FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it so difficult to reserve a hotel room for Comic-Con?
During Comic-Con, San Diego has a chronic hotel room shortage. While that’s something that the city is working on, some of the new, bigger hotels (such as the Hilton adjacent to the South end of the Convention Center) won’t be open until after Comic-Con 2008.

While we add hotel rooms to our existing blocks with each hotel every year, the hotels themselves have learned how many people come to Comic-Con and are reluctant to give us additional hotel space at a discounted rate. Because of that, for the first time this year, we are asking that you book your room OUTSIDE of our hotel block.

If you prefer to try to get a room at the Comic-Con discounted rate: Comic-Con hotel reservations open Wednesday, February 6, 2008, at 9:00 AM Pacific Standard Time (12:00 PM EST).

Our website—www.comic-con.org—links directly to the online reservation website and also includes our travel agency, Travel Planners, phone number and when to call. Please do NOT call or try to book online before Feb. 6 at 9:00 AM.

Every year, I try calling and/or booking online and I fail each time. Why does that happen?
Like any system, there’s a limit to how many people can call or reserve online at once. We apologize for the limitations of the system. Each year we try to add more operators to the phone lines and more bandwidth to the online system.

There has to be a better way to do this.
We’re trying our best to provide more affordable housing in an over-crowded market that can’t possibly meet the demands of our event. We contract with the local hotels in an effort to keep costs down and to also receive acknowledgement of the number of hotel rooms we utilize during Comic-Con. This helps the city and the Convention Center better understand what we mean to San Diego on a financial basis.

So…what can I do?
There are some simple steps you can take in advance to make the reservation process go more smoothly:

• Have more than one hotel in mind.
Book only one room at one hotel, but be flexible on where you want to stay. Have more than one hotel choice when you call or reserve online. If you find yourself with more rooms than you need, please cancel them ASAP to free them up for other people.

• Remember the shuttle bus!
Consider all the downtown hotels. Remember that the downtown hotels are all on or near a shuttle bus stop that will take you to and from the Convention Center for free.

• Consider alternate arrival and departure dates.
The number of rooms available on the days immediately before and after Comic-Con are not as numerous as the days of the actual event. Be flexible on your arrival and departure dates.

• Book only one room.
If you and a friend are attending Comic-Con and staying together, do NOT double-book rooms with the idea of canceling one of them later. To be fair to everyone, reserve only one room

• Be patient.
Hotel rooms sometimes become available as we get closer to the actual dates, due to cancellations and other circumstances. Check back often.

• Bookmark this blog.
We will be utilizing this blog throughout the months leading up to Comic-Con to keep you up-to-date on any hotel room information, plus adding tips to help make your stay in San Diego more enjoyable. Check back for shuttle bus information, parking, restaurant and local attractions, and more in the coming months leading up to Comic-Con!