How to reserve hotel rooms this morning
Hotel reservations open up in approximately 25 minutes, and I've already received a few questions about the actual process. In an effort to avoid any confusion at 9 AM, follow these instructions:
Step 1) Go to http://www.time.gov/ and click on "Eastern Time Zone". That's the official US time.
Step 2) Get some coffee.
Step 3) At 9 AM, go to http://www.anthrocon.org/hotel and continue on from there to get a hotel room.
The only flaw in this awesome plan might be my ability to publish the pages promptly at 9 AM due to server load. If that happens (and you see our "DON'T PANIC" page), be assured that I'll try my darndest to publish them as quickly as I can.
In the event that anything goes wrong, I will post updates to Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, in that order.
Good luck!
Being from a time zone completely different than Eastern doesn't help. <Yawn>
Reserved!
NOTE TO CHROME USERS - the registration page for Westin is not going to be friendly with you! Use IE or another browser!
This note deserves ten stars! Very frustrating getting to the final confirmation after filling out everything to have the submit button not do anything. Firefox works fine.
AGREED! the confirm button did not work! had to copy n paste the URL into....IE (shudders)
They must have fixed it. I had problems with comfirming with FireFox with the Westin, but I was able to register with the Westin using Chrome.
i dont understand how a couple hundred users accessing a (this) webpage at the same time caused it to crash...
thank goodness for the twitter link~! i got my room reserved woooooooo~ i'll see you crazy furries @ the con!
Yes, thank goodness for the twitters. I used the link provided there to make the reservation.
I had to chuckle though at your description "And boom goes the webserver".
Err, 20 minutes in and the Westin site already claims the block is full.. really? 
Accurate or server probs?
Neither. Did you select "any" for room type and put no restrictions on it? At 9:29 I am still showing availability on all nights. we might be sold out of a particular room type -- that information I do not have.
Doubles were unavailable by about 9:17, according to my searches.
Tried to get into courtyard website from the second the direct link was posted - no rooms available from about 30 seconds after the twitter link.
Called and the room block is FULL? Already? How is this even possible?
The dealers get to reserve their rooms a day early so they probably booked up all the rooms there before the rest of us got the chance. I had been hoping for the Courtyard too but had the same experience as you did.
This actually makes a lot of sense. Explains how it could be 'out' so very quickly.
Yes...Giza had replied to my survey form saying the Courtyard literally sold out in seconds.
Cite? There's nothing to that effect on the Dealer's Room page. If it is (was) a secret, fine, but then the Courtyard shouldn't even be made an option on 2/2 if it's already sold out 
Giza sent a similar response to my survey. It's obviously something they overlooked - the Courtyard room block is smaller this year, and dealers gobbled up most of it. Some forewarning would have been excellent - in the 17 minutes it took the Westin to sell out doubles, many people were still 'stuck' trying to resolve the Courtyard. They could have tried to get Westin rooms, or otherwise modified their plans appropriately.
At least we know how it happened, and the AC board are good about trying to improve every year. I expect next year there will at least be a caution on the hotel information page.
Double Bed at Westin Reserved back at 9:10
Almost made a massive mistake, lol. Had it set for the Evening of the 14th to the Morning of the 17th... which ment we'd have to check out on Sunday Morning! Youch! Quickly modified the reservation to the morning of the 18th on Monday so it's all good now~
And thank you for the Twiitter links. It's what I used and I was prepping myself back at 8:30.
Wrote down the dates so I wouldn't forget, had my debit card out on the desk, phone ready in case. I was prepared!
Having to register by phone was harrowing - but I have the room at the Hampton I was looking for. Now I have to go to class with no sleep and no shower. But it was worth it!
When the web server "went boom", I tried to call the Westin. I got a "All circuits are busy" automated message. I was thinking to myself, "Dang, I can't imagine how their front desk must be blowing up right now".
How dare the Omni force me to call and interact with another human being!
See you kids at the con B3
yea phew thank heavens for TWITTER
and and whoa I was so paranoid 
but now I gots me a room 
PARTY PARTY
Yea now I can relax until work and Ill even do a survey...
(Im trying not to think about ANTHROCON 2013 )
Tried the Courtyard website first, no luck. Called them as a just in case and they said they weren't even able to book rooms on the phone. Uh.. okay. A little frustrating but lucky my second choice hotel still had room, although I would've preferred to book on-line.
I just had a real live courtyard person tell me the block was already full. The website never worked.
The website did work....for as many people as it took to fill the block. Remember, the Courtyard is a very small hotel.
If they actually got the reservations then I can't argue with that, but they managed to fill them inside about 2 minutes. I was refreshing every 30 seconds or so. Seems to be pushing plausibility!
Ended up with a king at the Westin, ho hum. Elevator lines are better than a long walk for me. This stampede is officially *stamp* too crazy for me, but at least my lodgings are secure.
