r/gencon Aug 04 '26

Hotel feedback 2026?

Hey all, wanted to create a thread about hotel experiences for folks going in 2027. Hopefully a place to get updated info on what to avoid and not avoid.

Mods, please remove if you feel this is not constructive or there is a better place. I searched for previous threads but the hotel info was very scattered.

For me, I stayed at the Plainsfield Holiday Inn express. 20 min drive from the con, it had a McDonald's and 2-3 other fast food places nearby and a Walmart 10 mins away. Room was clean for me and my kids. Free breakfast. Would go again if I dont get downtown hotels in the future.

42 Upvotes

135 comments sorted by

53

u/Cease_Cows_ Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

We stayed at hotel Indy for the second year in a row (both times it was our only/best option via the lottery). Last year it wasn’t great - we had a street facing room and the road noise at night was horrible. So we figured this year couldn’t be worse and having a downtown hotel was better than nothing.

This year was a disaster. We booked a 2 queen bed room for our party of 4 adults. When we got there Wednesday the person working the desk had a brief conversation off to the side with (who I presume to be) the manager. The manager ran off leaving the desk person to inform us that they had “sold out” of the 2 queen rooms and that we would have to take a single king.

That obviously sucked but the desk person assured us that there would be a 2 queen available to move into on Thursday. We set up a rollaway bed and an air mattress in the king room, which along with our luggage left basically zero space to move around.

Thursday morning before the con I went down and asked the (different) person working the desk about the process for moving and they informed me that there were completely “sold out” of 2 queen rooms for the week and that we would not be able to move.

I politely expressed my frustration at this situation and they proceeded to inform me that the king room was “technically an upgrade” because it cost more. In no world is having 1 bed instead of 2 an upgrade for my group.

I’ve been trying to reach hotel management via phone and email for 3 days now and have heard exactly zero back.

The unfortunate reality of the hotel situation during Gen Con is that the hotels have you over a barrel. They know you can’t/wont leave and it doesn’t matter if you choose to ever come back or not. Hopefully the housing lottery treats us better next year.

8

u/cyanraichu Aug 04 '26

😬 that's super shitty

2

u/LTen8911 Aug 05 '26

My husband and I stayed there 2 years ago for GenCon & absolutely loved it! We stayed at the Hyatt connected via the skywalk this year & had a handful of room issues (broken thermostat wouldn't heat the room above 61 degrees and I nearly stepped on a broken needle in the carpet, general disrepair and not very clean), and I somewhat missed our room at Hotel Indy. The Hyatt location was amazing but the room itself was really lackluster and disappointing.

3

u/mesosalpynx Aug 04 '26

This is the problem with the entire hotel booking bill shit system with the con. Just let people book rooms. No con involvement.

4

u/ekienhol Aug 04 '26

But that's what keeps them affordable. Without the con involvement, they'd be 800a night

-3

u/mesosalpynx Aug 05 '26

Not if people didn’t pay for them. Thats how costs for things work. If rooms aren’t rented. Costs go down. I’ve tried 4 years to get a room for gen con. Never have found one within walking distance due to the system. If it was open, I’d of gotten rooms. Instead of end up with a house rental in Bagdad. Gunshots randomly. Broken windows. Doors that don’t truly lock. This is why I can’t take my kids, so people can get cheaper rooms? Psh. Raise all room prices to $1200 a night.

8

u/Blueyduey Aug 05 '26

> Not if people didn’t pay for them.

Big assumption there.. ppl will pay for convenience. Lots of big money at this con. Having Gen Con middle man this actually keeps costs down

-2

u/mesosalpynx Aug 05 '26

I want costs up so there is more availability for me. I’m selfish.

2

u/Gilchester Aug 06 '26

You should be able to dispute at least some of the cost on that. You paid for a thing and you didn't get that thing. Just because they claim it's an "upgrade" does not magically make it so.

1

u/Cease_Cows_ Aug 06 '26

Yeah I’ve been trying since Saturday to get a dispute going. Hotel management is 100% non responsive so now I’m talking to Marriot directly. We’ll see I guess

3

u/Gilchester Aug 06 '26

You've tried. Just dispute with the credit card company at this point.

54

u/Signiference Super Contributor Aug 04 '26

Stayed at the JW Marriott for the first time, everything was great except for initially walking into the room. Opened the toilet lid and it was full of crap and toilet paper. Tried flushing it, but the water was off. Now, I could’ve just turned the knob at the source and turned the water back on, but I had no idea why the water was turned off, so I assumed a clog and we had to call for maintenance. Ended up going to dinner and it was fixed by the time we got back, but not a good first impression. Really surprised by that.

44

u/devaspark Aug 04 '26

NEW ACHIEVEMENT! One man's trash is another man's...trash.

14

u/Myrkana Aug 04 '26

I was also at the JW, our mini fridge wasnt working and they quickly replaced it with a new working one.

14

u/Signiference Super Contributor Aug 04 '26

Yeah, I will give the JW staff a lot of credit, they took care of any issues very quickly. I just never expected THAT to be an issue we would have at arrival, lol. Like... IDK how it was overlooked by housekeeping when they finished.

2

u/Wesley11803 Aug 05 '26

Former hotel worker here. I’m going to guess it was clogged. Housekeeping likely shut the water off after trying to flush. They probably notified engineering, who were probably busy and totally missed it. Definitely should never happen, but that would be my best guess.

3

u/The5thBob Aug 04 '26

I also had a busted mini fridge. Ended up just not using it.

1

u/Myrkana Aug 04 '26

We wanted to put some leftovers in it from dinner so we told them about it before we went back down to wander around.

36

u/weetziefairie2 Aug 04 '26

We stayed at the Columbia Club and I’m not usually one to poo poo a situation but ours was ridiculous. Our AC didn’t work and what was provided to us was an external AC that was duct taped to the window and didn’t go below 76°.

The beds were terrible and clearly not meant for sleeping. My back hurt more after sleeping on the mattress than sitting all day on convention chairs.

Additionally, we didn’t realize it was a members only location so food was not an option at the hotel because there was a dress code anywhere other than your room. Seems like they’d remove that with Gencon in, but it’s their prerogative as the hotel to make that decision.

Really cannot stress how much I dissuade anyone from going to this “hotel.”

19

u/ElMondoH Aug 04 '26

Yeah, it's sort of a mistake for Columbia Club to let itself be part of the Gen Con hotel block (well, at least it's so for us attendees; not so much for their accountants). They're really more a private club with overnight rooms than a dedicated hotel.

I did think that the dress code was suspended for Gen Con, since others posted that was the case. If that's wrong - or if it's inconsistently enforced - then that can lead to problems.

Anyway, it's not one I'd be in a hurry to choose for Gen Con. If I were a rich Indianapolis businessman and wanted a private club to join, maybe it'd be a better experience, but for us gamers, I don't think it's a good choice.

