Do I have to pre-reg for AC before reserving a room at the group rate (normal reservations, not the suites)?

Question 1:  Yes, you can definitely reserve a normal room before pre-registering.

Question 2:  You should know the dates you want the room for.  It makes it easier for all concerned.  It may be possible to change the dates after hotel registration: I've heard people complain in the past that they weren't able to get there a day earlier than they had planned.  All in all, it's best to know your dates firmly in advance.

Although you didn't ask this, your best bet for a hotel will be register through this site at 9:00 AM February 2, 2012.  To the left here, you'll go to Information, then Hotels.  They'll have buttons to push for registration.  This will require a credit card, however.

In all cases, your card will be charged immediately for one night's stay, to ensure that people don't just grab rooms that they're not sure they'll need.  This amount will be applied to your total bill: you won't be charged twice.

Greetings, Skye!

   CharlieG has answered your question, and - as he always does - he's given you good advice.

   But when I read your question, I was a bit confused by the way that you wrote it - and I had to read both it and Charlie's answer twice, to make sure that I understood it correctly, myself.  So  I would just like to clarify what Charlie wrote.

   No, you do not.  While it is a good idea to pre-register as soon as is practical, especially since the earlier you register, the cheaper the rate is, you can reserve the room (a NORMAL room, not a suite, as you noted) first, as soon as the hotel will accept our resevations for our event.  And to make sure that you get our special AnthroCon rate, it is important to fill in the "EVENT CODE" field if you reserve on line, or to tell the reservations operator the proper event code if you make your reservations over the telephone.  Just before reservations open (at 9:00am EST on February 2nd, as Charlie already mentioned), there will be link to each hotel's reservations site, available here on the AnthroCon homepage, with details about each hotel, the base price per day (before taxes), and the EVENT CODE which you need to type or give to the operator when you reserve the room.

   THEN - as soon as you have the available funds for your preferred membership level, pre-register!  Again, doing so early is slightly cheaper, and if you put it off, it is too easy to forget, and the deadline will pass, and then you are stuck waiting in the on-site registration line for a long, long time.  And if you want a higher level of membeship, but can't pay for it all at once, remember that you can pre-reg at the base membership level, check-in and get your badge, and then upgrade on-site (though if you wish to be a supersponsor, you will miss the luncheon; the numbers for that have to be pre-planned and in to the caterer some time before the convention).

   Maybe - but it wouldn't be wise to count on it.  If your chosen hotel has a free room available before your scheduled arrival date, they will try to accommodate you, especially if your scheduled dates are immediately afterwards.  Extending your stay is also somewhat iffy - and, since there is already a rather large event in the city immediately following ours, they probably will not be able to comply.

   The Hotel Business is in someways like farming, or commercial fishing - you do your part, and hope that Providence provides you with good weather and a good harvest, or a good catch where you happen to be fishing, or with a lot of guests hoping to stay with you for whatever reason.  You charge rates with the understanding that the economy could turn, that the town hometeam is eliminated from the playoffs early, that the big rock concert is cancelled, that some event could disrupt Travel (like a major storm, or terrorist threat), and that you will not fill every room in your hotel, every night.  Depending on the season, your hotel may be at times only one-third full.  So you make deals and offers.  To fill your rooms, you offer them at a certain discount, for certain events, PROVIDED that the event will guarantee filling at least X number of those rooms each night, or the event organisers pay a penalty.  (Farmers do something like this with various Crop and Commodities Futures).  The people who run the hotel look at their calendar, and try to pre-sell every room that they can, to minimize their risk, and to know how many staff to have on hand for Housekeeping, Laundry, Banquet Services, etc.

   To make a long post a bit shorter - there is every likelyhood that they already have plans (and reservations) for someone to occupy that room, as soon as you are scheduled to check out.  So if you think that you might need an extra day, inquire about what the early-checkout policy of your particular hotel might be, when you call.

Good Luck!

yes to follow up on the words of the fox before me .another good paralel to hotel rooms is the airline industry.They try to keep as full as possibe.Every unused room/seat/etc is wasted money.So while it would be nice and sometimes possible for you to change your plans at the last minute and have the hotel accomidate you. Its not wise to count on that.

One other point about adjusting your reservation:  Anthrocon is being held a week earlier than originally scheduled because the City of Pittsburgh basically begged the Board of Directors to adjust the date... because the city was in the running for (and eventually won) the right to be the city holding the NHL draft.  These people will be coming in right behind us, probably including representatives from the sports departments of all major TV networks and probably a couple of big semi trailers from ESPN.  In short, the hotels will probably filled with sportscasters and representatives for all of the teams... and there probably won't be any rooms available.