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Since there's so many hotels nearby Otakon, I thought it'd be helpful if there was a thread about what you thought of them. It'll be nice for comparison and deciding on hotels for next year. SO...

Place I stayed: Brookshire Suites

Number of people in room: 9

Hotel Staff: kind of spaced out most of the time, but generally helpful and amused by the con goers.

Walk to the con center: about 7 minutes

The bad: They charge you an extra 10 dollars a night that they don't tell you about until you get there called a "destination fee", but it includes a couple of things like free internet, which I would have paid for anyway. Hotel staff virtually non existent at night. No pool. Nothing can be hooked up to the TVs. One of our tvs didnt work. Bathroom steams up REAL bad when you shower...you almost can't breathe and everything gets damp.

The good: Room was HUGE. Actually, it was a separate bedroom and living room, and the living room had a sofa bed. Sofa bed was HUGE, we had 3 people sleeping on it. The bedroom/living room set up was great for if somebody else wanted to sleep while the rest of us were still being loud. Has a mini fridge and a microwave. Free daily breakfast buffet. Right next to CVS (which unfortunately closes REALLY early), around the corner from 7-11. Straight shot short walk to the Inner Harbor, which is way helpful for getting food and also lets you make a large part of the walk from the hotel to the con center on skywalks.

Would you stay there again?: Absolutely.

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Place I stayed: Renaissance Harborplace Hotel

Number of people in room: 3

Hotel Staff: Bellhops are awesome. Desk people are retarded. Food workers were a pleasure to talk to.

Walk to the con center: Around 5 minutes.

The bad: Didn't check for TV hookups, but I doubt there were any, they wanted you to buy there movies and such it seemed. I can't say for certain. However they DID charge an additional $150 ($50/night) that I was not told about for "safety" issues. We flipped because I called no less than 10 times asking EXACTLY how much I would need. So if you go there, make sure to plan ahead that money. They give it back to you at checkout, but its still annoying not to have it if you planned it for the con.

The good: Decent sized room, no fridge, but it did have a coffee maker. Bathroom was nice and big, plenty of room to move around and get dressed but also got overly steamy in no time at all. Conveniently located to the Gallery for food / shopping if needed. Breakfast was reasonable, prices weren't too bad for food and drink inside.

Would you stay there again?: Yeah but I'd do a little more careful planning with my money and timings.

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Place I stayed: Sheraton Inner Harbor

Number of people in room: 4

Hotel Staff: Always courteous, very friendly, very helpful.

Walk to the con center: Less than five minutes from the room to the BCC, via Skywalk or on the ground; no major streets to cross.

The bad: The bathroom was tiny, and for folks like me who are taller than 5'6" the low-hung showerhead made things... creative, haha. There's no free internet. The standard rooms have neither a fridge nor a microwave, so it's peanut butter or something similar if you want to bring your own food (suites have a mini-fridge and a microwave).

The good: This is really a luxury hotel. The pillows were so, so soft, the staff was attentive to our every need. You can get anywhere you want (BCC, Harborplace, Bank of America building, you name it) without ever having to leave the Skywalk or worry about traffic.

Would you stay there again? In a heartbeat. When it comes down to it, you're paying for a place to sleep - and it'd be hard to do better than the beds at this Sheraton for a good night's sleep.

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Place I stayed: Courtyard by the Marriott

Number of people in room: 5

Hotel Staff: Gave us whatever we asked, no complaints here

Walk to the con center: about 20 minutes

Good: Not much. We were VERY loud at night. I think the walls are super thick. They did have a microwave and fridge.

Bad: Got it last minute as the only thing available. Very far from the con. Just the distance killed it for me, as we got the Tremont last year it was very comfortable and a decent 10-12 minute walk. Better for 4 max, 3 comfortably. Only one room with the bathroom. Tiny.

Do it again? NO. Did I mention it was 750$ for 3 nights?

ALSO could someone with enough experience list their favorite hotels of past?

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Place I stayed: Days Inn

Number of people in room: 4

Hotel Staff: Super Nice, Super Helpful, Super Awesome, Just Plain SUPER!

Walk to the con center: 2 minutes

The bad: God I can't think of any. Only 2 elevators, but they move pretty fast. Some TVs are locked so you cannot hook anything up to them, some however are not, its a toss up.

The good: Right outside the Con, 2 minute walk from the lobby to the con. Did I mention the awesome staff? They try their best to help with EVERYTHING. One of our cars had a flat and they called a tow for us. Rooms are nice, microwave and fridge, TV is around 24-27", plenty of room for 4 people + weeks worth of clothes + costumes + con stuff.

Would you stay there again? Hellllllz ya. I have never had such a strong positive impression left from a hotel. This has to be one of the busiest times of the year for them, and they handle is with such grace that its something to admire.

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Place I stayed: Sheraton Inner Harbor

Number of people in room: 3

Hotel Staff: Fast, friendly, accuratel.

Walk to the con center: Less than five minutes from the room to the BCC, via Skywalk or on the ground; no major streets to cross.

