[Justine]

Hey, I was wondering about your opinions on the 'best' hotel to stay at during Acen. I've stayed at the Double Tree, the InterContinental, and the Marriott.

• The Double tree was the first one I stayed at. A WHILE AGO. I barely remember it, to be honest. I just remember that it was super nice and I was introduced to cucumber water here. Amazing.

• The InterContinental was the second hotel I stayed at and I was impressed. Not connected but close enough to not complain. I'd prolly want to do this one next year (unless someone suggests otherwise) given we have a 21+ person in our group

• Stayed at the Marriott quite a few times. I'm in love with their rooms. Mini fridge, microwave, and coffee maker = awesome. I'm not, however, in love with the walk to the con. In my younger days, I'd wonder why my friends would complain about the walk but now I understand. Especially in cosplay and total heat.

Any suggestions or favorite hotels?

[Chuthor]

This year was the first year I stayed at the Embassy Suites. I was throughly impressed. Their rooms are pretty big with a door the divides the living room from the bed room and the sofa turns into a pull out bed. There is a fridge and microwave in unit along with a wet bar area, another sink in the bedroom, and obviously the bathroom.

The free happy hour from 5-7pm everyday was pretty sweet along with the made to order omlett breakfasts. I'll definately be staying there again next year.

[SJAkarma22]

***Hyatt: Always nice to be located in with the con- overcrowded elevators but worth the extra wait/stairs. The staff are usually quite busy but they make an effort, as they know what they are dealing with now. Usually one bed, can order additional cot, Love the windows and how they look at the balconies/over the con. (Still have the most love for the Hyatt)

** Crowne Plaza: A bit of a walk, not terrible but the service was acceptable. There were no troubles with any of the staff or rooms. They were doing construction the year I was in this hotel but it was acceptable. Had one bed,normal bathroom.(affordable)

* Double Tree: The rooms were amazing and it's not that far away from the convention hall/ not terribly far from the con. The only problem was the workers ability to not accept some of the cosplay or people at the con. (I understand it's quite a bit to take in but they didn't allow swimsuit tops in the main room or boys trunks/ they barely accomadated for the con. It did have a king bed + a fold out/ bath + seperate shower(pricey)

[EndlessKey]

Stayed at the Double tree and Hyatt so far.

Double Tree was nice, was extremely quiet at all times of the day/night. Not a far walk to things, but still not as fun as staying at the hyatt.

The Hyatt was where I stayed this year. Constantly being able to walk outside your room and look down to see the con was amazing. We were able to get a fridge put in our room, but we also had a cooler with ice in it that worked perfectly fine for all the mixers and such. Depending on my situation next year, Ill definitely try to get the Hyatt, and if not I wanted to try out the Embassy, mainly for the free breakfast and happy hours

[linlindesu]

-A Loft : Best Bargain. It is a bit of a distance from the hotel but nowhere near as bad as the Marriott. It is not too crowded with con goers so elevators are actually accessible. Plays techno music at night and there are black light panels in the floor of the elevators . Only con is the bathrooms don't lock : /

-Embassy : HUGE rooms. Free Breakfast and happy hour. Elevators are quite a pain though.

-Hyatt : waking up inside the con is nice, you also have no escape from it. If you want any relaxation , the hyatt might not be for you. Elevators are infamous for being slow and full .

[FluffyXCrayon]

I stayed at the Intercontinental this year. It was great! The people in the front lobby are super nice! They actually have fun with the cosplayers and like to know what you are dressed up and such.
They asked my one friend who wasn't cosplaying, where her cosplay was. hahahaha
They also greet you when they see you, so I think that's awesome because not all hotel people are nice and make you feel welcomed.
The rooms however, are freaking AMAZING! Big space, nice beds, and a great bathroom! It's great for people who have a lot of stuff and need space! And I just had a double bed room, so imagine the king rooms?! LOL.
As for distance, yeah, it is a 10 min or less (depends on how fast you walk) walk. I was completely fine with it. I didn't mind walking. I actually enjoyed taking in the view from the hotel to the con, anticipating the excitement and fun!
:-)
I'll probably be staying there again next year or I'll be trying out Embassy Suites.
I heard Embassy has free breakfast? I'm I wrong?

[Hooked On Chibis!]

