You didnt ask for my opinion, but here it is anyway...

It’s that time of year when all of my anxieties climax and the outcome is, hopefully, a highly-coveted Gaslamp hotel room during SDCC.

(Photo: Instagram.com/stephizm)

I get more anxious about the hotel sale than I do about the badge sales. It’s so bad that I have nightmares about the sale. It’s one thing not to get a badge to SDCC, but to get a badge and NOT have a place to stay would be THE WORST. Also, everyone and their freaking mothers wants that golden egg of a hotel room: the prestigious Omni, the peaceful ocean views of the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, the trendy Hard Rock Hotel, and so on.

Every year over a hundred thousand people compete for a limited number of rooms sold in the SDCC Hotel Sale, and every year there is excitement, disappointment, bargaining with higher powers, and, if you’re like me, lots of coffee and alcohol. It’s a messy process that starts with staring at a clock, clicking the link when it’s time, and filling out a tedious form...and this is all done in record time (because you have been preparing for this moment all year and the first people always get the best hotel choices). And then the waiting begins. This is a three day window in which one waits to find out if they got one of their six hotel choices and if not, then they hope they got a decent hotel in hotel circle.

The face you make when you look for the con in Hotel Circle 

So, now that you have a background-but of course, you didn’t need it because everyone has gone through this special form of hell - I can tell you this will be my fifth year of hotelacalypse and I’m actually excited to see the changes that have taken place with the SDCC hotel sale.

1. The Waiting Room: This is a great thing! It may not seem like it’s a great thing, but it truly is a great thing! Do you know how much stress is going to be relieved from my shoulders because they have implemented this process? The waiting room means things are out of my hands. I no longer have to worry about whether or not I entered in my information quickly enough, or if it even entered. Badge sales have proven the waiting room is not only successful, but a fair process. I say all of this fully knowing I may not get in and grab a hotel room, but I can also say I have a better chance of getting a good hotel this year because…
2. Attendees and Professionals can only participate this year. Or so I am to understand. When you have about 130k people attending a conference things can get hairy when it comes time to make sure these attendees have a place to stay. When you open up these hotel sales to everyone - attendees and non-attendees - this becomes an even messier process. This system is not perfect, and it may never be perfect, but I think they are heading down the right path. As a fifth year attendee, I am truly excited to see this change. I have known people who did not have convention badges and have stayed at those sought-after hotels, and it always felt a little unfair. Whether it is unfair or not, I am still excited at the thought of actually getting a decent hotel.
3. Shuttle/Convention Fee: Now on to the new fee assessed to your hotel rates. I’m putting away my soapbox and getting out a stage and podium for this one. It’s $8/night. Eight. Dollars. If you’re like me, you're probably sharing your room with at least one other person, which means you’re paying even less than $8/night. Basically, what I am trying to say is it’s a nominal fee. It’s two grande lattes at Starbucks. It’s profoundly less than the taxes and tourism fees San Diego assess on its hotels, and no one really complains about those anymore, do they?

Let me refer you to this link www.comic-con.org/cci/hotels which has this to say about the fee “Hotel rates include an $8.00 per night reimbursement to Comic-Con to help defray shuttle and convention costs (this charge is subject to change).” Basically, they’re saying “shit is getting expensive, and we kind of need your help.” Fair enough. Shit is expensive and we are getting steeply discounted rates at hotels so why not tack on a few extra bucks onto that steeply discounted rate to help offset those costs?

A possible example of what a ruler of a "nerd kingdom" looks like

You or someone you know may have been lucky enough to stay at a hotel within walking distance to the convention and you could be thinking to yourself “Why the fuck should I pay for a service I don’t use?” Let me explain it to you in the plainest way possible. SDCC is, for a brief period of team every year, it’s own nerd kingdom. A kingdom needs to impose taxes to run properly and take care of itself and citizens, and this includes transportation. If you still don’t get it then I fear you may be a Trump supporter.

I’m excited to see all of these changes happening at SDCC this year. This convention is an ever-growing beast and the powers that be just want to keep it going and successful so it can return for another year. This is a not-for profit organization whose interest is keeping everyone as happy as possible, and that means they are going to make smart decisions - even if they’re not always popular decisions.

I am going to step down from my stage now and anxiously wait for next Tuesday when I find out my hotel sale fate.

For more reading on SDCC and it’s home in San Diego, check out this great LA Times article from July 2015. And of course, one should always check out the Toucan blog for up-to-date information on SDCC.

Unless it is otherwise credited, all photos are owned by Annemarie Mancino.