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[EAST] PAX East 2013 Hotel Discussion Thread [link in OP]

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  • kropotkinkropotkin Forum Badge Creator London UKRegistered User regular
    Leaks aside, I'd like to chip in about the Westin and how I have stayed in it over the past 2 PAX Easts. The rooms are great and the breakfast they serve is also good although somewhat pricey. The advantage of the hotel being attached to the BCEC is great, but you do get the feeling of becoming absorbed as you find yourself rarely leaving the hotel and BCEC. Also note that BCEC is in a very isolated part of Boston and the main city centre is fair old trek.

    My advice is, if you want to just experience PAX East, try to stay in the Westin. Otherwise I'd recommend staying somewhere a little further away so that you can experience the city and PAX East.

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  • HeadhunterHeadhunter Registered User regular
    kropotkin wrote: »
    Leaks aside, I'd like to chip in about the Westin and how I have stayed in it over the past 2 PAX Easts. The rooms are great and the breakfast they serve is also good although somewhat pricey. The advantage of the hotel being attached to the BCEC is great, but you do get the feeling of becoming absorbed as you find yourself rarely leaving the hotel and BCEC. Also note that BCEC is in a very isolated part of Boston and the main city centre is fair old trek.

    I ate the breakfast buffet twice, it's so good but I ate way too much. Pro tip for anyone who wants to try it: don't schedule your breakfast buffet 2 hours before your plane takes off. :D
    My advice is, if you want to just experience PAX East, try to stay in the Westin. Otherwise I'd recommend staying somewhere a little further away so that you can experience the city and PAX East.

    With the free shuttle service, even a decent ways away is an option. I was across the street from the Prudential Centre mall in 2011, which gave me a lot of options to eat when away from the BCEC (I recommend the Legal Sea Foods inside in particular).

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  • ishtraishtra Long IslandRegistered User regular
    @headhunter - that's good to know about food - we're debating trying it this year instead of eating packets of oatmeal :P

    Attendee: PAX East 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, Unplugged 2017
  • GhostDanGhostDan Registered User regular
    I stayed at the Park Plaza last year, and while it wasn't horrible it seemed pretty run down. The rooms are clean and all but maintenance seems to be a bit lacking. And while not their fault, there was the 2am fire alarm pulling that was quite annoying with the addition of their inability to properly shut off the alarm system (it kept giving announcements for about 30 minutes after the fire) It's tied for the longest route using the shutttle also, and took a while to get back and forth, at times it was tough walking around all day with swag so I'm hoping to get a spot at the Westin this year.

  • redfield85redfield85 Registered User regular
    GhostDan wrote: »
    I stayed at the Park Plaza last year, and while it wasn't horrible it seemed pretty run down. The rooms are clean and all but maintenance seems to be a bit lacking. And while not their fault, there was the 2am fire alarm pulling that was quite annoying with the addition of their inability to properly shut off the alarm system (it kept giving announcements for about 30 minutes after the fire) It's tied for the longest route using the shutttle also, and took a while to get back and forth, at times it was tough walking around all day with swag so I'm hoping to get a spot at the Westin this year.

    I stayed there the past two PAX Easts and didn't have a problem. The fire alarm was a pain, but I got in from the Pokecrawl like a half hour before it went off (I think it was on Thursday). We got back to the room, laid down, the alarm went off again, and I just start with the giggles and everyone was complaining. Haha.

    Shuttle wasn't horrible. You just have to catch it when it is there. We walked back from the convention center once. Wasn't the worst thing ever. And it is walking distance to 7-11, China town for liquor, and Bocco Loco burritos. I walked back from the Pokecrawl and survived.

    If I had to stay at Park Plaza again, I wouldn't care. There is a nice little downstairs area where you could play games (I never have). But, saying that, I am trying to get the Westin for the first time.

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  • RicinRicin Registered User regular
    I am going to be operating under the assumption that the Westin and Seaport were sold out during the leaked link incident. Where else is close to the BCEC and PAX friendly.

  • waterbottleswaterbottles Beverage KentuckyRegistered User regular
    edited September 2012
    Goodness, I hope not. I've been checking the forums all week during work breaks/after work hoping not to miss the link post.

    I love the Seaport, and honestly don't care if it's a block away. It's nice, affordable, and the staff is pleasant. I really hope that they didn't sell out before the link has been officially released!

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  • ishtraishtra Long IslandRegistered User regular
    zerzhul wrote: »
    In addition, people making reservations via leaked links have a high chance of the reservations being wiped. This is not official information, so take it with a grain of salt, but I would not be surprised if any reservation made just now got wiped out.

    this :)

    Attendee: PAX East 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, Unplugged 2017
  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    Ricin wrote: »
    I am going to be operating under the assumption that the Westin and Seaport were sold out during the leaked link incident. Where else is close to the BCEC and PAX friendly.