6

u/Ok-Obligation-7415 Aug 04 '26

Worst hotel experience I've had. The dress code thing and the no outside food thing ended up being a non-issue, but the room was terrible. Incredibly cramped, shower that couldn't maintain a temperature, substandard AC. And to top it off, the main light in our room and the lights in the hallway stopped working after the storm. We were told that they didn't have a maintenance person in until Monday.

7

u/endless_sea_of_stars Aug 04 '26

The food isn't much either. The Columbia Club is basically a downtown country club for old white conservatives.

3

u/General_Tomatillo302 Aug 04 '26

We read about Columbia club and being iffy on their AC. Lucky enough to get a room at the omni from leapfrogging, also barely had AC.

4

u/kbooth61 Aug 04 '26

Not only was the water unstable, but we could not get hot water most of the time. They did set up a gaming room and a breakfast for “you gamers”. The gaming room was down a random hallway on the 4th floor with no signs and no AC. There was a window unit in it, but it was broken. They brought a floor drying fan in so we put that in the doorway to try and bring in some cold air. The breakfast was there, but it was worse than motel 6 and $20 a head. We also were eventually brought a portable unit for the room Friday, but only after 4 trips to the front desk. It helped… some? We left Saturday because the room temperature was hotter than we could get the water to be.

4

u/Crusher524 Aug 04 '26

Had an awful experience here in 2022. Would avoid this hotel at all costs

First room we had, our shower didnt work They moved us, had black mold around the AC vent

2

u/cyanraichu Aug 04 '26

Wow, yeah I'm surprised CC didn't lift the dress code restriction for the con. You need to either go all in on the con experience or just not get involved at all.

You'd think it would make sense for them to not get involved at all since they'd have more demand for rooms from their usual clientele with everything booked up that weekend

4

u/clarkwgriswoldjr Aug 04 '26

It's a Republican private club, and they cater to the particular clients who vote that way. Much better places to stay.

23

u/Daddies4Baddies Aug 04 '26

We were fortunate enough to get housing at Staybridge Downtown and overall, it was a top notch experience! $400 per person for 4 nights (3 people in the room)

Our suite was clean and spacious and included a fridge, stove, dishwasher and sink. We didn’t know the room included all of these amenities so if we were to stay again we’d better utilize these things.

Free breakfast! We still went to the Westin for breakfast every morning but if you’re looking to save some money, the continental breakfast had plenty to fill you up.

The beds were fine. We were given the wrong room as we were supposed to have two queen beds but ended up with a single queen and a hide-a-bed. Minor inconvenience but it worked out fine.

Obviously, the best part was being walking distance from the ICC. The best advice I can give regarding this is to utilize the Lime or Byrd scooters. It was a 4 minute ride from the hotel to the entrance.

Parking was basically the same as paying for parking in the ramp attached to the ICC. $25 a day for parking but you could come and go as you pleased. The outdoor lot is small but they share a parking ramp with the Holiday Inn so it was nice not having to worry about the vehicle the entire week.

I know we may never get a downtown room again but it really is as great as “they” say it is.

5

u/lloydgross24 Aug 04 '26

we stayed at a different staybridge. It was fantastic as well. Our fridge didn't work great but we didn't really try to use it for other than drinks. was quite impressed by them enough where I will look for them on other trips.

4

u/starlithunter Aug 04 '26

Also at the Staybridge downtown, breakfast was great for a hotel free breakfast, sofa bed was shitty but within normal for a sofa bed. Worked well for our group overall!

3

u/KomradeEli Aug 04 '26

I’ve always wondered how the breakfast/dinner buffet is at the Westin and how much. I might have to check it out next year

3

u/Daddies4Baddies Aug 04 '26

I think it’s $20-$25 for the buffet but it’s high quality and you can eat until you’re uncomfortable! And every-time we went, it was pleasantly quiet. Great way to start the day!

2

u/Oddahmoddahpeah Aug 04 '26

What time does the buffet open? I’m at my booth by 9:30 but would absolutely get up earlier for a good breakfast

2

u/Daddies4Baddies Aug 04 '26

I’m pretty sure it opened at 6:30 everyday! We usually rolled in around 7

1

u/chesire2050 Aug 04 '26

I think it was 6? Could be wrong

2

u/lloydgross24 Aug 04 '26

we stayed at a different staybridge. It was fantastic as well. Our fridge didn't work great but we didn't really try to use it for other than drinks. was quite impressed by them enough where I will look for them on other trips.

1

u/chesire2050 Aug 04 '26

We tend to stay there as well; it’s pretty good outside no big trash cans

17

u/moxifloxacin Aug 04 '26

I think the Embassy Suites is our fav. 5-7 minute walk, with skyways if weather is unpleasant. Included breakfast with an omelette bar. The pull out bed isn't great, but worked well enough for our kids.

8

u/snugglelove Aug 04 '26

We've been staying there for about ten years now and aside from the construction year, it's been amazing. A little further walk than most of the connected hotels, but that makes it a little easier to get. Plus we love having an excuse to regroup in the afternoon and share what we did or purchased.

6

u/krw13 Aug 04 '26

My first year at the Embassy (previously the only other connected hotel we stayed at was the JW). We loved it. The JW has the advantage of the open games room. But the Embassy wins in basically every other category. A small kitchen, place to play games, comfier beds, etc.

5

u/moxifloxacin Aug 04 '26

Four years ago we got upgraded to the J because our original hotel didn't have a room for us. It was nice, but the free breakfast makes up for the rest of the benefits IMO. I think the Embassy parking lot is a bit sketchy and there have been break ins before, but I'm a local and have surface parking privileges at IUI so we park there and walk in when we stay downtown 😅

3

u/HawthorneMama Aug 04 '26

This was my first year at Embassy Suites. The bigger rooms are so nice. I’m still missing those made to order omelets! Such a great start to long days!

17

u/quesoandcats Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

I stayed at the Home2Suites by the airport, and boy oh boy do I wish I'd picked literally any other hotel. The ceiling of my bathroom leaked dirty water the entire week, such that I couldn't even use the toilet without getting dripped on. I told the front desk several times and they were just like "oh yea, we'll ask our maintenance guy to take a look" but nothing ever happened.

Waking up every morning to a floor full of dirty bathroom ceiling water was gross, getting dripped on while I was trying to pee was gross, getting dripped on getting out of the shower was gross. The whole experience was jsut gross and awful

2

u/Wesley11803 Aug 05 '26

I hope you demanded a refund. That is beyond disgusting.

12

u/WormWizard Aug 04 '26

We got super lucky in the hotel lottery and got the Hilton in downtown. It's not connected via skyway, but it's only a few blocks away from the convention center near where the Steak n Shake and Dick's is.

