Comic-Con: Staying In San Diego

Comic-Con Week!

As we gear for Comic-Con, Thursday, July 24-Sunday, July 27, we are onsite and unable to read your comments. At this point, we're shutting down the comment function for now.

We thank you for all your comments.

Comments are now back on...

We apologize for the delay in turning comments back on. They're now enabled once again.

Posting of Private Phone Numbers

We appreciate all the great advice and personal experiences you're relating on this blog, but we can't allow people to post private phone numbers. Since this blog is maintained by Comic-Con, we cannot vouch for anyone who posts a room or condo availability and a phone number to call to make a possible reservation. We're sorry, but we will have to take down any comment that leaves a personal phone number or email address.

Hotel reservations follow-up...

It goes without saying that trying to book a hotel room for Comic-Con this year was frustrating for many who tried calling or going online for a room.

Comic-Con has been in close contact with Travel Planners, and they wanted us to relay to you the following:

Wednesday, we watched our servers go nuts when the Comic-Con hotel program opened. Many of you suffered the effects, and we apologize for the inconvenience and frustration. We are sorry that our efforts to prepare over the past year fell short.  We are taking into account all of your comments and suggestions that have been posted to the blog. We are conferring with Comic-Con and will make every effort to ensure that this will not happen in the future.

We should point out that Travel Planners made significant upgrades and improvements to their system after 2007, both online and in their phone system. Comic-Con thought that the upgrade would be sufficient. Clearly, this was not the case.

Travel Planners told us that in the first five seconds of the site going live on Wednesday, they experienced three times the number of people requesting rooms as they had last year.

Also in the first five seconds, the site had the same number of people requesting a room as there were rooms available. So, while we were prepared for more people, we were not prepared for three times as many people and were certainly not prepared for as many people to call/log on as there were rooms available.

We are working with Travel Planners and their vendors to change the way we handle housing because, as we can all see, it is not working in its current form.

There are only 9,800 rooms within a 1.5 mile radius of the San Diego Convention Center and Comic-Con is only allocated 6,100 rooms in our block, mainly in this radius. We have a few rooms in hotels in Coronado and Mission Valley and those locations still have availability.

We will continue to add rooms throughout the year as they become available. Many people cancel rooms they booked on Wednesday and those rooms will go into inventory, so please continue to check back.

We thank you for all your comments on this blog. One of the purposes of it was to allow us the opportunity to hear your own experiences directly, so we can better ascertain what the problems are in the hotel reservations process. We particularly appreciate those of you who wrote in and offered your own advice and experiences. We take all of your comments seriously.

Hotel Reservations UPDATE...

We've been in touch with our travel agency, Travel Planners, numerous times today about the ongoing problems with their website. They're trying to fix the problems you've all been having, but they're also in the midst of processing phone reservations. We urge you to try again online, or call Travel Planners directly at 1-877-55-COMIC (1-877-552-6642) or 212-532-1660 if you cannot get through online.

Our Board of Directors expects an answer from them as to what went wrong, but that answer may not come today. And we can assure you: we're NOT moving to Vegas.

Hotel reservations now open...

Comic-Con's hotel block for 2008 is now open for reservations.

Please visit our website by clicking here  or you can go directly to the Travel Planners' reservation site .

If you're an ATTENDEE, click here.

If you're an EXHIBITOR, click here.

Most hotels will start charging one-night deposits on July 3. Please be aware that it takes a while to process everyone and your card may be charged on or after that date, but you should plan that the card you use today will be charged starting on July 3.

Commenting on your comments

Thank you all for your comments. We particularly appreciate those of you who have left comments that relate your own experiences and provide additional helpful information. That's the intent of this resource blog. Rather than leaving comments to your comments, we'll try and answer some of the specific questions that you left in this post, so everyone can see the responses more easily.

Many of you wrote in asking for a hotel list to be posted. The list is available now. Click on the link in the sidebar to the right to see it.

Now, onto some of your individual comments...

Melody left a comment, asking:
Have you considered expanding the shuttle service to hotels outside the convention block? Something out to hotel circle perhaps?

We are looking into possibly expanding the shuttle beyond downtown. If that happens, we'll post info here and on our website at www.comic-con.org.

Steve wrote:
The idea of encouraging people to get a hotel room early due to room limitations seems a natural, given that (relatively) few rooms will be available on the 6th. That said, it appears that the majority of these listed hotels are not making their rooms publicly available AT ALL during the con dates. I have a backup hotel set, out in Mission Valley, but it looks like the only choice for a "Con Hotel" at ANY rate is Wednesday morning. And, yes, I've been keeping my eye on them for months. This should probably be made more clear to people. They can't expect to get a Con Hotel at a non-discounted rate. There's just no rooms open.