    I can assure you that they were not even close to sold out via that leak.

    To answer your question though, the Renaissance is close and PAX friendly.

  • RicinRicin Registered User regular
    zerzhul wrote: »

    I can assure you that they were not even close to sold out via that leak.

    To answer your question though, the Renaissance is close and PAX friendly.

    I apologize if I was operating under a false premise but from what I understood, Westin was completely sold out and the Seaport was in process of selling out. But after re-reading Limond's post he was discussing last year's booking situation not this year's.

    My Bad!

  • GhostDanGhostDan Registered User regular
    redfield85 wrote: »
    I stayed there the past two PAX Easts and didn't have a problem. The fire alarm was a pain, but I got in from the Pokecrawl like a half hour before it went off (I think it was on Thursday). We got back to the room, laid down, the alarm went off again, and I just start with the giggles and everyone was complaining. Haha.

    If I had to stay at Park Plaza again, I wouldn't care. There is a nice little downstairs area where you could play games (I never have). But, saying that, I am trying to get the Westin for the first time.

    I may have just be unlucky. The lady at the front desk mentioned I was in what was normally a airline overnight room (where they toss pilots and flight attendants when they are doing a overnight in the city). The molding was broken along the bottom of the walls, there was a black grime along the sides of the mirror.

    The ability to open the windows was a life saver. Like many other older hotels, the heat/ac is controlled centrally and not individual to the room. We had a few unseasonably warm days last year and I ended up having to move a table so I could open up the windows to get some cooler air in the room. I do have to give props to the restaurant/bar area downstairs. The bar staff was very friendly and professional and the prices weren't as bad as I've seen at other similar hotels for some really decent food.

  • redfield85redfield85 Registered User regular
    GhostDan wrote: »
    redfield85 wrote: »
    I stayed there the past two PAX Easts and didn't have a problem. The fire alarm was a pain, but I got in from the Pokecrawl like a half hour before it went off (I think it was on Thursday). We got back to the room, laid down, the alarm went off again, and I just start with the giggles and everyone was complaining. Haha.

    If I had to stay at Park Plaza again, I wouldn't care. There is a nice little downstairs area where you could play games (I never have). But, saying that, I am trying to get the Westin for the first time.

    I may have just be unlucky. The lady at the front desk mentioned I was in what was normally a airline overnight room (where they toss pilots and flight attendants when they are doing a overnight in the city). The molding was broken along the bottom of the walls, there was a black grime along the sides of the mirror.

    The ability to open the windows was a life saver. Like many other older hotels, the heat/ac is controlled centrally and not individual to the room. We had a few unseasonably warm days last year and I ended up having to move a table so I could open up the windows to get some cooler air in the room. I do have to give props to the restaurant/bar area downstairs. The bar staff was very friendly and professional and the prices weren't as bad as I've seen at other similar hotels for some really decent food.

    Yea, I never had that. I think I booked for a double but they gave us a king, which wasn't a huge deal. That was about it. We weren't in the room much, if at all.

    I am going to assume if I book a double for East 13 and put that I have 4 people in the room that they won't change it to a king. Ha.

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  • hjm978hjm978 Registered User regular
    I highly recomend the Westin. I stayed their last year.

    Pros:
    Convienence of being attatched to BCEC.
    Decent local food in area.
    Great staff.

    Cons: Fire in the restaurant at 2:00 pm on Sunday. Anyone remember that?
    A wee bit pricy for breakfast.
    A wee bit to loud at night (expected for a convention hotel.)

  • xenardxenard Registered User regular
    hjm978 wrote: »
    Cons: Fire in the restaurant at 2:00 pm on Sunday. Anyone remember that?

    I remember! I had to walk down sooo many stairs

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  • hjm978hjm978 Registered User regular
    xenard wrote: »
    hjm978 wrote: »
    Cons: Fire in the restaurant at 2:00 pm on Sunday. Anyone remember that?

    I remember! I had to walk down sooo many stairs

    I was in the pool. Standing in the lobby dripping wet is NOT fun.

  • AxonAxon Registered User regular
    Anxiously waiting for registration to go live. :)

  • ChorazinChorazin Lancaster, PARegistered User regular
    I'm not going to post everything I learned by emailing OnPeak about people that got in their reservations during the leak, but they did confirm will be honoring the reservations and emails will be issued when reg goes live.

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  • waterbottleswaterbottles Beverage KentuckyRegistered User regular
    Chorazin wrote: »
    I'm not going to post everything I learned by emailing OnPeak about people that got in their reservations during the leak, but they did confirm will be honoring the reservations and emails will be issued when reg goes live.

