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[PRIME] PAX Prime 2012 Hotel Discussion

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Posts

  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    tsrblke wrote: »
    zerzhul wrote: »
    Westrunner wrote: »
    Good to know; thanks Zerzhul.

    To be fair, I do not represent anyone in the matter in any way, so you really should still call OnPeak to be sure, but I'm pretty sure what I said is true.

    Obviously I echo Zerzul here (and represent anyone either.) But I'm pretty sure this happened last year too. And technically it's true, Onepeak has a reservation and they're giving it to you, they just haven't done it yet in Sheraton's system ;). The people at the big office are going to play Cover their butts and not say anything that would get them in trouble.

    Speaking of OnPeak, as of right now there are only 57 Friday rooms left!

    As far as "happening last year", it actually happens every year since OnPeak has done the reservations ;). People tend to call the hotel to check their reservation, and the hotel literally knows nothing about it, and that causes panic. It's perfectly natural since this isn't the norm for reserving hotels, but it is the norm for a 3rd party hotel provider. Most folks just aren't used to going through a 3rd party hotel provider.

  • tsrblketsrblke Registered User regular
    zerzhul wrote: »
    tsrblke wrote: »
    zerzhul wrote: »
    Westrunner wrote: »
    Good to know; thanks Zerzhul.

    To be fair, I do not represent anyone in the matter in any way, so you really should still call OnPeak to be sure, but I'm pretty sure what I said is true.

    Obviously I echo Zerzul here (and represent anyone either.) But I'm pretty sure this happened last year too. And technically it's true, Onepeak has a reservation and they're giving it to you, they just haven't done it yet in Sheraton's system ;). The people at the big office are going to play Cover their butts and not say anything that would get them in trouble.

    Speaking of OnPeak, as of right now there are only 57 Friday rooms left!

    As far as "happening last year", it actually happens every year since OnPeak has done the reservations ;). People tend to call the hotel to check their reservation, and the hotel literally knows nothing about it, and that causes panic. It's perfectly natural since this isn't the norm for reserving hotels, but it is the norm for a 3rd party hotel provider. Most folks just aren't used to going through a 3rd party hotel provider.

    Sorry, I should have been more specific, I meant the part one where someone called a hotel and was given the bad information of "Well we don't have your name, so you're not registered," happened last year. I'd guess that someone gets an official bad response all the time though. You'd think the official responses would be better from a hotel. (More on the lines of "if you used a 3rd party, we can't confirm it until X time before the event.)
    I just remember someone specifically forgetting to say it was a 3rd party reservation, getting the scary response, then calling back clarifying and still getting a scary response. But it all worked out ;).

  • BokuwaPatBokuwaPat Registered User new member
    This is going to be my first PAX, and I'm so grateful to have gotten tix in time!

    Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has had luck with Priceline in booking a hotel? I know some of the hotels Priceline uses are quite far from the convention center so it would be a big risk to try it, but several of the "prime" hotels are on there as well. So, share you Priceline successes or failures!

  • tsrblketsrblke Registered User regular
    BokuwaPat wrote: »
    This is going to be my first PAX, and I'm so grateful to have gotten tix in time!

    Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has had luck with Priceline in booking a hotel? I know some of the hotels Priceline uses are quite far from the convention center so it would be a big risk to try it, but several of the "prime" hotels are on there as well. So, share you Priceline successes or failures!

    Several people have said upthread that the 3rd party booking sites can lead to a "walk" (in which they tell you "sorry we're booked, but we have a hotel for you [here]." You takes your chances with that.
    Also it's worth noting that if you're going in for the "Blind bid" where you name a price and then see the hotel, the chances you get a hotel that is sold out are virtually 0, (and the hotels on OnPeak are all pretty much sold out on their main hotel pages directly). So you're pretty much unlikely to get "lucky" and score a hotel for cheaper that's in the block.

    Oh also, last I checked this morning Friday Hotel availability (in the block) was below 50! (I'd love to see a complete Friday sellout personally just so we can say it happened ;) )

  • BokuwaPatBokuwaPat Registered User new member
    tsrblke wrote: »

    Several people have said upthread that the 3rd party booking sites can lead to a "walk" (in which they tell you "sorry we're booked, but we have a hotel for you [here]." You takes your chances with that.
    Also it's worth noting that if you're going in for the "Blind bid" where you name a price and then see the hotel, the chances you get a hotel that is sold out are virtually 0, (and the hotels on OnPeak are all pretty much sold out on their main hotel pages directly). So you're pretty much unlikely to get "lucky" and score a hotel for cheaper that's in the block.

