Hotel Questions

I figured I'd post this up here, mainly because I can't find the one lady who I have to contact directly to ask. I booked on Feb 2nd and was e-mailed a confirmation. Later on, I went to the Westin's website and input my last name along with my credit card number and also my reservation number; the website said it could not confirm my reservation. So, I called up the Westin and asked about it, they said that my reservation has been confirmed in the database and the guy offered to resend my confirmation. So, I was relieved. Today, I decided to check on it again, with the new confirmation e-mail, just for the heck of it, and the same thing happened; the website cannot find my reservation. Is this some sort of error?

This may seem like an odd question, but does the westin have a bar in it? My fiance's 21st birthday falls during the con so I'd like to be able to drag him for a beer.

I looked through the westin's website and didn't see anything about a bar or lounge so I figure I may as well ask. If they don't Ill prod at google for the nearest pub.

We had been worried that the rush would fill the Westin to capacity in minutes. As it turned out, they continued to take reservations into the following morning. The last rooms were sold (and the hotel even stretched our room block a bit) about 24 hours after the reservations opened.

Scientists love to make graphs. Here's a graph of % of room block allocation for each day of the convention vs. the number of hours after February 2, 0900 h.

What we learned:

1) Our estimate of the demand for rooms for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights was spot on.

2) Obviously there is a higher demand for rooms on the Tuesday before the convention. We'll try to get more rooms in 2011 on that date, but it is very dependent on what sort of group is in the hotel ahead of us and when they move out.

I've read several times on the FAQ page and around the forum that it is 'not' recommended to pay for the hotel using a debit card due to the hold it will place on the ammount in your account. However just to be sure about a few things I asked some questions about the subject at my bank today where they told me that it should be ok to use a debit card to pay, and that I will still be able to use the card and take out money etc as normal while the hold is in effect.
But just to be absolutely sure I thought I'd ask around here too from people who may have had experience paying in this way in the past. Even though it is not recommended to pay in this way, should I go ahead and book the hotel using a debit card since I currently have no other method of payment?

Approximately how many people are usually staying at the Westin? And how many at other hotels? Or to put it in another way: Approximately how many % of the hotel guests are furries during AC at the four hotels? I would guess that 100% of those staying at the Westin were furries.

This is relevant for people trying to chose a hotel and maybe feeling more comfortable with a hotel that has many other furries on it. Any statistics available on that? From my experience though, all the hotels have a fair amount of furries on them so one wouldn't feel odd and "sticking out" in a crowd of businessmen.

Most epicly win emoticon ever: (sorry for the randomness of that)

Here is where we stand with hotel rooms as of today, Feb.3:

WESTIN: A very few number of king rooms are available. Also, with some shuffling of the inventory, additional suites have been made available to us. You can learn more about reserving suites by clicking here. Double rooms are completely sold out and the kings are likely going to sell out very soon.

COURTYARD: A very few number of king rooms are available. Doubles are completely sold out, and the kings are expected to sell out very soon.

OMNI: Plenty of rooms of all types are still available.

DOUBLETREE: Plenty of rooms of all types are still available.

UPDATE: All double rooms in the Westin are sold very nearly sold!(some got freed up after initial shuffling). Do NOT select a specific room type when you book -- the system will tell you what sort of rooms are available.
UPDATE: Tuesday, June 22 is sold out for the Westin. We can get no more rooms there that evening.

This is it! The moment you've been waiting for (and we've been dreading). All four hotel pages are open with links that will let you make reservations online and phone numbers if you want to do it like we did in the Modern Stone Age. This is something we have never tried before and we're as nervous as you are. We all are confident that both anthrocon.org and the individual hotel sites can handle the rush, but nonetheless, be prepared for a possible slowdown. We apologize in advance if it causes any inconvenience; unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to remedy it. Things will begin at our main hotel information page.

Hi all.

Just wanting some info here. I plan to stay in PA for a few more days after AC is done and dusted. Are the discounts at these hotels still avaliable for, say three or four days after AC?
If not, can anyone recommend another place to stay after the con? Even if it's a backpackers, I don't mind.

Also, do we have to pay all our fees when booking, or can we just pay a deposit, and pay the rest later?

Thanks for your help guys.

With Kage announcing that the Courtyard rate will be $129, the room cost there will be roughly $147 per night!

I posted earlier (before the rates were set in stone) that the rates would be about $140 per night after taxes. With the hotels having different rates:

Westin rate: $123 per night becomes $140.22 per night.
Doubletree: $124 per night becomes $141.36 per night.
Omni William Penn: $119 per night becomes $135.66 per night.
Courtyard: $129 per night becomes $147.06 per night.

These numbers are based on the rates listed to the left and the 14% taxes/fees/whatever.

(The Omni rate looks oddly low, compared to the others.)