Sign of Furry Fandom Growth? FC filled their hotel in 3 DAYS
 "Vulpine fortunes are precarious; folk either want to build monuments to us, or hang us." Location: Roseville, CA, USA
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...And not just their room block - the WHOLE HOTEL! The 2008 FURther CONfusion ended just 2 and a half months ago; they haven't even begun to open up Art Show Panels or Dealer's Den Tables, but you can't get into the hotel itself. ALL rooms, including suites and exec-level rooms at premium pricing, the Fursuit floor and the Party floor, are occupied for the entire duration of the convention. And while I'm sure that the staff is trying their best, so far there is no secondary, fall-back hotel or motel in place. This is getting TOO CRAZY! EuroFURence sells out their room block in 1 day, so I will miss it AGAIN this year. And Last year, FC filled the hotel by July (for a convention in January), but THIS year, in a little over 72 hours... ...And this year, I don't get a room. So I'll have to write off FC as well, and after attending all of them since the first one, at a Patron level. I should LIKE to think that this is due to a growth in the fandom, that people see what we are doing and wish to enter our world - I DO hope that this is so. But if NOT - what could account for the crazy rush? |
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Yeah, I reserved a room as soon as reservations opened. I requested for an exec-level room, but haven't heard back from them yet. If I don't get it, at least I'll have a room for the con. They are currently in contract negotiations with the overflow hotel, the Holiday Inn, which will probably sell out fast too. Of course, not the ENTIRE hotel is leased out to FC, your "mundanes" stay there too. I saw airline employees and business travelers come in and out of the hotel and gave us weird stares. Haha.
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permalinkLocation: Hainesville, IL
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I don't think it has much to do with growth, but rather an ever-increasing anxiety about booking rooms that feeds off itself and drives things to the crazy levels that we saw at FC. The unfortunate thing is that it's not good for the convention involved, either - unless a deposit is required at the time of reserving the room (not the case with FC, and certainly not something I'd advocate if it could possibly be avoided) the rush for rooms encourages speculative reserving, which only results in greater attrition (cancellation of rooms) as the year goes on. My main concern is that that attrition will take place after people have made the same decision that you have, not to attend since a room isn't immediately available, and thus there's a negative impact on the total convention attendance.
Unfortunately, now that the pattern has been set, I think that it will only get worse for furry conventions, and expect to see it trickle down to the smaller conventions as well.
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Tom Brady/Duncan da Husky
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permalinkBlog: [Link]
That is why I don't see much of a choice other than to require a deposit at the time of reservation. I think we may have to do that starting next year, and tell people not to book a room unless and until they are certain that they are going to be able to attend. After all, you don't book an airline flight until your plans are made.
I am sure that people will be very nervous that the rooms will all fill up before they get a chance to book, but I am reasonably confident that won't happen. If everyone waits until the "Yes, I'm definitely going" point, then the hotel should not fill up until later in the year. Once it does, we should not have any more of this nonsense of "Keep checking back every day to see if anyone has canceled." I think that having to go day by day hoping that a room will open up causes more grief than being told, "Sorry, full, try the overflow hotel."
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permalinkHave you ever thought about giving people who preregister, first dibs on booking a room? Maybe make it as some sort of rule?
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permalinkLocation: Philadelphia area, PA
In theory, it's a good idea. In practice, though, it would require the hotel staff to keep a list of prereg folks on hand for every person who registers in our room block, which is a heck of a headache to pass on to them.
All in all, i think the deposit is probably a fairly sensible way to go. As much as i'd like to say otherwise, this is the sort of thing that tends to feed on itself a little too much for us to do much else. If furs are genuinely going to go, then it costs them nothing in the long run; they'd have paid that deposit money anyway, so now they're just paying it earlier. Also, it allows some penalty for furs who reserve a room but intend to seek a roomshare with someone else or aren't sure they're coming, so that perhaps we can actively encourage them to wait and allow those furs who have already made their decision to take the space first.
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If someone can suggest another workable solution that would prevent speculative reservations, I'm willing to entertain it.
The point was already made that requiring pre-registration with the con before getting a hotel room would not really work. Not only does it put the onus on the hotel staff to keep up with our registration database (creating a ton more work for both them and our registration folks), but it doesn't solve the problem. Someone can cancel an Anthrocon membership just as easily as he can cancel a hotel room.
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One possible, but radical solution would be to take a cue from the airline industry.
In general, hotels allow you reserve a space and you can cancel that reservation at any time without penalty up to 24-72 hours before your arrival. I guess I could reserve the whole hotel and then call up a week before and say, "LOL. Never mind."
Airlines allow this only if you pay a premium. That premium is pretty steep. Most people pay the non-refundable fare for a ticket, and take a chance that they may not be able to use it. But some do pay for a fully refundable ticket which gives them the option to cancel if they must.
So, at the risk of causing a massive change in the hotel reservation system, I propose the same thing could be done for future Anthrocons and other conventions. When you make a reservation, you pay up front for your entire stay, just like for an airplane ticket. You get to choose the pricier 'refundable' rate, giving you the option to cancel at a later date, or the more reasonable 'non-refundable' rate if you are pretty darn sure you are going.