    Oh also, last I checked this morning Friday Hotel availability (in the block) was below 50! (I'd love to see a complete Friday sellout personally just so we can say it happened ;) )

    Great thanks for the tips. I already have a room at the W reserved (I know it's not in the center of the action but it's close enough and the price isn't too bad), but my cheapo friend wants to find a better deal. I'm gonna tell him to feel grateful we even have a room downtown!

  • tsrblketsrblke Registered User regular
    FYI, they added a few hotels near SeaTac to the official block. We're scrapping the bottle of the barrel here I think since if you substract the SeaTac hotels just added there's something like 30 left on Friday night.

  • tsrblketsrblke Registered User regular
    Does anyone have any experience with their card being declined on OnPeak before? I'm just curious because the banks (or thieves) have screwed my credit card 3 times now (forcing new numbers upon me). Which means I'm not hopeful this 3rd card is going to make it to PAX unhindered. I will have *a* card there, I just don't want to lose my reservation because of some wierd glitch. (I'm averaging about 1 card down a month now, which is sad really, but not surprising, so the chances that my card goes down during the reservation transfer is quite high right now or that I just forget to change it if it gets screwed up again.)
    The worst part is there's nothing I can do to protect myself against this since 1 of the card numbers was lost by the bank (not much I can do there) and the other was an old fashioned resturant skim (where they copy your number down when you pay). Short of damanding to follow the waiter/waitress to the computer, there's nothing I can do on that one.
    On the up side, I'm out $0 for all my trouble (thank you fraud protection.)

  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    tsrblke wrote: »
    Does anyone have any experience with their card being declined on OnPeak before? I'm just curious because the banks (or thieves) have screwed my credit card 3 times now (forcing new numbers upon me). Which means I'm not hopeful this 3rd card is going to make it to PAX unhindered. I will have *a* card there, I just don't want to lose my reservation because of some wierd glitch. (I'm averaging about 1 card down a month now, which is sad really, but not surprising, so the chances that my card goes down during the reservation transfer is quite high right now or that I just forget to change it if it gets screwed up again.)
    The worst part is there's nothing I can do to protect myself against this since 1 of the card numbers was lost by the bank (not much I can do there) and the other was an old fashioned resturant skim (where they copy your number down when you pay). Short of damanding to follow the waiter/waitress to the computer, there's nothing I can do on that one.
    On the up side, I'm out $0 for all my trouble (thank you fraud protection.)

    Call up OnPeak. You can send them a check deposit for the room and then they won't need to auth your card. Then you'll just need a card (or something) when you check in. Either way, I'm sure they'll be able to take care of it with a call.

  • tsrblketsrblke Registered User regular
    zerzhul wrote: »
    tsrblke wrote: »
    Does anyone have any experience with their card being declined on OnPeak before? I'm just curious because the banks (or thieves) have screwed my credit card 3 times now (forcing new numbers upon me). Which means I'm not hopeful this 3rd card is going to make it to PAX unhindered. I will have *a* card there, I just don't want to lose my reservation because of some wierd glitch. (I'm averaging about 1 card down a month now, which is sad really, but not surprising, so the chances that my card goes down during the reservation transfer is quite high right now or that I just forget to change it if it gets screwed up again.)
    The worst part is there's nothing I can do to protect myself against this since 1 of the card numbers was lost by the bank (not much I can do there) and the other was an old fashioned resturant skim (where they copy your number down when you pay). Short of damanding to follow the waiter/waitress to the computer, there's nothing I can do on that one.
    On the up side, I'm out $0 for all my trouble (thank you fraud protection.)

    Call up OnPeak. You can send them a check deposit for the room and then they won't need to auth your card. Then you'll just need a card (or something) when you check in. Either way, I'm sure they'll be able to take care of it with a call.

    Thanks @Zerzhul, I think I'll sit on it for now (it's assigned to a working card for the moment) and if that card goes belly up then I'll just call and see what they can do.
    I suppose I could also generate one of those fancy "temporary" cards from my bank account for making online purchases, at least I know what won't get screwed over.
    Lowest Credit card bills in a long time, since we've gone most of the month without being able to use them. (We usually throw everything on the cards and pay it off each month. Makes balancing the checkbook easier.)

