This year’s Hoteloween—the day hotel reservations become available for the 2012 edition of the Comic-Con International: San Diego—is March 29th, but it’s already running a little differently. Perhaps hoping to develop a better model than the recent all-or-nothing stampedes, Con organizers seem to be doling things out in timed-release fashion.
For one thing, that date was quietly slipped into the Comic-Con Annual, which you can read here, as opposed to being announced with a postcard, as was done formerly, setting off anticipatory anxiety attacks in hundreds of Dexter fans. The date of the great hotel race is also a bit later in the year. But, perhaps most importantly…you can already get a hotel room for Con. If you don’t mind staying in Mission Valley:
A limited number of hotel rooms will be made available in the Mission Valley area and they will also offer special incentives for those who book early.
PLEASE NOTE: These rooms will not be eligible for the Hotel Room/Badge program we have had in past years should we decide to have that program again.
You must pay for the room in advance and there are no refunds or exchanges. This special Early Bird Hotel Sale is only available BEFORE general housing opens and remember, all rooms are prepaid and are not eligible for any refunds.
The courtesy shuttle will be available at these hotels beginning Wednesday, July 11, 2012 at 3:00pm and will operate until 10:00pm Wednesday night. The shuttle starts back up on Thursday, July 12, 2012 at 7:00am and will begin 24-hour service until Sunday, July 15, 2012 at 7:00pm helping fans enjoy every hour of Comic-Con and the night time fun.
We checked it out and you can totally book a VERY reasonable hotel room right this minute.
These hotels are about 5-6 miles from downtown SD. We don’t know how long that takes traffic-wise but….it really isn’t that far and there’s a shuttle. People stay at Mission Valley and live happy, productive lives and have great cons every year. Look, at Angoulême sometimes you have to stay 30 MILES away and everyone still has a blast.
The rooms are NOT refundable, so this is for serious Stormtroopers only. But if you know you have a badge, and want the peace and security of knowing you have a hotel room, it sounds like a good deal.
Last year’s Hoteloween was the smoothest since the con got majorly crazy. The badge situation was a little hairy but we suspect perhaps some kind of rolling launch for that as well.
Via Mark Evanier