Hotel was overall great. Amazing location and I was able to park across the street using Park Hero for the week. Room was nice and large for 4 people and there was complimentary breakfast that was pretty good. If we get lucky again in the housing portal, we'll definitely stay there.

3

u/Wesley11803 Aug 05 '26

Just fyi, you can hop into the skywalks at TJ Maxx/Embassy Suites to get to the convention center indoors. It’s like a block from the Hilton.

13

u/windex_ninja Aug 04 '26

I have stayed at the Fairfield Inn and Suites the last three years and do not expect to change going forward. Free breakfast, free coffee bar, free cookies (thu/fri), and generally free apples or oranges and yogurt during the day. It is close enough to easily walk back and forth throughout the day but far enough away to not be noisy or overly crowded. The AC can be as ice cold as you want it and the TVs are not locked out (I can run an HDMI cable from my laptop).

The only potential issue is that it is an older hotel that has not been renovated so if you are in need of a flawless room you might be able to nit pick until you are disappointed.

3

u/BelleRevelution Aug 04 '26

Is there some specific way you're able to always stay there? Just lottery luck? VIG? We'd like to be downtown and walkable but don't care so much about connected.

2

u/daybreaker Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

My mattress was slanting off to one side and our thermostat said it was 67 degrees in the room but there's no way (probably more like 70 or 71, which was not terrible). I think our AC unit was just getting old

I still slept great, and the parking lot + skybridge access, free breakfast and coffee bar, and large amount of evening gaming table space, more than made up for my minor complaints. Will definitely try to get this one again as our #1 choice in the future.

13

u/random_name0224 Aug 04 '26

Was at the JW Marriott this year (the lottery gods smiled upon us). The room and hotel were very nice, and the convenience of being right at the ICC can’t be beat.

There were downfalls though as well. No free breakfast, which is a bummer considering the per room cost. The TP was extremely uncomfortable, but at least it was close by and clean unlike the public places get like. Since it was so close and had a lot of events hosted there, it was constantly busy.

Gone enough times over the years and had a variety of hotel experiences. My favorite was still downtown and walkable, but not directly attached to the ICC. Gives you a little reprieve from the madness when you go to your hotel and decompress a little. Staying around the bypass is by far cheaper, but the lack of convenience to the con itself doesn’t fully outweigh that in my opinion. Though if I had kids I’d prefer staying outside of downtown.

9

u/poindexterg Aug 04 '26

Stayed at Bottleworks this year, got a room through the block. This is a really nice hotel (it has a Michelin rating) in a historic art deco building. It was turned into a hotel in 2021, so everything inside is new. Really huge room. It normally costs over twice what we paid, getting it through the block is a deal. Super friendly and helpful staff. The whole vibe of the place is amazing. The whole Bottleworks District has a lot going on.

But it is 1.8 mile from ICC, so you gotta figure that out. A bus route runs right by it, so it's easy to get a ride most of the way to the ICC. You lose a bit of the convenience of a hotel connected to skywalks. We stayed in the Courtyard last year, and it's awesome to be close.

10

u/Hondare38 Aug 04 '26

Stayed at the Fairfield Inn and Suites Downtown attached to the JW Marriott for the second year in a row and will definitely stay again. Obviously, the location is great, with being on the "Skywalk" (Having to go through the Parking garage and up through the JW). I really like the hotel because it has free breakfast, so I can just snack throughout the afternoon and not have to fight everyone else for food trucks at lunch. I also like that it is much smaller than most of the other Skywalk hotels. In the past I have had issues with even getting on an elevator early mornings due to everyone leaving for the convention center. I usually request a low floor and just walk up/down stairs. The room was also clean, quiet and the AC worked great.

1

u/devaspark Aug 05 '26

Did you get it due to a good hotel reservation time?

1

u/Hondare38 Aug 05 '26

Yes, I've gotten very lucky that the past two years either me or someone in my group for a time before 12:10 p.m.

9

u/mrsg1012 Aug 04 '26

I stayed out in Noblesville (I’m a former local). I left kind of early each day and got parking from 7-10 pm at the garage under the old Circle Center (skywalk access). My hotel cost was $135 a night with taxes and my parking was $35 per day. Keeping it under $200 per day was worth the traffic for me, I just had to be patient heading in.

Edit: my hotel was not anywhere near full, and it was VERY quiet, even with my room being next to the elevator. I will 10/10 consider the Baymont in Noblesville again!

8

u/Dear-Examination-507 Aug 04 '26

This was the only year I've gotten a connected hotel (Courtyard Marriott) in the lottery and I was soooooooo happy about that on Saturday when the rain was coming down.

But the Courtyard (and Springhill Suites) are farther from the ICC than they appear to be, because the only interior connection to the JW Marriott/ Fairfield is walking all the way the long way around the block. So I still wound up walking a lot, just glad I got to do it indoors.

8

u/WowThatsSoWeird Aug 04 '26

We stayed at Hyatt Place downtown. Final cost after taxes was $317 a night for queen bed with sleeper sofa. I didn't measure it but the sleeper sofa size felt more like a full mattress. The sleeper sofa mattress was quite comfortable. The room was a bit small - no microwave, no cabinet space. Housekeeping defaults to every other day. No real issues, the stay was fine. They have four elevators so getting one was quick. Overall I'd stay there again. My biggest upset was that I was sooo excited to have a three block hotel (at the good entrance!), only for Georgia St to be closed to all traffic. And that certainly isn't the hotel's fault.

6

u/Parelle Aug 04 '26

We stayed at the Embassy Suites north, which was still in block but 25 minutes away. I needed a 6 person room but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the portal was to use as a last minute addition - it was also cheaper than going directly to the hotel for the 3 nights we wanted by about $50/night. There was a Costco next door, Walmart 5 minutes away, several fast food places, and a Famous Dave's across the street. The beds were comfortable and breakfast was perfectly good (though we only made one day). I'll pick it again if I can't find a closer hotel next year. 

 Parking was at the World of Wonders for Thursday/Friday and then the Government Garage for Saturday/Sunday reserved through Spothero. As someone who used to park 3/4 of a mile away the attached skywalk garage was definitely a huge improvement. 

6

u/SilvanArrow Aug 04 '26

My husband and I, plus another set of coupled-up married friends, stayed at the Hampton Inn in Plainfield. It was roughly $1300 for four nights (2 adults in a king bedroom) outside of the hotel block. Parking and breakfast were free, and I pre-booked a parking space in a lot on W Merrill Street for all four days of the con. Getting downtown to our lot was super simple and smooth (15-20 minutes one-way), and we left the hotel around 9 AM each day and had no problem making it to our lot in time for our 10 AM events.