Agreed; Courtyard said nothing available 6/15-17 (when I'm staying), widened it to the entire AC dates (default), no go; removed the AC code (which is antantb, not the "anthrocon" implied by the reservation page), got some openings at $300
Gave up and got a room at the Westin - agreed on elevator lines vs a hike, especially carrying luggage, laptop, and AC con bag from the Greyhound parking ramp.
got my room booked at the westin, double... now i can finally rest easy and go to bed. it's passed midnight here.
holy cow (no furry pun intended) but this was exilerating! My heart was pounding and my hands were shaky, sweat glistening down my muzzle as I franticly searched for that ONE open spot in a hotel room somewhere, lol. I didn't luck out like last year, but fortunately, my small group, is at the Hamptons this year. Cant compain though. Best of luck for those who didn't make it in time
Tell me about it.
I woke up at 8:30, turned on the PC, chugged down a glass of cold water and sat down. Had all the links open, and the longer it took to refresh the page told me more and more people were watching this.
I had no idea 450 people were on at the same time and got me scared. I stared at the clock... 8:56.......8:57....... 8:58
Every time the minute passed, i could feel myself getting more panicked, scared, determined! I knew i had to be fast, because everyone else and their mothers were trying to get the same kind of room I was going for.
Then at 8:59, the server crashed. (Should make a 2012 Anthrocon Shirt "I was there there when the server crashed...02/02/12")
Thankfully had the twitter page up incase and once I saw the link pop-up.. ZOOMED.. typed in this, that, clickd this, worked down, didn't even have to look at my debit card's numbers I just knew them, selected this and that and then boom... complete.
And then I played this and held my arm up high. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j6HO-20KlI
I put up a SURVEY so I can gather data on how peoples' hotel reservation experiences went:
http://www.anthrocon.org/node/7580/survey-your-hotel-reservation-experience
Please take it and let us know.
YEAH GOT A ROOM AT THE DOUBLETREE
I got a double at the Doubletree--the whole experience for me took about an hour, between trying to get into ANY page,
then the Westin page...I filled out the form on the Westin page but when it got to "Review your reservation" nothing happened
when I hit the button. I got on the phone and got talking to someone then saw on Twitter: WESTIN DOUBLES SOLD OUT!
I should have tried for one of the other hotels from the outset. (Last year I got into the Westin right away.) Tried Courtyard,
it also led me eventually to an error page. Twitter: COURTYARD SOLD OUT! (Smaller hotel though isn't it?) Tried Doubletree,
kept getting error message, then got on with a live operator from Doubletree (the whole chain not the Pitt. hotel itself) and after
many minutes of him trying to get the reservation made (I worried it may have sold out), I did get a 2 bed room. I asked him
for the conf. # (just in case the e-mail got screwed up) and of course they do that over the phone anyway.
But finally I got it done
i gots my king bed at teh westin yay!!
So, the Westin site wouldn't allow me to book Thurs-Mon, and I was forced to book Thurs-Sun, can this be changed?
I gave them a call, and they said they weren't able to look at or access the main Anthrocon block at all. They said you can only reserve and make changes online, but they said everything appeared to be full. So , I'll just have to scout out a room somewhere for Sunday night
Got the "block full" on Westin website, tried again, block full, tried again (I dont give up easy) GOT ONE!
Tried again just to see and it was full again.
Jeef
Giza replied to my Survey form and mentioned this interesting bit of info.
The Courtyard sold out in... SECONDS. Am guessing the "it's basically across the street" situation may have had to do with it.
Advantage of not being in Westin: no wait for those long elevator lines. Disadvantage is having to walk back and forth (but
if there's a shuttle, great!) from Doubletree (have stayed before; not too bad).
C is for Cookie!
Yeah the Westin does have some massive lines....
Unless you are a fursuiter *wink*
Unless somebody magically adds to the room block - All Westin is sold out.
So is it normal for the rooms to sell out so fast? I mean, I got my room, happy with it and that's not the problem, I was just wondering if by volume we are expecting to break 5,000 attendees this year...seems highly plausible.
The Westin sells out a little faster each year. Total attendence is probably more closely related to the available hotel space though, not just the sell-out speed. With last year's 4,400 attendees, and an additional 100 hotel rooms available in the Hampton this year, it would be reasonable to hypothesize that AC may indeed come close to the dreaded 5,000 this year.
Fair enough. I'm currently wishing that we are able to expand again (in rooms and in attendance) for next year.
I think someone said last yr double rooms at Westin were gone in 45 min; this yr, half that time
UPDATE: Per Anthrocon twitter, Westin is now sold out.
My finger's on the button!
Thanks for all your hard work!
When you give up on yourself, you give up on those who believe in you. Always be true to yourself and never let anyone define who you are.