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Prime 2014 Hotel Discussion (official hotels are not live)
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I tried a variety of searches but wasn't able to find this info, so thanks in advance for any help! FYI if you just wanted to book right now for that weekend they are anywhere from $289+ depending on what type of room you want, so I'm hoping the PAX page has a discount or I'll have to look elsewhere...
Cheers! See you in August!
There's no specific date as to when the hotel deals go up. Start regularly checking the forums and follow http://twitter.com/official_pax after PAX East ends.
Thanks for the quick reply! I really appreciate it. I will start checking the sites as soon as we get close to PAX East.
In 2012, I paid $752 for a quad occupancy room for 3 nights. ($250/night)
2011: $169
2012: $175
2013: $179
Attended: PAX Prime 2010/'11/'12/'13/'14
That is really great info, thank you so much! Judging by trends there I'd add $5 this year to $184 then about $30 for 3 more people. That's a heck of a lot cheaper than anything available for that hotel right now. I will definitely be waiting and hoping to successfully book through OnPeak. Thanks again everybody, you've all been really helpful!
Learned my lesson. Last year I rented a condo within walking distance and also room shared (which is an awesome way to meet cool people) to really cut down on the rooming and food cost since we also had a kitchen available to us. The Sheraton was nice, though, since I was about to kick off a separate vacation with my family. Kid loved the pool and we had a place to park the rental car.
Gamertag - Khraul
PSN - Razide6
1) If you're going and are mostly into TT, the Olive 8 is actually a better location to stay at than the Sheraton. It's a Hyatt-brand for those that consider hotel award points. One of the newer remodeled hotels in the area, so generally nicer.
2) The Prime layout isn't much like East where you have 1 attached hotel, 2 more a couple blocks away, and then it's 1-3 miles to every other hotel. There are, if I recall correctly, 11 hotels within 1/4 of a mile of the convention centre and 26 hotels within 1/2 mile. Don't get discouraged if you don't score "The Sheraton". Really, it's likely going to be 75 degrees and sunny every day you're here for some very short walks.
When you book a hotel room the "occupancy" is to tell the hotel how many people will be in the room. Many folks will book a room for lower occupancy, since it is lower cost, and just put more people in the room than what they tell the hotel, but that is almost always against hotel policy. Whether or not you want to do something against a hotel's policy is up to you.
Adding to zerzhul's comment, the hotel's set their occupancy limit usually based on fire code. They're looking at how many occupants per room so they don't exceed a safe number (which is usually outlined for them). It's also a great way for them to capitalize on each individual coming into the hotel, rather than collecting a flat "room rate."
But, break policy at your own risk. Having four people in a room that could house four, but only listing two is mostly a clerical and revenue problem for the hotel IMO... Having 16 in a room of four though...
At any rate, I'm pretty sure the Homewood Suites actually sells out before anything else these days. I've debated staying there for the last couple years but having to walk uphill to get there is a big turnoff for me considering I'm wearing myself out by holding up video cameras all weekend. The big open rooms and kitchens are awesome though and make it worthwhile.
The Sheraton has a pool though and that's hard to avoid.
Aside from those I'd also recommend the Red Lion and Grand Hyatt for very nice and very close hotels. The walk between them and the convention center is nothing. The Grand Hyatt is probably the nicest hotel around and the Red Lion has a pretty good restaurant below it if you want to snag a meal without leaving the building.
There's definitely plenty of options for Prime. East on the other hand...
Attendee: Prime 12,13,14 East 13
100% spot on. Everything is spread out so you are walking to matter what hotel you book. We have done both the homewood and the Westin (opposite directions from the con) and both were great. Never felt like we were left out or anything was too far away. Probably going with the Westin again this year if we can get it.
As one of the cheaper alternatives close to the WSCC I may try to book it now if feedback is good. Thanks in advance
It is usually on sale through OnPeak but it's also one of the first hotels to sell out on OnPeak.
Attendee: Prime 12,13,14 East 13
However, there was some rustled jimmies last year, such as an enforcer (or so I'm told) that had a bag full of board games nicked from the entry area and the staff at the time was apparently not willing to do much of anything to help recover it.
The biggest potential problem is that the deal OnPeak has with the Homewood allows the hotel to rearrange rooms as they see fit. This ended up with groups of people being put into much smaller rooms than what they had reserved, and others being placed in rooms that were much larger than they needed.
At least, this is what was going on last year, I do not know if it will be the same as this year.
Now let's see if I can get badges this year
Not everyone with airbnb is going to be like that (some places are rented by companies, not individuals, so they're less lenient), but it's simply more likely that you'll be able to get a large party in a room for cheaper.
If the hotels sell out or aren't in your budget, I'd recommend giving it a try.
I booked a place with Airbnb as well, though I have no experience. I'm glad to hear some positives though, my apartment is close and cheap. Absolutely check it out, no harm in looking.
And a full grocery store (QFC) is just 5 or 6 blocks up from there.
Depends on what your primary Prime objective is. If you're heavy into cosplay, the Sheraton is probably where you want to be so you don't have to walk quite as much. If you're into tabletop, my vote would go for the Olive 8 because their TT area was far and away the best one in the entire convention. If you're there for things like tournaments, you'd want something near Benaroya. If you're packing 47 people into a small room like a Chinese \ flophouse, Homewood is the place to go, etc.
Personally, I made a booking @ the Sheraton, but that's solely because I'm an SPG Elite member and I have no status w/ Hyatt brands, otherwise I'd have booked the Olive 8....and honestly, I'll probably cancel it sometime between now and then anyhow, given that I live a whopping 13-15 minutes away from the convention centre, anyways so buying a hotel is really just an act of laziness for me.