    For reals? That's unfortunate to hear. I hope there's still space left at the Seaport by the time I can see the legit link go live.
    (No one at my work is allowed to use the internet except on breaks on these two computers, so I'll just keep on checkin' and hopefully not miss it going up by too much).

  • ishtraishtra Long IslandRegistered User regular
    Lucky for those people. crossing my fingers And toes :P

    Attendee: PAX East 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, Unplugged 2017
  • ChorazinChorazin Lancaster, PARegistered User regular
    I very much doubt that that many people got in on the 12 hours it was up, since I saw nothing on social media about it, only the post from here. No worries folks.

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  • xenardxenard Registered User regular
    So I shouldn't freak out more so than I already am?

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  • ChorazinChorazin Lancaster, PARegistered User regular
    xenard wrote: »
    So I shouldn't freak out more so than I already am?

    I wouldn't!

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  • AxonAxon Registered User regular
    Zer already confirmed neither the Westin or the Seaport is sold out.

  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    the leak was only up for an extremely short amount of time, and only on the forums. It wasn't a massive amount of people hitting it.

    I'm surprised to hear that they might honor the reservations though. I'll believe it when I hear official word from a PAX Employee.

  • ChorazinChorazin Lancaster, PARegistered User regular
    Me too, I fully figured I'd get cancelled. I'm a happy camper!

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  • HeadhunterHeadhunter Registered User regular
    ishtra wrote: »
    @headhunter - that's good to know about food - we're debating trying it this year instead of eating packets of oatmeal :P

    I'm not going to repeat the experience of mostly eating convention centre food, which I did in 2012. The amount of Mountain Dew Code Red (THREE DOLLARS???) and burritos I ate from the 2nd floor was pretty alarming, and not something I want to go through again.

    "Perception is reality." -unknown
  • ChorazinChorazin Lancaster, PARegistered User regular
    Headhunter wrote: »
    ishtra wrote: »
    @headhunter - that's good to know about food - we're debating trying it this year instead of eating packets of oatmeal :P

    I'm not going to repeat the experience of mostly eating convention centre food, which I did in 2012. The amount of Mountain Dew Code Red (THREE DOLLARS???) and burritos I ate from the 2nd floor was pretty alarming, and not something I want to go through again.

    Starbucks in the morning and 5 hour enegeries the rest of the day kept me going last year, caffine wise. Bringing my own water bottle has been paying off in spades though!

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  • ishtraishtra Long IslandRegistered User regular
    Headhunter wrote: »
    I'm not going to repeat the experience of mostly eating convention centre food, which I did in 2012. The amount of Mountain Dew Code Red (THREE DOLLARS???) and burritos I ate from the 2nd floor was pretty alarming, and not something I want to go through again.

    yeaah we usually pack a cooler of cold cuts, wraps, granola and granola bars, and cereal with milk. I think we ate out once or twice at 2012, but we were considering the breakfast on Thursday morning as the hotel price is better including breakfast than without it (gotta love random deals).

    Attendee: PAX East 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, Unplugged 2017
  • eloelo That guy over there... Smoke stack central, NJRegistered User regular
    Headhunter wrote: »
    Headhunter wrote: »
    ishtra wrote: »
    @headhunter - that's good to know about food - we're debating trying it this year instead of eating packets of oatmeal :P

    I'm not going to repeat the experience of mostly eating convention centre food, which I did in 2012. The amount of Mountain Dew Code Red (THREE DOLLARS???) and burritos I ate from the 2nd floor was pretty alarming, and not something I want to go through again.

    Yeah, I brought two bottles of vitamin water in my bag (I keep a backpack on me for extra swag storage, food, and portable game storage). Also, Cliff bars were a lifesaver for me. I'd end up panel jumping and didn't want to leave/didn't have the time to leave the BCEC, so one of those was more then enough to hold me over till I had some downtime to go get something proper to eat.

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  • RicinRicin Registered User regular
    I am not surprised about OnPeak saying they would honor the reservations. It makes sense that a company whose only goal is to book and take reservations is not really interested in being judge and jury on whose reservation is valid or not. Seen it happen with another convention, uproar was raised and in the end it was a bunch of sound and fury signifying nothing. Much like everything else in life cheaters always win.

    I think we will have a while to wait, according to patterns from last year registration would go live, with hotels following 2 weeks later.

