The Yearly PAX East Hotel shuffle

Jer1ch0 · January 2020

I am sure like a lot of you there is always a desire to be as close to the venue as possible which is why I always strive to book the Westin. As per usual no Westin rooms available day of badge release so I booked the Hyatt and resigned myself to checking the booking site daily to see if any Westin rooms open up. This year though I noticed there was a waitlist option, so I went ahead and added my name and got a reply saying they will do their best...yeah right...

So as part of my yearly game of 'can I book my preferred hotel' I eventually got the last 3 nights at the Westin and first 2 nights at Aloft and was going to keep trying...till I got a call yesterday from Connection Housing letting me know they can give me a continuous stay at the Westin as I waitlisted...if I was Ok to cancel the Aloft reservation. Um yess!

So moral of the story - try the wait list option - or play the game of shuffling hotels and you may just stay where you want...but Woot for the Westin my whole trip.

MephistoN7 · January 2020

Jer1ch0 wrote: »

I am sure like a lot of you there is always a desire to be as close to the venue as possible which is why I always strive to book the Westin. As per usual no Westin rooms available day of badge release so I booked the Hyatt and resigned myself to checking the booking site daily to see if any Westin rooms open up. This year though I noticed there was a waitlist option, so I went ahead and added my name and got a reply saying they will do their best...yeah right...

So as part of my yearly game of 'can I book my preferred hotel' I eventually got the last 3 nights at the Westin and first 2 nights at Aloft and was going to keep trying...till I got a call yesterday from Connection Housing letting me know they can give me a continuous stay at the Westin as I waitlisted...if I was Ok to cancel the Aloft reservation. Um yess!

So moral of the story - try the wait list option - or play the game of shuffling hotels and you may just stay where you want...but Woot for the Westin my whole trip.

This exact same thing happened to me.

So a lot of us noted that the link first shared on Twitter was the hotel queue, not the badge queue- meaning a vast majority of attendees got first crack at booking a room before even getting tickets to the show. Your humble narrator, however, just kept refreshing the website to buy badges. Was in queue for... 2 minutes? But enter the hotel queue after, 45 minutes easy and no options left.

I always have a Hotels.com booking for the Westin, as the ultimate Plan B since it's pricier and marked up. But I booked A night at the Seaport using the hotel service and saw the "hotel waiting list" you mention. Had the same thoughts as you and took the full shot in the dark hail mary pass: "I'd like to upgrade to five nights at the Westin if something opens". Figured that was the end of it.

Flash forward to last Friday, get a random email from Hotel Connections: "Your reservations have been upgraded per your request. Please confirm." and sure enough... a Wednesday thru Monday booking at the Westin for the original rate. Um, thanks?

Now, given the few horror stories from last year with this new service communicating very late (or not at all, in some cases) with the hotels, I'm still keeping the Plan B active until the week before. And I'll call the Westin closer to the event to make sure the Ts have been crossed.

But yeah, I echo the OP. Use the waitlist and maybe you'll be surprised.

singingpie · January 2020

I feel stupid. I don't see how to sign up for a wait list!

Bunta_Fujiwara · January 2020

I've had a:
Wednesday-Sunday Double Bed Westin and a
Thursday-Sunday King Bed Westin

All I really want is a King Bed for Wednesday-Sunday and have been checking non-stop for months for that Wednesday night King so I can drop my Wednesday-Sunday Double bed.

I cannot believe Wednesday is the hardest to get. Yet again, when this year Thursday passes are still available, yet Friday/Saturday are sold out and those days have been open at the Westin pretty consistently!

ilta · January 2020

probably just fewer Wednesday rooms in the block to begin with

Bunta_Fujiwara · January 2020

I guess. I'm hoping when I check in and they see it's only me they offer me a King Bed Room, because I dont need both beds, and it'd make sense to have it available for those who do want it. I'm shocked how easily I got a Wed-Sun Westin Double Bed.

Last year I had a King Room for Wednesday-Sunday and I accepted an upgrade offer when I checked in for a "better view room" for 15 bucks a day.