The bad: You have to pay for internet, $10 day, and parking, $27 day! No microwave, no fridge.

The good: Great view, nice big room, really comfortable beds. Walk to the con without crossing a street.

Would you stay there again? We have stayed here the last two years and already have reservations for next year! One thing, check their reservation rates as the date gets closer. Two years ago they ran a special that undercut the con rate by $100 per night and gave us free aquarium tickets!

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Place I stayed: The Hyatt Regency

Number of people in room: 2

Hotel Staff: Very responsive, catered to what few needs I had very quickly.

Walk to the con center: 2-3 minutes from room

The bad: No free internet, parking $27/day, no microwave in room, refrigerator already stocked with expensive incidentals that you have to call to have removed.

The good: Rooms are nice, view is great, directly across the street from the convention center. There is a health club, restaurant/bar on the roof, indoor pool, plentiful staff that are very quick to help you with anything. The walls are thick enough that a couple of people over won't disturb anyone. Due to staying an extra 1-2 hours in the garage they tried to charge me for a second day, but when I asked if they could remove it and explained that I was on a shift and couldn't get back in time they promptly removed it without question.

Would you stay there again? Definitely. I travel semi-frequently and this was one of the best hotel experiences I've ever had. Comparable to the service at a 5-star hotel.

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Place I stayed: Holiday Inn

Number of people in room: 5

Hotel Staff: Friendly, but moronic

Walk to the con center: Pretty close, about a 2 minute walk.

The bad: Friendly, but idiotic staff at reservations. we had an early check in, gave us the wrong room, key cards had issues later in the night. Told we weren't in the system as a result, therefore we had to get everyone who roomed with us to gather at reception until a manager came to alleviate the problem, in which the receptionists didn't know what they were doing. In addition, all my friends that roomed with me had issues with the beds (as they were too stiff for comfort for them).

The good: Free internet! Good breakfast, fast elevators (we were in the other building, closest to the marriot).

Would you stay there again? To be honest, no. Even if it was for a decent price too, but if you just want a place to crash, then by all means, go for it!

I've already booked for the Days Inn next year.

So we'll see how that works.

Edited by jimay
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Place I stayed: Sheraton City Center (formerly the Wyndham)

Number of people in room: 4

Hotel Staff: Nice, friendly, helpful. Liked the fact that many from the Wyndham stayed thru the changeover.

Walk to the con center: Approximately 5-7 minutes depending on what route you take, I typically go thru the courtyard behind the hotel to Hopkins & down to the BCC.

The bad: Although they have renovated since the changeover, it still feels like the Wyndham to me, probably always will. There's certainly a difference between the 2 Sheratons.

Minor inconvenience having to get the room cards reprogrammed Friday afternoon.

No fridges in the rooms

Shower pressure could've been better

The good: Renovation did this place good, definite improvement in the rooms. They were nicer than when this was the Wyndham, clean & having those comfortable Sheraton beds with plenty of pillows is definitely a plus! I was disappointed to find we had central air in the room, however the room temperature was easily controlled by a thermostat on the wall.

Had no problems with Staff, particularly the front desk, I found them to be very friendly & helpful, especially the night desk clerk. No problems getting a room receipt in my name, getting extra towels, or scheduling wake-up calls. I also noticed the Staff was very nice & gave Otakon attendee's no problems that I could see, even when we may have happened to be up all night down by the piano. I talked with a few of them & they're used to us, we're a nice change of pace from the professional convention goers they usually have staying there.

All the elevators stayed operational & weren't slow in the South Tower this year, which was great.

I've always liked the location of this place, not too far & not too close from everything.

Would you stay there again? I don't see any reason why not. I already have a semi reserve on a room there for '09. For some reason, they are always one of the last contracts to be signed. Also in the 3 times I've stayed here, while it was the Wyndham & now a Sheraton, I've never had any major problems or complaints, maybe I'm just lucky, I don't know... :(

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Place I stayed: Marriott Inner Harbor

Number of Guests in Room: 2

Hotel Staff: Nice, but I could tell they were getting stressed by the all the guests from the con.

Walk to the Con: About 3 minutes

The Good: Beds are absolutely amazing! Rooms were decently sized. Staff cleaned rooms every day, and even left eye make up remover. I'm assuming they noticed someone was using vast amounts of make-up. To see that the staff noticed, and was willing to accomodate spoke volumes.

The Bad: Way too pricey. We booked at con rate, and the room still came to 700. No free internet, from what I could tell. Parking price was outrageous, at 24 bucks a day, plus, no one notified us prior to check in that prices had gone up, so we ended up having use our spending money to pay for parking that came up to 80 bucks instead of the 66 that we'd saved for.

On the upside. I shouldn't be too upset. The way things are looking, the stafff is completely incompetent. Seems though they swiped my card, and I have a receipt saying the balance is paid in full, and even spoke with a manager about it, I got a free 3 night 4 day stay at the Marriott, because they never took the money out of my account. But I still wouldn't stay there again. I booked at the Holiday in, again.

