So I was up way too early this morning to join in on the “marriott landgrab” for Dragoncon 2011.
When we first started going – for probably I’d say 2002-2005, we had no issues getting a room at the Marriott. There was no “room grab” day when the rooms went on sale – they just went on sale and people called throughout the year to book. There was no frenzy. It probably did sell out but when it did, it was close to the con. The first year we went, we didn’t decide to go until, like, June I think? We just called and made a reservation, no problem. 2006 and 2007 I don’t really remember, but I remember 2008 because the rooms went on sale at, like, midnight and Chase called and got our room at midnight. LOL.
Last year, Chase was set to call again when the rooms opened at 7AM. We’ve always called with no problems. I knew they were doing the passkey site but didn’t think anything of it. After Chase had been on hold for 15 minutes, I freaked out, jumped online, and was able to get Friday-Monday. Website worked fine, but thursday was already sold out. We were able to add Thursday a few months later.
This year, I was ready. I left the passkey site up on the my computer last night, with a post-it on the side of my monitor with our dates, so I wouldn’t have to fumble to remember. Alarms set on both phones to make sure we were up. Chase was on his computer, I was on mine, when the site went down.
Come on, really, passkey? I mean, really? They know how many people are going to be hitting this site. That’s ridiculous to have it go down. It’s ridiculous to not have enough people to answer the phones, it’s ridiculous that people were getting HUNG UP on, or transferred back to the end of the phone queue after telling the human they finally got through to that they were reserving for Dragoncon.
After constant reloading (on both firefox and safari) I finally got the site to work. Had to keep reloading, but eventually got to the final step of “Make Reservation” – and my session expired. Had to start over. Much reloading and cussing later, I was finally able to book our room. When I got my confirmation email, the dates were a little off, but it’s one of our extra days, so I’m not worried about adding it later.
(It’s a little easier for me to book a room – it’s only me and Chase so we only need a king. Those doubles go fast!)
Talking to Ash I found out she still hadn’t been able to book, so I went back into battle and managed to book another room – thursday was sold out by then but I got another Friday-Monday. She hasn’t decided if she wants to use it or not, so I’ll just hang onto it until she knows and then transfer it.
Seeing so many of my friends and people I know not be able to get rooms or just put through hoops for nothing makes me really upset. The system was screwed this year. This is reason #1 I stopped going to San Diego Comic Con – it became too hard to book a room at a decent hotel. It made me realise we really got lucky to get a room at all.
But it’s behind me, I have an email with a confirmation number from the marriott for all days of dragoncon 2011 so I don’t have to think about it until I realise I’ve waited too late to register for less than $90 in a few months.
ANYWAY —
In other news. I’m in the October issue of Wizard, the costume contest issue. I don’t have a copy yet, but here’s a scan:
That’s me, second from left.
I cracked up that they put “Kell (Last Name Withheld by request)”. I just didn’t include a last name at all. At least they didn’t make up a last name for me! I like my quote. Didn’t get a quote when I was in it a couple of years ago (for Kingdom Come Wonder Woman) – it says “Don’t touch the fishnets.”
I sent them a few pics of different costumes – I’m honestly surprised that’s the one they picked, but whichever they picked, I’m pleased as punch to be included.