Hotel Feedback

The convention area was way too large or the amount of people in the con. Was also lacking anything really furry or related to the con posted or on display. If not for the people walking around I wouldnt have known this was AC.

So, aside from the people in fursuits, the people with ears and tails, the furry art in the dealer's room, the furry art in the art show, the Anthrocon con badges, the Anthrocon con books/bags/programs, the Westin LCD signs mentioning Anthrocon, the poster hanging up in the ballroom, the programming signs outside of some rooms, the restaurants selling T-shirts and painting paws on the sidewalk.. it barely looked like a furry convention?

Also, the convention center was carefully chosen for a number of factors, including future growth. Hall C- the Dealer's Room, Artist's Alley, and Art Show- is too small for us, and we're moving to hall B next year. I can't say that the convention center is too large at all; and the move to the closer Hall B will alleviate some of the length of walks next year.

Simply put, it sounds like you'd be a lot more comfortable at one of the many
smaller conventions across the USA throughout the year.

You want a hotel close to the airport, in a small venue, in a smaller hotel with
fewer attendees.

That sounds like you want a smaller convention. AnthroCon is the biggest, so there
should be little trouble finding one of the smaller ones that fit your preferences
much more closely.

Oh, and some of the conventioners got mugged? I didn't hear about this.
Where were they travelling? I know the neighborhood around the con was fairly
safe, not that I spent much time outside the con except when going for food...

With your interest in "your friends" and "things to do outside the con", however,
you might want to consider whether you want a furry con at all. Did you really come
to AC and have no interest in any of the panels? I didn't consider myself a furry at
my first AC, and I attended some panels. (Then again, I also did a panel at my first
AC, but you don't have to be that flavor of crazy.)

We'll see about moving the airport closer to the hotel for you.

Are you talking about Hall C, and if you are, were you at the same convention center we were?

This is nothing short of idle rumormongering. We had no such reports.

Why do I hear something about con badges swiveling and turning the wrong way in the back of my mind?

I don't know your circumstances and what might have happened to you at the con, but a lot of what you complained about I just didn't see.

Most times I could close my eyes, spin in a circle, and randomly stop, pointing in any of the 360 degrees that surrounded me, and I would find myself staring directly at a fur or something furry. Not that I tried anything like that *coughs*

Everything seemed to be labeled and marked pretty clearly. The walks were longer than the last time I atteneded, but really they weren't that bad. I can't say it wasn't an adventure to ride in the elevators, but thats all part of the AC experience XP.

As for people getting mugged, I didn't hear anyone talking about it, and didn't see any police officers taking reports. I just saw the poor sheriff sitting at the concierge desk with a look that said "What am I doing here?" Really the neighborhood seemed pretty safe, and well kept. I mean I feel more nervous walking though the neihborhood in which I live. Granted we have ultimate fighters in training around every corner, but still.

The hotel is WAYYYYYY too far from the airport for my comfort. 18 miles?...come on.

One word for you: 28X. It's less than $3, and it drops you off about three blocks from the hotel. Unless someone is in really unusual circumstances (disability, jumbo baggage, etc.), there is no way anyone can complain about the trip from the airport, given this option.

(To the point that I sometimes wonder why people here on the forums even bother talking about sharing a cab. The 28X is so cheap and so ideal a means of transit, it's hard to top.)

-- 
iSKUNK!

While I myself was a bit displeased with a relatively small portion of my fellow attendees, I would have to say that the sub-set of AnthroCon attendees who made it an interesting and even fun convention was MUCH larger than those who degraded it for me. If I found everybody else BESIDES my 3 roommates to be tiresome, I don't think I would ever go to another Furry Convention, ever.

I see from your signature block that you are from San Jose. I lived there once - attended high school near the old IBM research plant, at the end of Blossom Hill Road. San Jose is somewhat uncommon in that it has a major international airport within 3 miles of the heart of Downtown. Most cities that have such an arrangement - and there are relatively few - had airfields built in the days of the DC-3, or even earlier. Burbank is one, for example - and there is a perpetual battle to limit airport operations as both a safety issue and a detriment to property values of homeowners around and in the flight path.

FURther CONfusion is blessed with having an airport only a mile away - but that will change, as they need a new and bigger venue. ConFURence expired in its last 3 years at an airport hotel (Burbank Marriott), but that wouldn't save it. CaliFUR is a very small con within spitting distance of John Wayne International in Irvine, but that hardly helps, and all these airport-close hotels charge an arm and a leg for parking, too.

Getting to AC from PIT, I would have preffered sharing a cab with a couple of other fans, going to the Omni - but most went on one of the shuttle buses, for $20. The cab fare would have been $34, but it could be split among the riders. In the end I took the good ol' 28x Flyer, with a briefcase, suitcase/duffel, and a huge box full of bubblepack, and walked 2 blocks up a gentle incline to the Omni. Cost me $2.80, I think.

Because of my departure time, I wound up having to pay for a cab out, but again - compared to the cost to get to LAX from my old home, or what I paid to get from my new home to the Sacramento Airport, it was quite reasonable.

I'm guessing that you must mean the whole of the DLCC convention center, here. The part that we paid for, encompassing the artshow, dealers' den, and artists' alley, were noticably cramped from last year - but compared to, say, the tight aisles in the DoubleTree at FC, this was luxurious. No one could possibly complain about the lighting in the Artshow or for the dealers, there was a concessionaire/canteen selling hotdogs and pretzels and soft drinks, there were adequately stocked vending machines in the halls. No, about the only problem I can see was with the expedition to and from the hotel, traversing vast tracts of territory which we weren't paying for.

