For over a decade we’ve been chronicling the agony of getting a hotel room for San Diego, and this year’s fret spree seemed to find new ways to be stressful. As we’re writing, the admission letters are going out, and it’s like the lottery scene from The Hunger Games for tension and FOMO. For some reason, I got a room—I got one last year but got shut out the year before, so it all seems random in the end. Time stamps, forms that didn’t load, fate, destiny…for some reason this year has has more anxiety about how it was going to work out, and as the selection of tweets below show, a sense of humor is a good thing to be armed with.
The thing about the hotel room sprint is that it isn’t random—like the badge lottery—or selective—like getting a pro badge or a press badge or an industry professional badge. You can marshal evidence or get a testimonial to get those things. But not so a hotel room.
No, getting a hotel room is a physical and mental race against the clock. You need to have Nolan Ryan’s fastball, Ronda Rousey’s reflexes and Edward Snowden’s keyboard skills. It’s the ultimate test of nerves for nerds.
But some may wonder, just how short IS the window to get a room downtown? I think the notification that downtown hotel rooms are gone usually starts within about 10 minutes, but the timestamp needs to be a lot shorter than that. While there is no definitive way of knowing the answer to what is the magic time stamp—short of hacking into Travel Planners— the Unofficial Comic Con blog ran a survey of attendees vis a vis their hotel longings, and we’ve taken the results of the questions “How long, including initial load time, did it take you to submit your form?” and made a chart. Oh yeah we did.
560 people answered this question so while it’s a sample, it’s a decent sized one. As you can see, most people are in and out in under three minutes, with most within two minutes. That’s about the length of the Ramones classic “Blitzkrieg Bop” so you may want to use that as a training guide for next year.
Anyway, if you’ve been thinking you don’t have long to get that form filled out and submitted…you’re right.
Oh yeah and here’s the twitter reaction.
#SDCC #Hotelpocalypse I GOT INTO HUFFLEPUFF!
— Wes Smith (@Weszor) March 27, 2015
Turned on notification to All New Mail has turned these Olive Garden offers into jokes from the devil. #SDCC #Hotelpocalypse
— NERDOPHILES (@nerdophiles) March 27, 2015
@SD_Comic_Con Got a T&C reservation confirmation 8 mins ago for a botched form submitted at 9:03!
— Isabel Talsma (@isabeldoodles) March 27, 2015
Well that didn't last at all. I need to know if I got a hotel!!!! #SDCC #Hotelpocalypse pic.twitter.com/3XknUueX5T
— Megan M (@mugsy211) March 27, 2015
Got my confirmation for #SDCC. A private suite with easy freeway access! #Hotelpocalypse #SDCC pic.twitter.com/LUvGSoV855
— Gary Miereanu (@SuperPRGuy) March 27, 2015
Wondering how the #SDCC hotel waitlist worked last year, and what was available? Here's our recap from 2014: http://t.co/Jr3tiyYFIN
— SDCC Unofficial Blog (@SD_Comic_Con) March 27, 2015
Writing a new book inspired by Dr. Seuss while waiting for #Hotelpocalypse to end: Are You My Hotel Confirmation? It'll be a classic. #SDCC
— Nerds Doing Stuff (@NerdsDoingStuff) March 27, 2015
https://twitter.com/Crazy4ComicCon/status/581284173018591233
But of course I didn't get any of my hotel selections…all good. #SDCC2015
— Umberto Gonzalez (@elmayimbe) March 26, 2015
So 5th year of my #sdcc party will be BIGGEST yet. Got a HOT new venue & a hot new sponsor. Full open bar. Top shelf liquor. A legendary DJ.
— Umberto Gonzalez (@elmayimbe) March 26, 2015
I'm looking for a gaslamp hotel. Preferably the Omni You want to come to the ultimate con club banger this year? Let's trade. #SDCC
— Umberto Gonzalez (@elmayimbe) March 26, 2015
If you got the Hyperion Hotel, maybe cancel. Its Yelp reviews are not so great. #SDCC
— Whedonesque (@whedonesque) March 27, 2015
I gave up on waiting for my #SDCC #Hotelpocalypse email. I'm taking up this guy's offer & staying with him. pic.twitter.com/mVnVOOn4GE
— Artimus Naugin (@TheArtimus) March 27, 2015