I hope everyone was able to secure a hotel during Hotelpocalypse yesterday! I’m still a bit jittery from the experience. My anxiety levels are always sky high during hotel registration. My group was very lucky and got in within the first 12 minutes. A friend in our group managed to enter within the first 8 minutes to get the Omni; he was going to reserve an additional room for us, but adding a second reservation in the system turned out to be a bit confusing.
I was able to get in at 11:12 AM CST, and there was still inventory available downtown. I didn’t get my first or second choice, but I did get my third choice, which I’m actually really happy about. It’s a hotel I’ve never stayed at before, and I’m excited for it. I was also able to get 2 beds, which I have not been able to secure in the past few years (if you want a good hotel, those are always snatched up immediately). Thank goodness, because I feel bad for the guys in our group who end up sleeping on the floor every year.
I also ended up with a second reservation by accident. I was browsing the remaining inventory and clicked into a hotel just to check availability for certain dates, and somehow it processed as a booking. My card was charged, and I received a confirmation about an hour later showing I had two reservations. It was a bit of a panic moment since these are non-refundable. I’m still not entirely sure how it went through, since I deliberately did not press the “proceed” button. Fortunately, it turned out to be a good downtown hotel, and I was able to transfer it to someone in my extended group. I was especially relieved, since it was a King room, which can be harder to reassign than double-bed rooms for groups sharing costs.
Overall, the hotel registration process was surprisingly smooth, and I was genuinely shocked to find downtown inventory still available by the time I got in. I know this is a bit biased since I secured a room; some people in our group had their Toucans stuck in the queue at 2 bars for 30+ minutes. If I hadn’t gotten in early, I’m sure my experience would feel very different.
In previous years, we’ve sometimes missed out entirely in the initial round and had to monitor the onPeak site closely for months, hoping something would open up. That process was always very stressful. I’m curious how it will work this year since hotels are now non-refundable with no cancellation window, unlike prior years when you could at least recover your deposit. I’m also interested in seeing whether any additional inventory will be released later.
Did you end up getting a hotel? Were you able to secure your preferred choice, or are you still hoping to find something better later on?