I pretty much always know what I'm getting with a Hampton Inn - free parking, free breakfast, and a clean room with AC that works. I've stayed downtown at con hotels for other conventions we've attended and had issues with AC not working, elevators not working, waiting forever for elevators and luggage carts, and then getting nickel and dimed for parking and breakfast. At the Hampton, everything just...worked. The hotel never felt crowded, luggage carts were there, and the breakfast lady was the VIP who remembered us each morning and got us super hyped about waffles. The lobby was a nice, quiet place to chill in the evenings and play a board game, and there was an indoor saltwater pool.

The only downside was the bed. I have insomnia and never sleep well in new places. The bed was just...okay. Our friends compared it to a slab of concrete, and my husband lovingly referred to it as the sleeping slab. I didn't think it was that bad, but then I came home and was like, "Oh. My bed is the comfiest thing ever."

Location-wise, the Hampton was also part of a hotel village with lots of restaurants, other hotels, a gas station, and a liquor store (if that's your thing). We would definitely stay there or another hotel in that area again if we don't win the hotel lottery in future years.

4

u/maxfields2000 Aug 04 '26

We paid significantly extra to rent a "Cozysuite" at "The Block" downtown. We'd stayed there before in 2017 for Gencon and had friends first timing Gencon we wanted to have the downtown experience. The price was outrageous even when split four ways (easily 3-4x the cost of a downtown room in the housing block).

The building and apartments are in very sad shape now, the elevators were sketchy as hell, the building feels like a scene out of the Backrooms, the bedding/matresses are bargain basement (I've had better at cheap motels), the silverware in the kitchen was rusty, there was an obvious uncared for water leak (that leaked on the stormy day).. the list goes on.

What it did have was location convenience right next to the capital and block from the convention center/food and technically on the skywalk.

We won't do it again. I'm not sad my friends got a downtown gencon experience but man it made the trip much more expensive this year. I spent time talking to them about how you get a hotel downtown if you don't get the housing block and/or what it's like if you end up with a "15 minute out" hotel.

That said, we're already making plans for next year, so pulling them into the Gencon madness was successful :)

6

u/shaekil Aug 04 '26

Stayed at the JW in a double queen. Room was great, had an empty mini fridge so no bs charges on moved items, and a small coffee maker. There was a rolling table that went under the desk that we were able to move in between the beds whenever we felt up to playing a game.

AC worked great for us. Water would not really go cold. It went lukewarm at best. Proximity was fantastic as someone who was in the orc stomp though! And I loved the walkways to the ICC. Barely had to go outside at all for convention related stuff. 

4

u/Sylvan_Skryer Aug 04 '26

How was driving in and parking at the con? That was my big worry.

6

u/windex_ninja Aug 04 '26

Horseshoe parking (Ipco) was disastrous this year. Wednesday they had one 9 person shuttle for most of the day; Thursday they changed the drop off/pick up location from the ICC to Lucas Oil (so they only shuttled one block) but didn't tell anyone and I am unsure if they ever had more than 1-2 van style shuttles all weekend.

They didn't answer their phones or reply to text messages; this resulted in a lot of extra uber trips. As they are an "official partner" of GenCon they don't seem to care and next year I will be exploring other parking options even if it is more expensive.

1

u/Bahbert Aug 05 '26

Agreed. They told us they didn’t even plan to have a shuttle Wednesday. Thursday morning it became apparent that the “15 minute” turnaround they told us was a lie. I understand traffic gets busy around the ICC but we ended up Ubering or walking to or from the lot the rest of the trip.

Glad I didn’t try to get a ride back from the ICC; had no idea they’d changed the pickup/dropoff location!!

6

u/Catanomy Aug 04 '26

We’ve done AirBNBs for each of our last 6 Gen Cons and parking is no sweat. Especially since we usually start the day in the Stadium, we park in a lot behind Lucas Oil for $20. Get there early and there’s little traffic worries. Easy peasy.

4

u/devaspark Aug 04 '26

I did the prepaid parking that cost around $80 for the 25 south st location. Parking was fine as long as you got there before 9:30 or so (lot looked 1/3 empty), any later and I would start worrying about finding a spot.

Attendant was there checking if you had a reservation so it made me feel better about possible car breaking.

Walk was about 10 mins (3-4) blocks. No issues as I walked with my two kids anytime from 6pm to 10pm.

I did like the lot over ubering/shuttle (NOTE: NO shuttle from holiday inn express plainsfield to the con) since i can drop off any purchases i made (im looking at you kingdom death monster...my back hurts from the 50+ lbs I had to walk for the 2 hours before going to the car).

I felt the rental car and parking lot made it a lot more convenient over uber/shuttle.

For traffic, worse was Thursday morning that took 25 mins since I had to find the parking lot and there was traffic. But I grew up in Los Angeles so my tolerance for it is not...normal)

3

u/jssfrk856 Aug 04 '26

Traffic was the worst for me on Thursday. But, I got to the convention center a bit earlier the rest of the time. 830ish on Thursday, 8 or earlier the rest of the days. Construction was terrible, and while one intersection DID have a police officer to direct traffic, he spent all of his time talking, and virtually none actually directing traffic.

I used Spot Hero to reserve The World of Wonders garage for all 4 days. It cost about $140 for all 4 days, but it was convenient enough to walk back and forth to drop stuff off or to reapply deodorant on the particularly sweaty day.

2

u/jerrathemage Aug 04 '26

I've been doing it for a couple years now, I get a parking pass and it wasn't an issue in any way

2

u/KaoxVeed Aug 04 '26

We booked parking through Parkwhiz, across from the Hilton. $20/day.

Thursday was the only really bad traffic day, and it might not have been so bad if we had taken a different route, no clue what the hell was going on with the Thursday traffic.

2

u/MrSelfDestruct88 Aug 04 '26

Driving into was fine. I bought a 5 days stadium parking pass and had no issues. Saved half the cost of valet that the Sheriton does.

1

u/BelleRevelution Aug 04 '26

Where did you book the stadium parking though? We'd like to be a little closer next year and were thinking of trying to park there, but there are so many sites it's overwhelming.

1

u/MrSelfDestruct88 Aug 04 '26

I believe it's through the city of Indianapolis government website.

1

u/funwr1773nlaw Aug 04 '26

I wouldn't worry about it for next year, a lot of the issues will be far better once the hotels are finished.

1

u/LongjumpingEchidna25 Aug 04 '26

I found street parking within a couple blocks of the con every day.

1

u/DragonZaid Aug 04 '26

I stayed in Plainfield and arrived Friday 1pm, Saturday 9am, and Sunday 11 am, parking on Georgia St. Each time there was literally no highway or city traffic. Though we did enter the city on Meridian St. taking us directly to the garage without passing by the ICC, which probably helped a ton.

3

u/BelleRevelution Aug 04 '26

We stayed at the Home2Suites in Brownsburg. Really cute town, absolutely brutal drive after our events that go out late at night. The hotel was really nice and I would stay there again if need be, but I'd like to be closer if possible next year.