Bunta_Fujiwara · January 2020

Double and Single Bed Westin rooms up for Wednesday-Sunday

DeathJest3r · February 2020

I am going to be releasing an Element room from 2/26 to 3/1 checkout at Noon est today. King Bed, Max Occupancy 2. The PAX housing and the hotel could not confirm that we would get the Studio style room (full kitchen + extra ~60 sqft of space) but if you are traveling solo or a couple then the room is plenty big enough.

EscoBlades · February 2020

PAX East is the one convention i have always used a 3rd party website to book hotels. I usually just use Booking.com as far out as 9 months from the date of the next show, and with their Genius discount, the rates are usually comparable to the Reedpop negotiated ones. After which i just keep checking there for my particular dates to see if anything closer pops up for cheaper (furthest out i stay is the Club Quarters anyway so, at the most, a short walk)

Bunta_Fujiwara · February 2020

Anyone get hotel confirmation from the actual hotel yet? It's about 2 weeks from my reservation and usually I've gotten one by now. Was going to call, but wanted to see if anyone has heard yet.

MephistoN7 · February 2020

Bunta_Fujiwara wrote: »

Anyone get hotel confirmation from the actual hotel yet? It's about 2 weeks from my reservation and usually I've gotten one by now. Was going to call, but wanted to see if anyone has heard yet.

Not yet. Was going to call as well. I feel like last year they locked in our reservations a week before, but I'd rather hear it from the hotel themselves sooner.

starNOstar · February 2020

Bunta_Fujiwara wrote: »

Anyone get hotel confirmation from the actual hotel yet? It's about 2 weeks from my reservation and usually I've gotten one by now. Was going to call, but wanted to see if anyone has heard yet.

I have from the Revere, got the confirm email 02/05

helen0rz · February 2020

I wait listed

Bunta_Fujiwara wrote: »

Anyone get hotel confirmation from the actual hotel yet? It's about 2 weeks from my reservation and usually I've gotten one by now. Was going to call, but wanted to see if anyone has heard yet.

I got mine on 2/6 for Hyatt Regency

Xenigma · February 2020

Just double-checked, no new message for my Seaport reservation and no obvious news on my reservation page. I have to imagine it'll be any day now.

Streetlight345 · February 2020

I didn't get a confirmation email but my brother who works at the hotel confirmed it was in the system.

Bunta_Fujiwara · February 2020

Called this morning after seeing a bunch of you said you had gotten yours. They confirmed my room at the Westin. Now that I think about it, I think I had to call last year for the Westin too.

DeathJest3r · February 2020

Connection Housing started sending over the reservation info to the hotels last week. In my experience most of the hotels do not send you an automated confirmation so your best bet is to call the hotel directly at the end of this week.

Domino · February 2020

I do the shuffle, but I only do 3 days. Of course, the usual 3 hardest days Thursday - Sunday. I can't do more because I take off the rest for multiple trips to Japan throughout the year... lol. I need to edit my bottom 'Pax List'.

revengeanceful · February 2020

Nothing yet from The Intercontinental, and doesn't appear in my account with them either. If I don't hear by the end of the week, I'll have to give them a call.

ibor132 · February 2020

My Renaissance reservation is showing in my Bonvoy account as of this evening. Based on that and what other folks have said it seems like at least the Marriott reservations have been passed over from Connections.

Jer1ch0 · February 2020

Yup - called and confirmed my room at Westin and got confirmation number. Always makes me breath a sigh of relief.

revengeanceful · February 2020

Update: Got my confirmation from The Intercontinental today! With that last little detail in place, I all have left to do is get hype!

Satoru · February 2020

revengeanceful wrote: »

Update: Got my confirmation from The Intercontinental today! With that last little detail in place, I all have left to do is get hype!

Thank you for your reservation

We’d like to inform all of our guests, that unlike our sister hotel, we do not accept gold coins as payment.

We apologize for the inconvenience

Penny Arcade

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