So, we stayed at the Renaissance, which actually required taking the L to and from the con (just one stop, though). It was nice - it's aimed at business travelers, so it had a lot of creature comforts (fridge, internet, pool, sauna!!) for a pretty sweet price, and with a full grocery store on the other side of the station, we ate well for cheap. There was also a Starbucks in the lobby

Because it's not RIGHT ON TOP of the con, even being only one stop away, people had no idea what was going on. On Friday, in my Darkrai cosplay (black corset and skirt, white wig, long gloves), a passerby commented that he respected my unique style. (My table-buddy said "yeah, a block from the convention, you're just Lady Gaga") On Saturday, in my Minun cosplay (pale yellow satin dress with pencil skirt, pillbox hat) a commuter asked if I was in a wedding. ^^; People were amused, but they also rolled pretty well with the weirdness that we all are

Also, because it's one stop removed, there wasn't a lot of crazy con activity. This is double-edged; if you like random parties and socializing for every second of the con, or if you're shy and prefer to place yourself in the middle of things in order to start off the good times, then the Renaissance is probably not the hotel for you. But if you want a quiet retreat from all the craziness, or you just want to be able to sleep when you're ready to sleep, then this is a good solution - close, without being TOO close

[evaunit01berserk]

Hyatt if you don't feel like sleeping and having to deal with people screaming bloody murder at 3 am, constantly running into people screwing in the upper floor stairwells, people spitting off the atrium balcony and cheering about it right outside your door, having a dance party, booming sub included, right under your room, some guy with crap streaked underwear passed out in front of my door early sunday morning and the infamous elevators. Only go to the hyatt if you want that drunk frat atmosphere and don't have to open a table at 8 am in the morning.

None of my friends had any such problems at the embassy except the fire alarm.

[Shinamura]

the Embassy Suites hands down... If your 21+ they have a free happy hour.

[Kasin]

I say the hyatt, but the smexy on the starway, spitting, frat atmosphere, and other gross stuff is new to me...sounds like some one had a bad experience...

I love the fact that the cons is 24/7 at the hyatt, either through panels, raves, game rooms, or room parties.

[Kitsu-chan]

I've stayed at The Hyatt my first few years of ACen & Doubletree for the last 2 yrs. Both have their Pros & Cons.

Personally, I prefer Doubletree for a few reasons. Slightly lower cost & larger room being the biggest 2 reasons. Due to my wife wanting privacy, we don't have any other roomates so cost was an issue. Also since we normally have 4 cosplays each & spend $600 on swag, space is an issue for us. Plus the overloaded elevators usually aren't an issue.

Since I got to stop in my cousin's room in the Embassy, I can say they're huge. The mini-fridge, microwave, free breakfast, & a sleeper sofa are a big plus. Might actually room with a friend there next year.

[Rurounotaku]

I've stayed at a different hotel the last 5 years that I went: Crowne Plaza, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hyatt Regency, and Residence Inn. Embassy Suites was the one I went this year and was definitely my favorite due to the 2-room suites, fridge, microwave, happy hour, wide selection of free breakfast, and walking distance of everything.

For me, there wasn't much difference between staying at Crowne Plaza and Doubletree except Crowne is a bit further walking and Doubletree gives out free cookies upon check-in tho. Both were pretty standard hotel stays.

Hyatt Regency was the first one I stayed at, but like what was said already, the elevator game and midnite drunks weren't fun.

Residence Inn was located 15 min by car away from the con, but it had a timely shuttle schedule that ran early in the day til late at night. It offers free breakfast, is quiet, and doesn't have elevator issues.

[Ashikana]

Ive actually stayed at the following
Hyatt- nice, close to the action, it wasn't too noisy because we had a room far back on the 2nd floor(only cause they tried putting us on the top floor and we had 2 people who could not climb that many stairs because of how bad the elevators get)

Doubletree- not the best, we did not get a coffee pot, they would not give us towels after we put them in the towel bin at the pool we had to keep asking -.-, it took us 3+hours to get the fridge i had requested on the when you check in page, only 2 keys for the 3 of us. But the staff was very friendly towards me, and kept sending someone up whenever we asked for hot water.

Crowne Plaza- nice, not too far away, staff super friendly, awesome flavored water in lobby.

Embassy- amazing, loved everything, except the elevators broke the last day.


Overall I'll probably stay at the Embassy I would have stayed there this year but it filled up too fast. That is where I'll probably stay next year since it was not too expensive and close by and yummy breakfast!!!

[Femme Fatale]

The best...The Embassy!!!

Nice rooms, good breakfast, happy hour is nice, the amenities are awesome.

[The Fujoshi]

Best hotel is matter of opinion~

Hyatt: Is the first hotel block most of the time and the hotel near the con. Cost is so so; it is not the cheapest but it is cheaper than the Embassy and a few other hotels and you can get free nights. Has one room hotel rooms but you can get suites/etc. for addition costs. Doesn't have a fridge, microwave, but does have a coffee maker. Also have double and single room beds as well as a washroom. It's more like a Studio apartment if anything. Also has a good view outside/balcony.