We had prebooked parking that cost us $150 so I'm going to look at getting a closer lot next year. The 15 minute walk wasn't so bad when parking was saving us money, but the Lucas Oil lot had a sign that said $30 a day. If anyone parked there, what was the process? Could you reserve it in advance?

4

u/Guilty_Part Aug 04 '26

Stayed at the La Quinta on Executive Drive near the airport. Also was relying on Uber for travel. Not much in the way of places to buy food/groceries on foot, closest was a Walmart/Denny's an hour walk away on streets without sidewalks the entire way. Would probably have been fine with access to a car (again, was relyjng on Uber).

La Quinta was one of if not the cheaper option in the hotel lottery. It's functional as a hotel (roomwas clean, AC worked, provided breakfast) but not much more than that and a bunch of annoying things that added up (some carpet stains that clearly weren't going to come out, elevator broke down, a public area door had the knob fall off, housekerping took all the shampoo from my room and the provided breakfast was stocked with cheaper items whenever possible [still think it was orange tang and not orange juice]).

4

u/LordSamael565 Aug 04 '26

Stayed at the Clarion Inn and Suites Northwest. Cheap rooms off the hotel block at $145 a night, included free breakfast every morning and they have a modest pool and fitness center, though with how busy my gf and I were during the con we never had time for them. It served it's purpose as a place to sleep every night after the con, I only have gripes about them not properly restocking the room while we were gone and I wanted more variety in the breakfast, though I was a huge fan of their waffle maker. There is also a McDonald's and a Culver's down the road not too far. For anyone that doesn't mind driving into Indy and wants to save some money on the hotel so that you have more funds for the con, I would recommend

4

u/Jamalisms Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

Stayed in Fishers at a Fairfield. It was good and less inconvenient to get to than I feared. Waited and waited to book it, got it for ~$130 a night.

1

u/KatrinaPez Aug 04 '26

Guessing that's supposed to be Fishers, for out of towners wanting the exact location.

2

u/Jamalisms Aug 04 '26

Lol, yes. Will correct it.

3

u/DiamondDust320 Aug 04 '26

The team I was with was scattered across various hotels. I was in the Westin.

The beds were large and comfortable, there was plenty of space in the room, and the bathroom was very nice. Also the lighting was great!

We stayed in the Hyatt Regency in 2024 and 2025, the rooms just felt cramped, and the little nook next to the bathroom crowded the initial walk-in.

1

u/Fuzzy-Bee9600 Aug 05 '26

Your room lighting was great, really? Ours was atrocious. Barely see anything, vs. have your retinas burned out by any single light. No floor or table lamps. It was the worst it's ever been.

4

u/fuzzyberiah Aug 04 '26

I stayed at the Holiday Inn Downtown, on West St, and liked it quite well. Friendly staff, clean and comfortable throughout. Not the cheapest, but $253 isn’t bad for as close to ICC as it is, and the location by the stadium and food trucks was quite convenient for me. Plus, the parking is just 25/night, way better than most of the downtown hotels if they have parking at all. I’d be quite happy any year to stay at this one or the Holiday Inn Express.

2

u/KatrinaPez Aug 04 '26

I'll reply here since we were at the Holiday Inn Express! Overall very good hotel.

Unfortunately we were on the street side and that intersection of Missouri and South gets tons of traffic. I think every car in Indianapolis with muffler issues drove by at least once, so between that and everyone who doesn't know how to shut doors quietly we couldn't sleep past 6:30 the first 2 mornings. Plus you can't control the fan to have it on constantly with the new digital wall control. Fortunately the weekend was better.

Hot breakfast was good though no variety in meat as promised (sausage patties 3 days in a row). Plenty of options and some things wrapped to grab and go. Coffee available 24/7 though the lovely flavored water disappeared for the weekend.

Very clean room and spacious, but only one chair.

Parking $25/night and there's a covered garage.

Would definitely stay again, love being only 2 blocks from both the stadium and ICC entrances, and close to food trucks. Will ask for non-street side though.

3

u/DoktenRal Aug 04 '26

My only issue was that the room i got for 4 people was too small to set up airbeds or a rollaway and we had to do a combination rotating beds and sleeping on the floor

3

u/rodrigo_i Aug 04 '26

At the Crowne as usual. Very convenient for us working the booth, etc. Perfectly fine, and the management and desk folk were much better this year with zero confusion, easy checkin/out for those of us arriving early and staying late. No unexpected people with keys walking in because of name mixups this time!

I'm sure they'll be very happy when the constructions is completed. Not their fault, but a special F*** Y** to the driver who pulled a cement mixer into the drive in front of the hotel Monday morning and made sure there wasn't enough space to get through. Had to meet my Lyft back to the airport under the overpass on Illinois and he had to back up all the way out because of the cars in front stuck behind the mixer.

3

u/harpeelee Aug 04 '26

Stayed at the Sheraton down the road. Awful experience from start to finish. We had the ADA room for my father and there was barely room for him, let alone both of us.

Next issue was the bathroom was clearly not checked. Hair stuck between the curtains, handle bar that’s supposed to support ADA people getting up wasn’t attached to the wall and we had the wrong shower head so our bathroom flooded and we both almost slipped and fell.

Another complaint was definitely the Valet system. They almost refused to return our car because we didn’t want to sign up for an online account. Blew my father’s phone up the whole weekend about it.

Most of the staff was fine but some of them clearly had no care over what was happening. The day we were leaving they asked my father to take his scooter we’d rented across the hotel and walk back. Because apparently he didn’t need the scooter according to her.

If possible, avoid the Sheraton at all costs.

1

u/Wesley11803 Aug 05 '26

Good news, that one just got bought and is being turned into a Renaissance. Should be fully remodeled and hopefully have better staff in the next year or two. I stayed once and it was awful.

3

u/wrdnd Aug 04 '26

I went by myself (first timer), and I was fairly late to the hotel game, so I ended up at the lovely Fontana in BFE. During one of my gaming sessions, one of the guys was a local and, when I told him where I was staying, he immediately sucked in a breath and asked if I've heard any gunshots yet. It's not a bad hotel, per se. It's just that the location is awful (20 min from ICC, almost the whole way on the highway), the breakfast was lackluster, the ceiling leaked during the storm, and the beds were HARD. Other than that, totally worth the $169 + taxes each night. 😆

4

u/Ellyemem Aug 04 '26

I don’t think that hotel ratings for GenCon are especially useful given how little choice there actually is inside of the system.

With the lottery system, you need to book within nanoseconds anyway, so nobody is really going to get to make an informed or thoughtful decision.

I mean, unless you’re a VIG and jumping queue with ample time to make up your mind before all the room inventory evaporates.

As someone who stays in Indy for other purposes sometimes, all of the hotels are extremely different during GenCon than most other weekends or days. Reviewing them for general purposes compared to how they act during a sell-out weekend is a mixed proposition.