  • jgortnerjgortner Registered User new member
    edited June 2012
    Hi there,

    Very excited about PAX east. However before I get too excited about going, I'd like to know what the PAX EAST negotiated block rates were last year for the closer hotels. Like:

    Westin Waterfront (the connected hotel)
    Seaport Hotel
    Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel

    But actually, please anyone that remembers what their nightly rate was, please chime in with what you paid and how close you were to the convention center!

    Thanks in advance everyone!

    Sincerely,
    J

    jgortner on
  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited June 2012
    jgortner wrote: »
    Hi there,

    Very excited about PAX east. However before I get too excited about going, I'd like to know what the PAX EAST negotiated block rates were last year for the closer hotels. Like:

    Westin Waterfront (the connected hotel)
    Seaport Hotel
    Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel

    But actually, please anyone that remembers what their nightly rate was, please chime in with what you paid and how close you were to the convention center!

    Thanks in advance everyone!

    Sincerely,
    J

    There will be a whole thread for PAX East Hotels after PAX Prime is over. The topic of this thread is PAX Prime hotels, please try to not derail the thread.

    The info you're looking for is here btw: http://wiki.paxcommunity.net/paxwiki/Hotels

    zerzhul on
  • SerenitySerenity Registered User regular
    Does anyone have experience with hotel incidentals? Homewood Suites in particular?

    I am going down with a secured CC (which means I have to add funds to it) and I am trying to estimate how much more I will have to put on the card to cover incidentals.

    Worst case I will be calling the hotel but figured I'd ask here first.

    qxd8or7ouox3.png
  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    Serenity wrote: »
    Does anyone have experience with hotel incidentals? Homewood Suites in particular?

    I am going down with a secured CC (which means I have to add funds to it) and I am trying to estimate how much more I will have to put on the card to cover incidentals.

    Worst case I will be calling the hotel but figured I'd ask here first.

    I spent $0 on incidentals at Homewood Suites last year. That said, I didn't have a vehicle to park there. Usually hotel incidentals are things like parking, phone calls, internet (although I'm pretty sure internet is included at homewood), room service, or damages. Calling the hotel isn't a bad idea though just in case anyone here forgets something.

  • ElmoFuntzElmoFuntz Portland, ORRegistered User regular
    In past years there have been reports of issues with secured CC's with only enough for the amount of the stay on them. They like to be able to put a hold on for an extra $100-$200 or so just in case you run off with the towels or clean out the minibar. Obviously a secured CC with only enough for the stay causes the hotel a problem if you do any of these things so I would expect issues if you do only have enough for the room itself.

    Go for the eyes Boo, GO FOR THE EYES!
    vn6ID15.png

  • shadowscoutshadowscout Registered User regular
    based on my past experience (generally in hilton's in the US) is $150 incidentals hold on the card at least initially

    if you use that all up they end up not letting you add more charges to your room until you go back to the desk and they add another $150
    I would doubt anyone is gonna get anywhere near that kind of charge tho (unless you stupidly drunkly decide to raid the mini-bar if there is one in your room :D )

  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    yeah I didn't think about them putting a hold on it, that makes perfect sense.

  • SerenitySerenity Registered User regular
    edited July 2012
    yeah thanks guys, that's why I was asking actually as I don't want to run into problems because I didn't load extra $$ on there.
    To me incidentals = hold on your card.

    FYI, I just called Homewood Suites and they said they hold $50 for incidentals for your whole stay.
    I didn't believe the guy but he insisted. Still seems too low to me.
    If you have a car, they hold an additional $32/night.

    So a safe amount would probably be about $150 - $200 extra depending on where you're staying.

    Serenity on
    qxd8or7ouox3.png
  • tsrblketsrblke Registered User regular
    Serenity wrote: »
    yeah thanks guys, that's why I was asking actually as I don't want to run into problems because I didn't load extra $$ on there.
    To me incidentals = hold on your card.

    FYI, I just called Homewood Suites and they said they hold $50 for incidentals for your whole stay.
    I didn't believe the guy but he insisted. Still seems too low to me.
    If you have a car, they hold an additional $32/night.

    So a safe amount would probably be about $150 - $200 extra depending on where you're staying.