Pros: Close to the action, Posh, has a lot of panels right in the hotel, cheaper than Emb/etc. (by about 10-50 dollars,) eventually get free nights with their programs sooner than the other hotels.

Cons: Almost everyone and their mom goes to the Hyatt so expect a broad range of people. From drunks and drug addicts to normal people. If you don't want to deal with the former then don't go to this hotel AT ALL. Also if you have special needs don't go to this hotel. The elevator breaks down a lot more often than the other ones every year at Acen.

Also there isn't much space in rooms so if you share a room you might have to sleep on the floor or a cot. There are only two beds and no pull out bed to speak off. Lack of fridge/etc. means you have to go keep a cooler or buy food yourself.

Lack of privacy; it's not that quiet.

Embassy: Been going to the Embassy since 2010; used to room up in the Hyatt the previous years with the exception of 2009 that I didn't go. It's more expensive than the Hyatt and is one of the latter hotel blocks to show up. It is only across the street from the convention center/dealer room so it is not that far. Right next door to the Double tree. Almost all of their rooms are suites so there are two rooms and you can even have double bed suites with a pull out bed as well. Microwave, fridge, Happy hour, free Breakfast, and tons of space.

Pros: Microwave, Fridge, freezer, A LOT OF AWESOME SPACE, really good if you have a lot of people. Free Breakfast and quiet than the Hyatt. Not a lot of noise and also has a good view. They also have a free nights program too.

Cons: More money than the Hyatt, Elevators are kinda slow, farther from the action and photoshoots, no real problems besides that. Some people were noisy but I didn't hear them in my room at all.

I am thinking about Double tree next year because of free cookies and smaller space; haven't made up my mind yet. Also it's part of the rewards program so that means more free nights.

Still experimenting.

[evaunit01berserk]

Kasin, on 25 May 2011 - 04:13 PM, said:

I say the hyatt, but the smexy on the starway, spitting, frat atmosphere, and other gross stuff is new to me...sounds like some one had a bad experience...

I love the fact that the cons is 24/7 at the hyatt, either through panels, raves, game rooms, or room parties.

I move around on errands more then an irt patrol route, so I tend to happen upon things more then the average con goer. I also tend to not tolerate things when im dropping 580 dollars on a room

[Smokey]

evaunit01berserk, on 25 May 2011 - 06:44 PM, said:

I move around on errands more then an irt patrol route, so I tend to happen upon things more then the average con goer. I also tend to not tolerate things when im dropping 580 dollars on a room

Do you carry a phone? IRT usually has a hot line set up, and calling them to report those things while you're getting around would be a tremendous help for them.

[evaunit01berserk]

Smokey, on 25 May 2011 - 07:20 PM, said:

Do you carry a phone? IRT usually has a hot line set up, and calling them to report those things while you're getting around would be a tremendous help for them.

I do, but did not have a number for irt, so it went to the front desk.

[Krystal]

evaunit01berserk, on 25 May 2011 - 06:44 PM, said:

I move around on errands more then an irt patrol route, so I tend to happen upon things more then the average con goer. I also tend to not tolerate things when im dropping 580 dollars on a room

I've never seen this either. I probably don't move around as much as you do, but after just 4 years, this seems grossly exagerated. Maybe you're really unlucky. My boyfriend has been going for 9 years and has not seen things to this extent as well.

[evaunit01berserk]

Krystal, on 25 May 2011 - 08:12 PM, said:

I've never seen this either. I probably don't move around as much as you do, but after just 4 years, this seems grossly exagerated. Maybe you're really unlucky. My boyfriend has been going for 9 years and has not seen things to this extent as well.

I assure you, it is in no way exaggerated. I wish it was exaggerated, especially the brown streak dude.

[MsLovelyCookie]

The first hotel I ever tried was the Intercontinental. I loved it there since it was a newer hotel everything was modern and the service was great on our first stay with 3 people. Our second stay we had one rude lady at the front desk but the manager was way better then that witch. Farther walk from the convention on tired feet, modern rooms, nice house keeping, but the price is on the high side but well worth it for 2 people. Over All Service: 4 out of 5.

The second hotel we tried this year was the Double Tree. I had friendly service coming in and he was helpful, although he did stop to answer the phone, in getting all of our information in case the keys where lost. House keeping was fine although I did have some problems with how they cleaned, mostly things I found and pointed out, beds could have been better but at least we had no trouble sleeping until people started slamming doors early in the morning. Price was affordable for 4 people. Over All Service: 3 out of 5.