As for "decorations" (I think that is what you refer to as "lacking anything furry...posted or on display"), well, you are right about that. There is a certain sterility to the convention center. I suspect that this is so that almost any function imaginable could be hosted here, from a political convention to a trade show, and then the sponsoring organisation could pay to have it decked out as they wished. FURther CONfusion drapes stuff all over the doubletree halls, between the atrium restaurant and the big rooms, and down the smaller corridors to the elevator lobby. But then most of it is locally made; The staff for AnthroCon, while from divers parts of the country, pretty much have their core folks and and equipment in Philadelphia, and have to transport all the essentials for a convention back and forth each year, with the possible exception of the Art Show Panels.

The AnthroCons at King of Prussia and later at the AdamsMark did have a little more in the way of "decoration", but I would be willing to grant the hard-pressed staff a pass on this point, considering the roadblocks in their way, and how well this thing somehow manages to come off every year.

You got a suite? Good for you! I hope that your level of service from the hotel was acceptable. But the things which you complain about here are all symptomatic of a hotel with too many people in it. Too many rooms with 4 or more people in them, which ought to be the exception rather than the rule. Too many demands on the WiFi bandwidth, using the fire escapes as though they were meant to be the main route, instead of the elevators, is never a good thing...and yet - you complain that the event space was "too big".

The Hotel problem is because of a certain tradition called "floor space" or "crash space" in the rooms. The actual occupancy of the hotel is probably much higher than the hotel can provide for - in NON-FAN life, people rarely stuff 4 (or more!)to a room except for families, it is the exception rather than the rule. While this can reduce costs for the fans staying in a room with multiple bodies, Furry fans ESPECIALLY have taken to this trick for being uber-cheap, indeed some people who could not or would not pay for a room otherwise rely on someone else having space or needing space, to cut their own costs. I think a lot of the hotel's problems with reservation cancellations, and ours with elevators, would be eliminated if the hotel charged a per person, rather than a per room, rate. Right now, it is not to their advantage to charge the same rate for a room occupied by several people as a room occupied by one, when the several could each just as well be paying for their own individual rooms.

This is not uncommon for a major metropolitan destination. Parking lots are often run by somebody leasing space from the property owners, or under contract to them. This is so even at the DoubleTree, though they had special rates for people staying in the associated hotel and attending FC. In Pittsburgh, I noticed people parking under the Convention Center, and then walking down the street in Pirates hats and jerseys to walk to the ball games across the river. I suspect people also park there to go to concerts at Heinz Hall, or to a play. For long-term parking, yes - it can get expensive. For three days of Parking at the Hyatt Irvine, I was gouged $13.99 per day, and that included arriving Friday Afternoon, and leaving mid-morning Monday. I was charged the full rate for all 4 days. Part of the CaliFUR contract.

I saw two occasions where friendly furries gave panhandlers money - one of them inside the Steel City Diner - when the panhandler came up short for his meal. No threats or intimidations, just a spiel, a line, which worked embarrasingly easy. The other was a case of being accosted with a terrible sob story of being from out of town, out of gas, blocking an access ramp and needing $7, $5, anything, to meet the exhorbitant demands of a gas station owner for $10 security on a gas can, plus the cost of a gallon of gas. The money would be returned after the gas can was. I declined, pleading my own poverty. My companion gave him $20, but insisted on walking up the street with him. The gentleman, down on his luck, had a ride arranged to drive him to his car (imagine that). He ducked into the parking lot under Penn Square, gave a thumbs-up to us, asked us to wait there 10 minutes, and he would be back....

...We were still enjoying the late-night breeze 25 minutes later, when my companion decided to chalk it up to charity and good Kharma, and we each retired to our rooms at the Omni for the night.

Muggings? You pluck pidgeons, you don't mug them. Hardly necessary, and I didn't hear of any.

Each and every con has its quirks and unique circumstances. AnthroCon has been forced to adapt each year to a larger and larger attendance level. It has done quite well, under the circumstances - sometimes with the help of, often in spite of, the actions of the membership. The staff is to be commended for their patience and dedication, and while next year appears to be a challenge, I'm tempted to come, if for no other reason than to see them pull it off again. Even without the art and literature and fursuits and panels and stuff, it ought to be entertaining - just for the challenge alone.

To large? O.o what are you smoking and why don't you share it with the rest of us? Getting through the dealers den was a pain it was so full and cramped this year, doign it in fursuit was just painful, you just get blocked in, and end up not being able to get back out.

And to far? You honestly think the dealers den was to far? If I can walk down from the 8th floor, walk all the way to the dealers den, spend half an hour in there, then walk back to the headless lounge all in fursuit its not to far.

Maybe you should contemplate a smaller con like RCFM, you know a con with less then 200 people?

Aren't we moving to Hall B next year? Thats a lot closer than the old hall in the convention center, but I am not sure if its easier to get to. Seems like it would be?

I gotta wonder where they would put all the people in hotels if they actually used all three halls for a convention. It kinda seems like a waste to have all that space and not enough hotel rooms to actually use it.

The Westin meeting rooms seemed a bit underused but that may have just been my timing ------> It would be great if more people started up new panels!!!! <-----

The panhandlers weren't as bad as downtown Chicago and I didn't get bothered by any.

Jeef

The best way to assure yourself a parking space, IMO, is to get there early on Wednesday. For '06 and '07, I rolled in around 10-11am and parked right infront of the elevators.

This year I rolled in at around 3:30pm. .. Which sucked, but I was lucky to drive around and found a spot RIGHT at the end of an aisle right by the elevators.