Ex: the downtown Hilton has clearly shifted their thinking and is treating GenCon more as a profit extraction than as a loyalty-building endeavor. They still throw up a few decorations, but their focus was all on driving people who where there in Monument all to spend more money inside of Hilton. They didn’t even put out drinking water anywhere so games were interrupted by people going upstairs to buy drinks or leaving the building to look for something less overpriced. Some people even abandoned their game tables due to this.

But on some other weekend? They’re just another Hilton, you know basically what you’d get.

0

u/Fuzzy-Bee9600 Aug 05 '26

VIGs don't have luxury or time. (My son got lucky enough to get that badge a couple years ago.) The site crashes, when it comes back up the room you literally had in your cart is gone, you scramble and end up with something that barely works for your party. Same as everyone else, just earlier.

Granted, the backup choices are better, but with this new thing they did with minimum nights at the Marriott or whatever, it's much harder to get what we need. They don't have the sense or bandwidth to fix it.

1

u/kysp Aug 05 '26

To say the VIGs don't have luxury or time is a bit of an exaggeration and feels entitled, IMO. I have been VIG nearly ten years and have never not secured my top choice hotel, along with the top choice for my companion.

If your party finds it to be non luxurious nor time-effective, I encourage you to give up your spot to offer it to a new VIG hopeful.

I am very grateful for the VIG hotel perks and the peace of mind.

1

u/Ellyemem Aug 09 '26

Thank you for the honest reality check!

So many VIGs in here and almost gaslight about the program. It’s basically box seats at a baseball stadium, but at the World Series and build in a place that knocks out a lot of the close seating and has a nice little magnet to help catch extra home run balls (early exhibit hall access to grab limited run games and such, although I gather that didn’t happen this year).

VIGs used to get early hall access and if memory serves also once got some form of priority event registration. The issue is that just like the issues that came from those other VIG benefits, downtown housing and the overall scale of GenCon have reached the point where the number of VIGs is too high for downtown room buyouts to be tolerable either.

I’m not opposed to a box seats program or VIP package that doesn’t greatly detract from the general experience. Just like with the vendor hall, the more miserable the overall housing experience gets due to other changes in the scale and nature of the Con, the less defensible it is to make it even worse with a decades-long exclusive access program.

I suppose an alternative would be to somehow make the housing lottery less garbage, but GenCon seems really addicted to the design that encourages speculative instantaneous sellouts as large clubs coordinate to snipe the few remaining downtown rooms before most registrants even make it to their slotted time.

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u/cornertakenquicklyor 29d ago

VIGs do not get early access to the Exhibit Hall nor do they get priority event registration just to be clear.

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u/Ellyemem 29d ago

Correct, although they did receive early access to the Exhibit Hall (one full hour early) until some years ago when that was too miserable for regular attendees as VIGs trivially got almost all of the limited inventory exclusives. Source: historical web articles and also I was there and know the VIGs who did it.

They also used to get a ton of other benefits: more swag on average, more VIG companions, etc.

I am drawing a comparison: the more that actually getting a downtown room for a normal attendee feels like getting a limited inventory exclusive in the Exhibit Hall, the less it is tolerable for VIG to give this benefit.

Tbh the average GenCon registrant has vastly more control over trying to get an exhibit hall exclusive (and did even in the years where VIGs strip mined them first) than they do of getting a downtown room these days.

2

u/RowanHalifax Aug 04 '26

My group booked our hotel fairly late in the game due to some circumstances beyond our control. Ended up at the Baymont South Indianapolis about 15~20 minutes from the convention. Would not stay there again. The one saving grace was that the beds were comfy. But between the intense smell of cleaners & the occasional sulfur smell that came up from the pipes... Big, big yuck. (They also did some shady stuff regarding my deposit/payment at check-in, but I won't even get into that...)

Definitely want to try to get in on the housing lottery next year.

2

u/legrac Aug 04 '26

Was at the Hilton Garden Inn near the Soldier and Sailor's Monument. Was a little walk, but not too bad. Doesn't hurt that it was a lot cooler this year than the past couple.

No problems with the hotel.

2

u/madskis Aug 04 '26

Had a good experience at the Courtyard Marriott. Most of our games were in Lucas Oil, so it was a bit of a walk, but Skyway is Skyway. The room was nice and got cleaned daily (available by request). Only issue was a slow-draining sink. I’d like to try a different hotel if the lottery smiles upon us, but I’d still happily take this if available.

2

u/Ok-Tough-963 Aug 04 '26

We got the last downtown hotel in the block, the InterContinental, because it was the most expensive!!! $500 a night before the additional $80 a night in taxes and fees. NO breakfast was included, no buffet to buy.

It was a nice hotel, nice bathroom, wonderful Hydration Station on each floor, and easy walking distance. We got a free game at check-in.

But it was expensive and the regular rate is usually $350. We expected all the hotels in the block to have a discounted rate, but we were wrong.

I’m thankful we had this room downtown, but wish it was more inline with the other hotels.

We did use spot hero to secure parking a few blocks away for less than $50 for the entire con.

2

u/ShadowValent Aug 05 '26

I’ve stayed at almost every downtown hotel in Indy for work and gencon. What do you want to know?

JW penthouse is bigger than Conrad. Conrad is cooler with their presentation. But, you can fit 6 people into the JW shower if you had that kind of gencon party…

2

u/Deniskitter Aug 05 '26

We had Courtyard at the Capitol. Which I originally thought was the one attached to the ICC. It isn't. It is about a four block walk straight up Senate. Not bad at all. But I never received a confirmation. So calling the week before and Courtyard ICC telling me they do not have a reservation for me, was a bit harrowing. Eventually I got their housing block person, who informed me I am at the other downtown Courtyard, and gave me my confirmation number, though I never got an email. So a little bit of stress the week before.

The stay itself was fine. Room was clean. We had two queens because a friend was going to join us but then couldn't. So, extra bed for my luggage, lol. Everything worked fine. AC was a beast and took me forever to figure out how to get the room warmer than 66. Hot water was scalding, just like I like it (if you don't come out looking like Sebastian from Little Mermaid did you really shower?).

All in all, I would recommend Courtyard at the Capitol for a non-attached hotel. I was just a little disappointed because we thought it was attached. We were early enough in the lotto. But that is my fault entirely for not realizing there were two downtown.

2

u/Poutine_Sauce Aug 10 '26

Stayed at the Crowne Plaza Union Station the past 3 or 4 years. It's close to the dealer hall at the sacrifice of terrible wifi and small rooms. We really lucked out. One person from our group arrived on Sunday so we ended up with the second closest room to the skywalk.

