if I can not get a room. Also if I get a room but can not get enough people to share it with me can I cancel it if I do it through on peak. I just ask cause I know I want to have roomates with me to keep the cost down. I dont want to have to pay 500 or 600 just for the hotel.
Not all the time. Be careful and ask about cancellation policies, especially when dealing with third party booking companies.
When you reserve one of the PAX hotels through OnPeak, they will give you a copy of the *OnPeak* cancellation policy and a cancellation date. If you do not cancel by the date they specify, with onpeak, you will have to deal with the hotel directly. But up until like 2-3 weeks prior to PAX, you can totally cancel through OnPeak. If you're worried, you can always call OnPeak (they have real life customer support) and they can explain it to you after the booking.