You're going to have to pay for the room sooner or later. If you're forced to get it over with when you make the reservation, you'll be forced to think harder about the chances you'll be able to make it. Otherwise, you get the hair-trigger knee-jerk reaction that attendees were forced to do for FC in 2009: "Reserve now! Think later."
I am unsure how this would impact attendance. People may get miffed that they have to pay up front for something they will eventually use. But if airlines work that way, then maybe hotels should do the same.
I'm sure there's something that absolutely prevents this. There always is. But that's my suggestion and until someone tells me why I'm wrong, I'm sticking with it.
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permalinkLocation: Philadelphia, PA
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Anon PsyOps quietly infiltrating every facet of furry society, making names as great artists, building great fursuits and making them popular in anticipation of an epic raid beyond all imagination in the future, destroying furry and sending all of us to jail for crimes against humanity.
Srsly.
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permalinkLocation: NJ
I don't mind doing a deposit. The only way I could miss AC is if I suddenly die...
.. in which case I wouldn't be asking for my deposit back anyway. :B
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permalinkLocation: Roseville, CA, USA
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Then what is your suggestion?
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permalinkLocation: Harrisonburg, VA 22802
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Make deposits refundable in case of unexpected death (proof required, of course)?
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permalinkLocation: Philadelphia area, PA
Well, of course, proof required. I want a signed affadavit stating that not only did you die, but you weren't expecting to. *impish grin*
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Clearly if you die, we'll just have to use the non-refundable hotel room for the wake!
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permalinkLocation: NJ
*steals Vulpes Rex's money after he's dead!* >:3
The government takes your money after you die anyway. They call it 'inheritance tax'.
To quote the Beatles: And my advice to those who die; declare the pennies on your eyes, cuz I'm the tax man!
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permalinkThere are plenty of ways to get around inheritance taxes.
1) give the money to spouse
2) give to a charity. Not for profits are easy to set up and get approved. There shouldn't be any reason I person couldn't get around this by pretty much owning the not for profit and give themselves a nice raise or good price on land the not for profit will never use.
There are so many ways around it, they might as well eliminate it. The problem is people don't even do their research, nor do they see any tax specialists which have the sole job of making sure you don't pay as much in taxes.
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Let us stay on topic.
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permalinkDon't worry, I'm worse in person. I'll leave you going, "what?"
Just give me coffee and hope I don't play a Twitchy(Hoodwinked).
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The furry cons just seem to be experiencing a cascade effect. One sells out, which fuels paranoia that the NEXT one will sell out. So everyone jumps that one. That sells out, that drives the next one.
It's like the Christmas toy rush. OMG, this store sold out of Furbies. We must go to the next one and get their Furbies! And so on and on...
Most of the cons seem to be getting hit with some type of panic. FurFright still has lots of rooms at hotel but is out of Dealer tables. They opened online registration and sold out in 37 minutes. There were that many people sitting there waiting for the opening. (much like people camping out in front of toys R Us) A lot will drop before the con and the wait listed folks will get the slots, but still that sort of panic is insane.
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permalinkLocation: NY state, USA
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What if there is not nearly a big a drop as you propose? What if indeed the fandom at large is a growing thing? I guess the sure way to see will be by con attendance this year, which ill be AWESOME. (The con, that is)
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permalinkLocation: Orlando, FL
Well, I would say it's a combination of things. Attendance at conventions has certainly increased. Take a look at the growth of FC and AC...they are far larger in attendance than they were 5 years ago.
Additionally, there is the anxiety of folks worried that they may not get a room. Now this is not to say that folks are going to book rooms and then cancel. While that may happen from time to time, look at Eurofurence as an example. It's about 220 Euros to register for the convention, and it sold out in less than a day. Folks paid up front within 1 month to attend that convention, so I don't surmise people truly have a problem paying for hotel space up front.
The same phenomenon happens on a larger scale with events like Comicon, Dragoncon, etc. You are simply seeing a large number of people wanting to be at an event with limited hotel space. Savvy individuals who know they will attend (or really want to go) are going to book their hotel rooms as quickly as they can.
With Anthrocon filling its primary and secondary hotel blocks well in advance, I'd say that we're really just seeing an explosion of growth. It would truly be scary if Anthrocon's hotel block filled in 72 hours following this year's convention. Then again, we're seeing people book earlier and earlier...so who knows what will happen.
KP
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permalinkLooks like I'll have to keep booking my room the day it becomes available every year
I have too much fun every year to miss it due to a room shortage.
-If someone walks up to you and says they are a pathological liar, would you believe them?
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permalinkI suppose as more and more furs decide to move from the internet into person, it's not too surprising when the conventions and hotels get more and more packed every year. There's also the fact that there are always new people joining the fandom. Eventually, they too become interested in attending conventions. One must wonder what will happen when all the hotels in a certain area become all full.
Camping, anyone?
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