    Doesn't sound that far off actually. A hold is just a verification of available funds. If Homewood finds that it's guests don't often spend more than $50 for a stay, there's no reason to hold more than that. Plus if a given customer did go over that a new hold is just clicks away. (Dunno much about Homewood, but I get the feeling that as a rule people don't go there and spend a bunch of cash on things like room service, and they do they even have a minibar?)

  • SerenitySerenity Registered User regular
    No minibar and I don't even think they have in-room movies available... Only thing I could think of that would cost anything is the concession in reception.

    qxd8or7ouox3.png
  • ElmoFuntzElmoFuntz Portland, ORRegistered User regular
    Towels, robes, damage to the room, etc. Just depends on the hotel.

    Go for the eyes Boo, GO FOR THE EYES!
    vn6ID15.png

  • tsrblketsrblke Registered User regular
    ElmoFuntz wrote: »
    Towels, robes, damage to the room, etc. Just depends on the hotel.

    Oh I wasn't saying lack of a minibar means no incidentals hold, just that in my previous experience it tends to mean a lower incidentals hold. Incidentals holds are kinda like insurance, they're running numbers to determine what is reasonable and not likely to lose them money (because someone gave them card with not enough limit on it) but also not drive away customers. Since you're unlikely to steal $50 in towels before they have a maid up there who finds out (and they can expand your hold), it's not a big risk. However, you could easily clean out a minibar in one night for $100s before they found out. So places with minibars tend to have higher incidental holds than places without them.
    Hotel Damage is kinda a hit or miss. Most people don't destroy hotels (and when they do, there's no possible prehold that's reasonable to apply to everyone that's going to come anywhere near helping them.)

    So the TL;DR is "for a place sans minibar, $50 doesn't sound too low IMHO. YMMV"

  • MTSonic11MTSonic11 Registered User regular
    I stayed at the Homewood last year for 6 nights (2 at non-PAX rate, 4 at PAX rate) and they only put a very minimal hold on my card. $50 sounds about right. The internet was included, no mini-bar or room service available. The only things you would most likely rack up legally would be parking, gift shop purchases, phone usage or in-room movies.

  • HeadhunterHeadhunter Registered User regular
    Any feedback on Hotel Max? I'll be staying there this time around, after residing in the Hyatt at Olive 8 for Prime 2011 (which was AWESOME).

    "Perception is reality." -unknown
  • tsrblketsrblke Registered User regular
    It's not Thread Necromancy if it's still a relevant thread correct? ;) (I kid of course.)

    Something (Room cancellations I suppose? Last minute people bailing? Added rooms? who knows!) has produced a few rooms in the closer hotels available Thurs-Sunday in the OnPeak searches (i.e. the official hotel block).
    YMMV, I just ran the search with the default "Thurs-Sunday" settings. And I didn't really check how many rooms were left, so they may be gone by the time I hit post (and the more I type the more likely that becomes!). There appeared (emphasis APPEARED, I was scanning and I'm prone to error when I do that) to be at least one available room at the Coveted Sheraton and Hyatt hotels (they both came up in the search.)

  • sanovahsanovah Nerd of the West San Diego, CaliforniaRegistered User regular
    Has anyone had their money taken by on peak yet, and also does anyone know how much of an extra hold the westin puts on my card for incidentals

  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    sanovah wrote: »
    Has anyone had their money taken by on peak yet, and also does anyone know how much of an extra hold the westin puts on my card for incidentals

    OnPeak will not charge your card. They will transfer your reservation to the hotel about 1-2 weeks before PAX, and then the hotel will put a hold on your card for the first night in case of no-shows. The hotel will not put a hold on for incidentals until you arrive and present the card that you will be using to stay. Once you present THAT card, the hold on your reservation card should be lifted and then they'll put the hold on for incidentals (no idea how much, likely $50-200).

  • CaptainTapoleCaptainTapole Awesome in the Possum - Yee-Haw! Northern CaliforniaRegistered User regular
    zerzhul wrote: »
    sanovah wrote: »
    Has anyone had their money taken by on peak yet, and also does anyone know how much of an extra hold the westin puts on my card for incidentals

    OnPeak will not charge your card. They will transfer your reservation to the hotel about 1-2 weeks before PAX, and then the hotel will put a hold on your card for the first night in case of no-shows. The hotel will not put a hold on for incidentals until you arrive and present the card that you will be using to stay. Once you present THAT card, the hold on your reservation card should be lifted and then they'll put the hold on for incidentals (no idea how much, likely $50-200).
    Unless they raised it since last year, I know Sheraton does a $100 "refundable" incentive. The word is in quotation marks because--at least what they did with my card--they transferred that $100 and used it as part of my payment for the hotel billing at the end.