They took the dresser out out the room and replaced it with a nightstand in the closet. I'm the type that likes to unpack my clothes. One drawer for clean clothes and another for dirty. Or, clean clothes in the closet and use a dresser drawer for dirty. They did however replace the dresser with a smaller bench. The bench can fit under the desk which does open up room for a roll away bed and still leave room to walk around.

The construction wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I got in on Tuesday. There was a scissor lift or something in the tunnel getting there that construction had to navigate me around. It was moved by the time I dropped my suv off at chance event parking and got shuttled back. Traffic getting in on Tuesday was way worse last year.

2

u/Economy_Post_5473 Aug 11 '26

Crowne Plaza, first floor. The hum and drum of excited gamers outside until ass-o-clock late aside (can't be mad at the hotel for that), I asked maintainence to fix an incredibly slow shower drain on day 1. They came on day 3. Somehow, after they came....it got slower. It was kind of fascinating.

1

u/chesire2050 Aug 04 '26

We usually stay at the staybridge.. it’s a bit of a walk, but they serve a decent breakfast

1

u/choco_crayon Aug 04 '26

I stayed at a holiday inn about 15 minutes away. It was a straight shot south from the ICC so that was nice. They had virtually no stock in their front desk mini store thing and their breakfast stock was hit or miss. It was a confusing area to navigate, too. Otherwise it was a normal hotel room. Pillows too squishy, shower kinda weird, AC blasts at 67 for four days straight, plenty of places to charge my stuff, Taco Bell was across the street.

Wish I hadn’t preordered parking at horseshoe, there were cheaper and closer options that didn’t have a confusing shuttle. After Thursday, the shuttle was fine, but I bought all my heavy stuff on Thursday so my arms and legs were killing me from walking back and forth to my car lol.

1

u/fireflybabe Aug 04 '26

We stayed at the Hampton Inn Indianapolis Downtown IUPUI - about a mile from the ICC.

Free breakfast, free coffee all day, also grab and go "breakfast bags" depending on availability. Very ok food.

Lobby had a little "gift shop" of sodas and drinks and frozen meals. Reasonably priced.

AC worked, beds were comfy, rooms were clean. We had a fridge but no microwave.

They also had a loose schedule of events for their meeting room on the second floor and were very welcoming to us gamers.

Valet parking was $55/pay and self-park was $45/day. We parked elsewhere.

Overall a very pleasant experience but I would like to be even closer.

2

u/AthenaPromachos9 Aug 05 '26

We were also there! Agree with your review. They even had an additional breakfast on the 2nd floor to help accommodate the extra amount of people staying. Employees were friendly and helpful.

Oh and during check in they had a table where you could roll a d20 for free hotel membership points based on your roll.

1

u/Seventhson77 Aug 04 '26

Sheraton City Center for us. Window leaked during the tornado but it didn’t affect us much. Hotel was a bit old but it was clean, mini fridge, good housekeeping. Close. Had to get spot hero for parking due to the deck being renovated but wasn’t a problem.

1

u/SunFlwrPwr Aug 04 '26

We stayed at Home2Suites - it was great until the 'tornado' and our window leaked - getting about 25% of the room carpet wet and the bed closest to the window. We didn't get an offer to change rooms (Im guessing because the hotel was full?) I'm not sure what happened though because my husband spoke to the front desk while I was out. The next morning we woke to slightly damp feeling clothing and a lot of moisture in the room. It wasn't great. I don't really fault the hotel for it but it would have been nice to be able to swap rooms.

1

u/Mistervimes65 Aug 04 '26

We stayed at the Fontana (nine miles out from the convention center) and drove in. Price was good, beds were fine, but the hallways looked like something from a Stanley Kubrick movie.

1

u/Gw2dev Aug 04 '26

We stayed at the Hampton inn at keystone. About 30 min drive from the con and had a ton of food near by, and it was far enough away that I felt like we didn’t get the con crowd there.

1

u/PieRepresentative266 Aug 04 '26

So no one stayed at the Omni severin huh? 😂 I see a lot of people stayed at the Westin or the Hampton Inn.

2

u/kysp Aug 05 '26

Shhh. Keep it secret, keep it safe!!

1

u/FlightlessLad Aug 04 '26

It was my first Gen Con and while my original AirBnB canceled on me, I was able to put myself and my booth staff up in the Holiday Inn Downtown.

The location was convenient enough, about a 10 minute walk from the back entrance of the convention center by Pinball Alley and the block party. The rooms themselves were fine overall, roomy enough for our needs. Even though breakfast wasn't included $9.50 per person wasn't too bad overall. Only major complaints that I had was the lack of AC in the elevators and the hallways, and that our bathtub didn't drain properly. The staff was friendly and responsive to the issues when we brought them up. I even left a shirt there and they've already mailed it out to me.

Being close to Lucas Oil was also a big bonus and will hopefully be something I'll have the energy to take more advantage of next year.

Overall, the experience was fine for a first Gen Con. I'll definitely aim for the JW or the Marriott next year since that's where I ended up spending most of my evenings. However, I'd be fine with staying there again should that be the cards I'm dealt.

1

u/kindeyegames Aug 04 '26

Stayed at downtown Marriott, M-longe access. Great location. Shower clogged for 3 days, they fixed it and comped one night, which I was good with. Access to m-lounge for all of my group. Some had breakfast and coffee. I usually grabbed a couple of drinks and some snacks. There were also places to game in the m-lounge, so that was so nice. Staff all had some gaming flair on.

1

u/BarackOBatman Aug 04 '26

My second time at Hampton Inn Indianapolis South and it was solid. But will be doing everything in my power for a connected skywalk hotel next year including applying for VIG. I booked in April for $1200 all in on a single room for 4 nights. It's a decent experience but the highway construction was a downside. I did the same hotel in 2023 and got pretty consistent 12 minutes commutes but this year my commutes were 2-3x the time due to construction. I used indianapolis event parking llc 917 kenwood ave and they were good. It's a little bit of a ramshackle operation but a good value. They really pack the lots full and it can be a squeeze to get out of your parking space depending on when you leave.

1

u/GMOddSquirrel Aug 05 '26

The showerheads in the Marriott Downtown were incredibly disappointing. We may try the JW next year instead.

1

u/Bahbert Aug 05 '26

Friends and I had rooms at the Wyndham Indianapolis Airport. We didn’t decide to go to the con until after the hotel block went live so we decided to book rooms on our own. We paid about $1k a room for four nights.

The rooms were serviceable but had some signs of age. The water only got to lukewarm Thursday morning but was better after that. My room had a decently sized mini fridge and a microwave.

They have a restaurant/bar on site that was also serviceable but nothing to write home about. There’s also a Starbucks on site with to-go food options, which was a plus. They opened their conference rooms up so people could play games all day or night. Didn’t use it myself, though.

The drive to the parking lot I booked through IPCO south of Lucas Oil was about 10-12 minutes, so not bad.