Some hotels have rooms available and some do not. The rates at any hotel with available rooms will be significantly higher than the special Comic-Con rate. There are other hotels in the downtown area of San Diego that were not interested in participating in our hotel block that may also have rooms available, but again at a much higher rate. Rooms are available in other areas of San Diego. If you have a car, search for Sports Arena, Old Town, Coronado, Point Loma, Mission Valley, Shelter Island, and Harbor Island. If you want to stay near the beach and drive in, search for Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, Mission Bay or La Jolla. We will post a parking map with tips on parking, or combined parking and trolley use soon.

The best thing we can recommend is to book a "back-up hotel," one that MAY NOT BE your ideal choice, but something you can live with, so you know you have a room, then see what is available when we open Comic-Con hotel reservations on Wednesday. If you like the hotel you get there, you can cancel your other reservation before you get charged.

Check back online often and see what is available starting in May or June. Keep checking each week, as hotel rooms do open up as we get closer to the event. Also watch this blog for announcements of additional rooms. If a hotel has rooms that become available, we are first in line to try to get those rooms. In the past, we have been able to add rooms to the block throughout the months leading up to Comic-Con, and we hope to do that this year as well.

This is not the situation we want for our attendees, but as hotels are built, we will add them and things should get a bit better. We are adding 500 additional rooms in 2009, and are exploring shuttles to hotels in other areas of San Diego

Brian wrote in and asked:
I've been able to get standard hotel rooms without too much frustration the past couple years, but does anyone know how to reserve a suite? There will be a few extra folks coming along this year and it seemed like a good option. Are these usually reserved for higher-ups and such?

Most hotels have limited suite space, which are restricted and require our approval. If you're interested in a suite,  you should mention it when you call to make a reservation. There are a few hotels on our list that are all-suite hotels, such as Embassy Suites and Sheraton Suites. Those hotels might be your best bet, if you're looking for a larger room to house the family and friends.

Blair wrote in and asked:
There are two phone numbers on the other page. One is a toll-free number but it seems as though that is only open to Americans? I'm from Canada. Why should I have to dial long distance to a California area code?

Along the same lines, Thomas asked:
Is it faster, when booking, to do it online or call? I imagine if everyone's trying to call and book a room it'd be easier online?

The toll-free number is for U. S. only. The other number is the number for our travel agent, Travel Planners, in New York City. If you're concerned about paying long distance fees, please reserve your room online. Our travel agent has increased their online capacity this year to help ensure a better registration experience.

 Steve C. writes:
A friend and I have booked rooms in the Hotel Circle area. According to the hotel they are within walking distance of the trolley. I believe the trolley stops near the Convention Center. Anybody know how frequently and how late these run?

As mentioned by Bryan Williams in his comment (thanks, Bryan!), the San Diego Trolley has a great website with schedule and fare info. Click here for more details. Trolley schedule and fare info is subject to change.

Comic-Con Preliminary Hotel List posted

We've posted the preliminary hotel list for Comic-Con 2008 as a separate page on this blog.

Please click here to view the list.

Welcome to the Comic-Con International “Staying in San Diego” Blog!

In 2007, Comic-Con International had 125,000 attendees. We realize the challenges related to an event of this size. One of the most challenging aspects of attending Comic-Con is trying to reserve a hotel room. Each year, we open hotel reservations only to have them initially sell out in a matter of hours. And while rooms almost always are added or become available due to cancellations, the simple fact of the matter is there are not enough hotel rooms in San Diego for everyone who wants to attend Comic-Con.

The purpose of this blog is to offer a forum on both the hotel reservation process and to help answer your questions. We will also offer tips on staying in San Diego, including nearby restaurants and attractions, Comic-Con’s shuttle bus schedule, the city’s mass transit, and more, as we get closer to the event.

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.

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. Once again, we expect that all the hotel rooms inside the official block will be gone within hours of the opening of housing. Because of that, for the first time this year, we are asking that you consider booking your room OUTSIDE of our hotel block, to better assist you in getting a room for Comic-Con.

Comments
We will be allowing comments here and checking them on a regular basis and trying to answer some of your questions and concerns. Even though we realize your frustration level with the system may be high, we ask that you please maintain a civil tone in your comments. We will ban anyone that abuses the comment function. Please leave an email address with your comment so we can contact you if your comment requires a direct answer.

Click here for some of our most frequently asked questions.