    The Girl Who Gave Everyone the Shortest Jenga Game Ever.
  • ohkateyohkatey Owner of Bitch Team Alpha Austin, TXRegistered User regular
    Headhunter wrote: »
    Any feedback on Hotel Max? I'll be staying there this time around, after residing in the Hyatt at Olive 8 for Prime 2011 (which was AWESOME).

    I have not stayed there for PAX before, but I do know a friend that has stayed there before and loved his stay/staff was great/etc. Hope it's as good for you!

    pax primer @ <3
  • HeadhunterHeadhunter Registered User regular
    ohkatey wrote: »
    Headhunter wrote: »
    Any feedback on Hotel Max? I'll be staying there this time around, after residing in the Hyatt at Olive 8 for Prime 2011 (which was AWESOME).

    I have not stayed there for PAX before, but I do know a friend that has stayed there before and loved his stay/staff was great/etc. Hope it's as good for you!
    I actually changed to Hyatt on Olive 8 when a few spots opened the other day, it's even closer and I wanted to process my whole booking through onPeak. I'll keep that in mind for any future Hotel Max stays, thanks!

    "Perception is reality." -unknown
  • AxonAxon Registered User regular
    I just released a homewood suites reservation. Can't go to PAX. Go. Now.

  • ohkateyohkatey Owner of Bitch Team Alpha Austin, TXRegistered User regular
    When do you guys think OnPeak will transfer the reservations? It's about two weeks away, so I'd like to actually confirm my reservation and remind my hotel of my late check-in so I don't lose my room!

    pax primer @ <3
  • JimmyWildJimmyWild Austin, TXRegistered User regular
    Have the reservations been released from OnPeak to the hotels yet?

  • CaptainTapoleCaptainTapole Awesome in the Possum - Yee-Haw! Northern CaliforniaRegistered User regular
    If I recall correctly (someone can point it out if I am wrong about this) OnPeak sends it out a week prior. Maybe next Wednesday? Big question mark there.

    The Girl Who Gave Everyone the Shortest Jenga Game Ever.
  • tsrblketsrblke Registered User regular
    If I recall correctly (someone can point it out if I am wrong about this) OnPeak sends it out a week prior. Maybe next Wednesday? Big question mark there.

    They showed up in my wife's Hyatt rewards "upcoming trips" which usually doesn't happen until Onepeak sends it over. (i.e they weren't there last week.)

  • JimmyWildJimmyWild Austin, TXRegistered User regular
    Ok cool. I'm sure there will be an announcement somewhere on here or twitter or something.
    Also, nice timing @ohkatey lol. Great minds...something something. :)

  • ohkateyohkatey Owner of Bitch Team Alpha Austin, TXRegistered User regular
    Haha, thanks guys! :) I'll probably try giving the actual hotel (not the national number) a quick call next weekend and ask if they've got all their PAX customer information yet. If not, I'll try the weekend after I suppose!

    pax primer @ <3
  • tsrblketsrblke Registered User regular
    JimmyWild wrote: »
    Ok cool. I'm sure there will be an announcement somewhere on here or twitter or something.
    Also, nice timing @ohkatey lol. Great minds...something something. :)

    I don't recall any announcements last year. Worst case you can always call your hotel either on the road or in between flights to tell them you're still coming ;).

    I can't speak for PAX, but in my experience it has to be pretty late before a hotel gives up a reservation (although a full hotel may change that!)

  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited August 2012
    I believe that all reservations should be transferred by the end of next week. For example, my confirmation email says that if I need to make changes prior to 8/23, to make the change through OnPeak. After 8/23 to make the change through the hotel. This would indicate to me that BY 8/23, the reservation should be transferred over.

    Also if you simply call OnPeak, they should be able to tell you when it will be transferred.

    zerzhul on
  • shadowscoutshadowscout Registered User regular
    My reservation at the hilton via onpeak is now showing on my hhonors account

  • JimmyWildJimmyWild Austin, TXRegistered User regular
    Ok, so just talked to my hotel (Hotel Max) and they have the reservation and got me a confirmation number. Looks like at least some of the hotels have received the reservations from OnPeak.

This discussion has been closed.