Room Key query
I just thought of this - apologies if it's been covered elsewhere. Some friends and I are booked into the Westin and I was wondering- is it possible to get extra room keys ? Given that lots of folks share rooms and go their own ways at the con, I'd imagine it would be awkward to get into one's room if you had to go tracking down one particular individual in amongst all the con goer's ?
You can get a room key for everyone booked on the room (up to four people), but beyond four keys to a room you aren't very likely to get them. There has been occasion where it is possible to get a fifth key, but don't hold your breath on that.
Please remember that there will be a lot of people staying in the hotel during the convention who will need keycards to their rooms and if the hotel gives you a half dozen, that leaves them short on cards later on.
Also, the fire marshal sets the maximum occupancy for hotel rooms at four people but as has been said by other before, the hotel staff don't make it a habit of checking rooms and counting noses, so if you sneak a fifth person in it is not a big deal. If however you book a room for 4 and ask for 8 keys, the hotel is somewhat legally obligated to wonder what you need all those extra keys for.
To make a long story short...
Your best bet is to get up to 4 keys and if you have more than that in your room, set up a contact system between those who have keys and the unlucky person that doesn't. That way the hotel is happy, the other guests are happy, and your key-less friend can still get into the room when they need to.
As an additional note, if you have more than 4 people staying in your room, don't mention it here.
The room occupancy limits are set because of fire codes, which are set based on how many folks they believe can safely get out of the hotel room and away from the building in the event of a fire. In addition to the board and some of the staff, our hotel liaisons also frequent this message board, mostly so that they can help answer any questions or concerns we have. If you post here about putting 5 or more people in your room, they'll probably feel obliged to investigate.
Thanks for those prompt replies - there'll only be 4 in our room, so 4 cards will be fine 
You can get extra room keys. We usually get one per person in the room.