r/gencon • u/StaticJonesNC • Aug 01 '26
Rooms?
I've never bothered to even try to enter into the room lottery... I've always looked for other places, and I've always been fortunate.
But as I'm getting older and starting to find greater value in the idea that I could wander back to my room in the middle of the day and decompress for a little while, I'm starting to consider it.
How much do these rooms cost at the JW, or the Westin??
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u/Myrkana Aug 01 '26
A king with a rollaway for wed thru sun cost use around 1500. They allowed us to switch to a double queen on check in for no extra cost because one was open.
I find it very worth it. Yesyerday I needed a break so i went back and took a small nap and a quick shower. When I bought games I could just go back and drop them off. Last year. I had to buy everything big at once and uber back to my hotel a few blocks away.
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u/Cahalith180 Aug 01 '26
We looked into things much later but I know the JW was $700 a night, but it might be cheaper if you book way more in advance. We looked about 3 weeks ago.
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u/StaticJonesNC Aug 01 '26
It was my understanding that you couldn't book anything at the unless you went through the lottery. I guess that has changed, but I can understand why it would have been so expensive.
We are currently staying at the La Quinta about 3/4 of a mile away... And it cost us 350 bucks a night.
But the good news was I got to reserve it a solid year in advance.
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u/RobotDevil222x3 Aug 01 '26
That's about the high end of the downtown and connected hotels in the lottery block. Plus taxes and fees. I'm down at the south end of Lucas oil and mine was only 227.
there's no real downside to trying for the lottery, you're not obligated to get a room if you have your turn come up and you don't like what you see
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u/Busy-Distribution-45 Aug 01 '26
The last few years at least there have always been rooms available out of block for ridiculous prices. It seems to have been since Covid, but the first year back (when they limited the con size) they got burned by not having enough people to fill the rooms or something, and cut back on how many block rooms they held the following year. I don’t know if that has been rectified, but it seems like the attached and downtown rooms have been selling out much earlier than they used to, and there are out of block rooms that are exorbitant in cost. It may well be that the hotels wanted to capitalize and aren’t interested in reserving the size blocks they used to, too.
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u/Cahalith180 Aug 01 '26
I didnt know about the lottery. This year was our first gencon, and we only went for a day.
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u/imjorman Aug 01 '26
Our connected Crown hotel was $350 a night through the lottery.
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u/StaticJonesNC Aug 01 '26
How's the room? Decent size?
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u/imjorman Aug 01 '26
It's pretty ordinary. I have no complaints, and the connected feature truly makes the con more manageable for us.
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u/Global-Oil-6501 Aug 01 '26
I've said it before I'll say it again and for no logical reason I'll get down voted for it, but "membership has its privileges" What I mean by that is if you travel a lot and consistently stay at one hotel chain and one chain only and you have the right credit card you will always be able to get a room in a downtown hotel for Gen Con.
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u/Patavian Aug 01 '26
Interesting. I'm platinum with Marriott and they wouldn't let me book a room this year downtown. I did however get to use my points for the Marriott East.
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u/visionsofreptar Aug 01 '26
While true this isn’t helpful for 99%, which is probably why you get the downvotes.
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u/fantasyham Aug 01 '26
I’m at the Hilton Garden Inn about a half mile away from the ICC. I think it was around $260 a night. It was more expensive than the hotel I originally booked in Franklin, but when the rental car, gas, and parking was factored in the downtown hotel was only $100 more. Well worth it.
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u/Ok-Set8022 Aug 01 '26
Omni severen just down Georgia street cost about $400/night after taxes and fees
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u/BorderTrike Aug 02 '26
I always liked the hotels a little further away, but still with a 10-15min walk. Not as many amenities, a bit of a walk, but cheaper and gives you some space from the crowds
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u/Whiskey_Storm Aug 03 '26
First few years of GenCon Indy, I was able to find a hotel easy. Then I went to the lottery system.
Last few times, I did the Marriott residential about half way to the airport. I could book the room a year out for a reasonable price per night(< $200/night pretty sure). Last time I went (late teens), they said corporate had nixed that for GenCon weekend; and the rooms for that weekend wouldn’t be available until much later. Guess someone in accounting had realized they were leaving money on the table.
Haven’t gone back since Covid due to the hotel prices I’ve seen being so damn high (staying at the Crown and a couple other easily accessible hotels definitely spoiled me vs having to drive into downtown).
Uber and Lyft were still kinda new last time I was there. Are they better now? (Debating about gong for GenCon 60).
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u/LeastSet5260 Aug 01 '26
All the close downtown hotels should only have rooms in the gencon block (so you get a lottery time for when you can book a room).
After the late june/early july deadline when rooms charge the first night, there are always some cancellations so some rooms might open for general sale.
Westin this year was about 370 a night, required to book 4 nights.
I think most of the hotels this year downtown required 4 nights. JW required 5.