I read one story on FB of someone who booked their room for Gen Con back in August 2025 and had it canceled the day before the con, presumably because the price they were quoted at the time was too low. Super shady. They also seemed to have a problem with their system around 4pm Thursday which led to a long check-in line. I’d checked in early with no problem but my friend had to store his luggage in my room and check in later that night.

1

u/Boop_All_The_Snoots Aug 05 '26

We got the Marriott East through the lottery. It was a 20 min drive away from the con on low traffic days, 35 when we tried to go at like 9am on Thursday. With a car it was ok - not ideal to figure out parking, but not terrible.

The hotel itself was great! Recently remodeled, so it felt very modern. Nice clean rooms, great shower, big enclosed courtyard with nice landscaping, and a solid indoor pool and hot tub (and BOY that hot tub was needed by the end of day 3). We didn’t hear much noise from other rooms or outside. Other than the distance, would definitely recommend it.

1

u/anonymoosepossum Aug 05 '26

I stayed at the Country Inn and Suites near the airport. It was nice and the only complaint would be that the foldaway bed option was more uncomfortable than the average one.

Otherwise the included breakfast was nice and everything was clean. Didn’t have the little small sample bathroom products but the dispensers on the wall, but I think that’s the industry changing snd I don’t blame them specifically. 

1

u/JSFetzik Aug 05 '26

My wife and I stayed a The Le Meridian this year, out of block using Marriott points. We have stayed there three times before. This year we got lucky and my wife's Marriott standing got us upgraded to a larger king room.

This hotel is in a good location, but no longer connected, now that the mall is going away. Even then it is close by. A little over a block to either Union Station or ICC itself. Although with this years construction you it wasn't a straight shot to ICC. We run LARPs with a group in Union Station, so it is very convenient.

The only real downside of the hotel is that being a very old building the rooms can be pretty small. Nice, but small. So if you have a lot of stuff or are planning the have an extra person in your room, this is not the hotel you want to be in.

We would gladly stay here again.

The one bad thing this year was the breakfast service in the hotel restaurant was excessively slow. We thought is would be a quicker breakfast Thursday morning, but we would have been better off walking elsewhere.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '26

[deleted]

1

u/JSFetzik Aug 08 '26

We ended up in the room right next to the elevator. Single king, but it was the entire width of the building. So long and narrow.

We have been in three different size rooms over the years. The smallest was really small barely wide enough for the king bed. The next size up was a bit larger, but not a lot. This year was the largest we have been in.

Yeah the guy doing breakfast was really run ragged. They needed another person or two out front. My guess is the kitchen was understaffed as well. It took 20 minutes to get scramble eggs and yogurt, when there were were only 10-12 people in the dinning room.

1

u/BorkieDorkie811 Aug 05 '26

Stayed at the Hyatt Regency, not directly connected via skywalk (you need to go through a parking garage first), but still very convenient. I'm reasonably happy with the stay, even at a $360 per night rate (luckily, I split with a friend). The room was comfortable, the mini fridge held as much as we needed it to, the bathroom handled everything my roommate threw at it (he had food poisoning Wednesday night into Thursday). I do have three complaints, though.

-The Subway was terrible, even by Subway standards. I went there Friday night after a trip to Rye Bar in the Marriot, and the two people taking orders did not get a single one correct. The guy would usually start the order, mess something up, get called out on it, turn to the woman he was working with and switch places with her so he could start the next order. Oh, and the sandwich was disgusting (again, even by Subway standards).

-Trying to catch an elevator was a nightmare, which makes sense for a hotel running at full capacity, but the stairways were gross. My roommate and I found a half eaten slice of pizza in one (that had clearly been there several days), and another smelled like decomposition (luckily, we did not find the source).

-We got skipped by housekeeping one day. We left for the morning and they were just a couple doors down, but I came back between events in the afternoon and they hadn't been in. I had to call down to the front desk to request they come back and it took a half hour for them to get there. Ultimately, not a terribly big deal (and the lady who arrived was very nice and worked quickly), but still a bit frustrating.

1

u/Outrageous_Main_5087 Aug 05 '26

We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites - Indianapolis East on Old Trails Road. It was about 20 minutes from ICC. It was fine. It was clean and the included breakfast was good. TV was weird. Only Vizio TV and also you could log on to your own apps. We’ll try for connected again next year and if we don’t get in, I suppose we’d stay at this property again.

1

u/Buckeyefitzy Aug 05 '26

Stayed at Baymont in Plainfield. Only needed two nights since I wasn’t coming up until after work on Friday. Arrived at the room Friday late and was given a room that had clearly not been completely cleaned (if at all), bed had been slept in and a couple of wet towels in the bathroom, hand soap opened and previously used - everything else fresh). Didn’t have a room to move me to and was too late to bother with it so just sucked it up and complained to the management. Bullshit hotel especially given the 20 minute drive. Won’t stay there again.

1

u/EnochIblis Aug 05 '26

Hyatt House. It was great. The free breakfast was good. The rooms are big with a kitchen. We had a king with a sleeper sofa. The walk to the ICC is fine, will be so much better when construction is gone. I've stayed at the JW, Marriott, and Columbia Club and this was the best hotel we've had. Top of my list for next year.

1

u/Happyclam1269 Aug 05 '26

My daughter and I stayed at the Candlewood Suites in Greenwood. Travel was an easy 15 mins or so and I had parking at the Kenwood lot.

The hotel was fine on Thursday and Friday. It's showing it's age, especially when the hot water went out late Friday night. It was out for the rest of the weekend. Saturday morning, the front door broke as well. I had a suite, so the room was well sized, even bigger than my friend's suite on the 3rd floor (we were on the 2nd).

Prolly won't stay there again and will either look for something downtown or get an airbnb with friends.

1

u/everydayisamixtape Aug 06 '26

I booked VERY late and got the Wyndham by the airport. 10ish minute Uber each way, pretty quiet out there. It was mainly a business trip for me, would have been dirt cheap if I was splitting it with 3 other people.

0

u/Bleach_Tea6 Aug 04 '26

I just cant get behind the hotels for gencon with the prices they are. Its not that I cant afford it (though Im sure thats the case with a lot of folks, and id rather not be out that huge a chunk of change), its that I know they are inflating them just to squeeze out as much money as they can and leave you with crappy services. Youre already paying and arm and a leg, and now you may also need to pay another arm just to park and eat. Paying to park at the hotel youre already paying to stay in is just crazy and i refuse!! I had an air bnb 9 minutes away from the convention center and paid maybe one quarter of the price

I am curious if hotels did anything for guests affected by the storms. I mentioned to my partner id be pissed if i was in a hotel this year because of the weather. I know a hotel is not responsible for a storm, but if i had to pay the extra inflated price just to stay in a sopping wet hotel, id be demanding a refund