  • HeadhunterHeadhunter Registered User regular
    edited September 2012
    Chorazin wrote: »
    Starbucks in the morning and 5 hour enegeries the rest of the day kept me going last year, caffine wise. Bringing my own water bottle has been paying off in spades though!
    That's a rough way to get through a weekend...!
    ishtra wrote: »
    yeaah we usually pack a cooler of cold cuts, wraps, granola and granola bars, and cereal with milk. I think we ate out once or twice at 2012, but we were considering the breakfast on Thursday morning as the hotel price is better including breakfast than without it (gotta love random deals).
    I like to eat out when I travel, maybe I'll have to get over that for East. :(
    elo wrote: »
    Yeah, I brought two bottles of vitamin water in my bag (I keep a backpack on me for extra swag storage, food, and portable game storage). Also, Cliff bars were a lifesaver for me. I'd end up panel jumping and didn't want to leave/didn't have the time to leave the BCEC, so one of those was more then enough to hold me over till I had some downtime to go get something proper to eat.
    A bag is key, I got a great one from Chrome that I am very happy with.
    Ricin wrote: »
    I am not surprised about OnPeak saying they would honor the reservations. It makes sense that a company whose only goal is to book and take reservations is not really interested in being judge and jury on whose reservation is valid or not. Seen it happen with another convention, uproar was raised and in the end it was a bunch of sound and fury signifying nothing. Much like everything else in life cheaters always win.

    I think we will have a while to wait, according to patterns from last year registration would go live, with hotels following 2 weeks later.
    It seems to vary, I've been lucky but I know people who have lost their hotel room after PAX had started. Thankfully they got another hotel (I believe with OnPeak's assistance), but that's still really disruptive.

    Headhunter on
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  • tvethiopiatvethiopia Salem MARegistered User regular
    Ricin wrote: »
    I think we will have a while to wait, according to patterns from last year registration would go live, with hotels following 2 weeks later.

    hm, according to my sources it was actually the other way around last year. hotels went up october 18th and reg was november 3rd. something about this whole leak situation makes me suspect they're getting ready to go live, it's probably best to be on guard.

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  • MissMoogleMissMoogle Registered User regular
    Hey, I know I'm late to the party on this one, but a friend of mine who I always go to PAX with is FREAKING out because he saw that the Westin is sold out? I've been reading about what happened in this thread but I'm still confused...is the Westin already sold out? I stayed in the Westin last year, and I don't remember things being this crazy about getting a room. Maybe I just got lucky last year, but after having such a wonderful experience there I DO NOT want to stay anywhere else! Also, I assumed the main PAX page would need to be updated with the countdown and such for 2013 before registration/hotel rooms goes up. I guess I should just start checking on a daily basis...I don't want to miss out on the Westin! :(

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  • creid8creid8 Registered User regular
    No, the Westin is not sold out. Keep an eye on this thread, though.

  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    Nothing is sold out. And yes, checking on a daily basis is a good idea. Maybe a few times a day for the next month ;)

  • ddrussianinjaddrussianinja Registered User regular
    MissMoogle wrote: »
    Hey, I know I'm late to the party on this one, but a friend of mine who I always go to PAX with is FREAKING out because he saw that the Westin is sold out? I've been reading about what happened in this thread but I'm still confused...is the Westin already sold out? I stayed in the Westin last year, and I don't remember things being this crazy about getting a room. Maybe I just got lucky last year, but after having such a wonderful experience there I DO NOT want to stay anywhere else! Also, I assumed the main PAX page would need to be updated with the countdown and such for 2013 before registration/hotel rooms goes up. I guess I should just start checking on a daily basis...I don't want to miss out on the Westin! :(

    It's generally easier to get a room at the Westin if you are going by yourself or with just one other person, which might be why you got lucky last year. Or maybe you just had really good timing.

    But yeah, the Westin only appears sold out because OnPeak has had the entire block reserved pretty much since before the official dates for PAX East 2013 were announced. They do this so that they can provide discounts for PAX goers, make sure that PAX attendees have as much space in the Westin (and other hotels) as possible, and to make sure that the Enforcers get rooms as well. If they didn't do it like this, the Westin would be sold out within days of the announcement of the next PAX and it would be more difficult for new attendees to get in.

    So don't freak out and just stay tuned.

  • TrandescentTrandescent Registered User regular
    Man, the wait for the registration is killing me!

    Question- will the ticket sales go up at the same time as reservations? Pretty sure they did last year.

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  • flatlineflatline Registered User regular
    Nah, I'm pretty sure tvethiopia is right, I think I had my Westin Reservation significantly before my PAX passes last year.

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  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    Man, the wait for the registration is killing me!

    Question- will the ticket sales go up at the same time as reservations? Pretty sure they did last year.

    They did not go up at the same time last year. Also, there's no way for us to know if they will or won't this year.

  • Josh5890Josh5890 ChicagoRegistered User regular
    Between PAX registration/hotel and the Wii-U launch, I'm very giddy these days. I can't wait to finally register so that I can sleep soundly.

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