Next up for trial and error: Embassy, Aloft, Hilton, no Hyatt because of the price and elevators.

This post has been edited by MsLovelyCookie: 25 May 2011 - 08:28 PM

[Justine]

I also went to the Hyatt one year. It was so-so. Like I have read here, basically right on top of the action but not good for getting some down time to relax.

Woo, the Embassy is sounding pretty damn good to me.

[GenericDreamers]

I stayed at hyatt every year and loved it, but now im with a new bunch and i kinda had to book intercontinental at the last minute. no complaints about the hotel itself here, for the price those rooms are SWANKY! bit small if you're gonna sardine ppl in, but its classy and with the lower concentration of cosplayers staying there you'll have a blast freaking out normals. I think we unintentionally crashed a wedding or something.

The walk back and forth, on the other hand, is a biz-natch

This post has been edited by GenericDreamers: 25 May 2011 - 11:24 PM

[FOFdanny]

Stayed in the Hyatt for the first time this year. Our room was on the tenth floor and our view overlooked the main crosswalk/courtyard in front of the convention center. It was amazing. However being on the tenth floor meant super long elevator waits, but I liked being right where the action was. The front desk was friendly and I had no problems. Probably going to stay there again next year

[Kasin]

Love the view of the front of the hotel best part of it.

[FOFdanny]

Yeah. My friends and me probably spent a couple of hours sitting in front of the window pointing out cosplayers to each other

[Iris]

Noone has mentioned it yet so I'll pop in the Hilton. <3

I've stayed at the Hyatt, the Doubletree, and the Hilton (when it was a Sofitel, a no name, and now a Hilton).

In my opinion the Hyatt is out. No pool, elevator nightmare, and even though I'd like the convience of being in the convention hotel I'm just not up for the 24 hour craziness of people. Not to mention ambulances.. don't get me started on those.

Doubletree is perfectly lovely, room was nice and connected to the room next to it too so my friends and I had two rooms basically opened up for free roaming between. It is a little bit of a walk however and I don't think that it is connected to the skywalk.

Which brings us to the Hilton. Last year was a fluke and it was terrible because noone really owned it and none of the staff gave a crap. But years ago when it was a Sofitel and this year as a Hilton it was amazing. It's connected via the skywalk to the convention center AND parking building and is probably the closest hotel to those two things. The walk to the Hyatt is not bad at all. The hotel is quiet and lovely, the staff were super friendly (I even got a note with my name typed into it and signed by the management welcoming me to the hotel and giving me their number if I needed anything). The pool is decent, the gym is nice, and they'll give you 4 keys for 4 guests (some hotels won't give you more than 2)! Comfy beds plus a loungy chair/couch thingy, huge tv, and decently spacious. Unless there is an amazing deal of some sort at another hotel the Hilton will definately be my pick again for next year.

[Ashikana]

The Doubletree is connected to the Skybridge by way of The parking deck on the 2nd floor.

[Princess Mercury]

I have stayed at two hotels in the last 3 years i have been staying the whole weekend.

Hyatt Rosemont- Lobby was big and comfy, great for waitng for the shuttle, btw, was 24 hour (i believe) and complimentary. Rooms were roomy, had a fridge, good for storing leftover pizza. lol. but i don't recommend getting room service, it is kind of expensive. (30.00 for 2 pizzas!) Overall, i give it a 4 out of 5.

Courtyard Marriott- I really like this place. Great lobby, can sit down and watch tv (satellite tv no less), free wifi both in the lobby and in guest rooms, has a great little cafe where you can grab something to eat. Got an outside courtyard area. staff is friendly, always willing to help. Shuttle service has it's good points and bad points. had a few undesirable encounters, (i.e bad timing resulted in missed photoshoots), and only runs till 1am, but starts again at 3am, so i guess that's not so bad. Rooms were great. Really comfortable beds. I slept like a rock. tv channels were limited, but whatever u cannot get upstairs u can always go to the lobby and watch it. Pool is really nice to relax in, kinda small though. over i give it a 5 out of 5.


Both hotels are nice and quiet--perfect after a long day of anime chaos. lol.

[The Fujoshi]

Iris, on 26 May 2011 - 01:28 PM, said:

Noone has mentioned it yet so I'll pop in the Hilton. <3

Hilton is associated with the Emby right? I can probably use my card to get points if I stayed there? Do you know if they have a fridge/micro/other things and how close is it to the Rosemount?

Because free nights are a good thing.