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Place I Stayed: Radisson Lord Baltimore

Number of People in Room- 5

The Good

The Location

StarBucks in Hotel

Room Was Clean

Friendly Staff

The Bad

They promised me a double but ended up giving me a single and there was nothing I could do because all the doubles were taken at that point. It still worked out with space in the end but I was still mad.

Crowded and slow elevators (I guess there was nothing they could do about this though).

Verdict: I would still stay there again!

Edited by Kirarakim
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we didn't make reservations in time so the downtows rooms were all booked up on wednsday when we tried to get a room. So we ended up staying at homestead suites near bwi (about a 10 min drive from BCC). It was a fairly decent room. One cool feature is it had a fullsize fridge, stove and a microwave. Best part it was only 70.00 per night.

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Place I stayed: Holiday Inn Inner Harbor

Number of people in room: 3

Hotel Staff: Very nice, and enjoyable.

Walk to the BCC: Not even one block, about a minute walk.

The bad: In all honestly, I can

Edited by Eddie 2
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Place I stayed: Marriott Inner Harbor

Number of Guests in Room: 2

Hotel Staff: Nice, but I could tell they were getting stressed by the all the guests from the con.

Walk to the Con: About 3 minutes

The Good: Beds are absolutely amazing! Rooms were decently sized. Staff cleaned rooms every day, and even left eye make up remover. I'm assuming they noticed someone was using vast amounts of make-up. To see that the staff noticed, and was willing to accomodate spoke volumes.

The Bad: Way too pricey. We booked at con rate, and the room still came to 700. No free internet, from what I could tell. Parking price was outrageous, at 24 bucks a day, plus, no one notified us prior to check in that prices had gone up, so we ended up having use our spending money to pay for parking that came up to 80 bucks instead of the 66 that we'd saved for.

On the upside. I shouldn't be too upset. The way things are looking, the stafff is completely incompetent. Seems though they swiped my card, and I have a receipt saying the balance is paid in full, and even spoke with a manager about it, I got a free 3 night 4 day stay at the Marriott, because they never took the money out of my account. But I still wouldn't stay there again. I booked at the Holiday in, again.

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Place I stayed: Harbor Court Intercontinental Hotel

Number of people in room: 3

Hotel Staff: Friendly...? Front desk staff was the only helpful people, everyone else was not that informative.

Walk to the con center: About 10-12 minutes with someone with bad knees, probably 7-10 minutes for anyone else

The bad: Almost $1400 for the three nights. Not even a harbor view. Yeah I know its a 5 Star hotel, but seriously. NOT WORTH IT. Can't hook up a portable DVD player to the TV. Internet Was $4 dollars FOR AN HOUR, and $12 for a day. Rollaway (which I called for in the early afternoon and didn't get until midnight) was $30 A NIGHT, which was definitely not worth it because I woke up with a very sore back. There were hardly any other con goers in this hotel (I wonder why?) which made it kind of boring.

The good: Room was decently sized and the lobby was very pretty. Beds were comfy too(not rollaways).

Would you stay there again?: Fat chance. Already booked the Hyatt, which I was in last year and enjoyed so much more.

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Place I stayed: Holiday Inn

# per room: 1 (just me)

Hotel staff: polite and helpfull when I was checking in

Walk to the BCC: Not much really, about 1 block had to put up with the Light rail and reg traffic.

The Bad: hotel gave me 2 parking passes, One on Friday and one on Sat when i checked in again so it was a little confusing when I left. The Pillows were TOO soft, I had a crink in my neck for Sat and Sun cause of them.

The Good: parking would have been $45 but since I was a priority member it was $19 for the weekend :)

as far as the TV, only watvhed it before bed and when i woke up and had 2-3 hours till the BCC was open so i watched HBO ^_^

I made 2 different reservations last year for this hotel. Got friday Night for $179.00 (had to prepay for this in August 2007 for it though) and got Saturday night at the con rate of $189.00. Was expecting to have roomates so got a room with 2 queens but since in the end it was just me, I got bumped into a King for no-charge(well I didn't see it on my bill)

Would you stay there again?: Not next year, Got a room at the Hilton

Edited by RTeker
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Just wanted to say that even though I was at the Sheraton Inner Harbor, the Days Inn's general manager was the most polite, nice, relaxed manager of anything I've ever met.

I helped some of my staff friends check in there, and he was the guy at the desk who helped us. We didn't know he was the manager til later, but he made sure to describe every amenity the hotel had to offer, all with a genuine smile. He made us feel like royalty, even in 2-days-worn staff attire. Great guy.

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this link http://resweb.passkey.com/go/otakon2009

Got a room at the Hilton

How?!

Anyway I forgot to say about the harbor court, we self parked and we had to drag our luggage all over creation to find the entrance to the hotel. So spend the Extra money on the valet parking lol.

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Place I stayed: Renaissance Harborplace Hotel

Number of people in room: 4

Hotel Staff: Desk person went to talk to an old man instead of taking care of us. Then a line started and he was still talking instead of working. But the room service, housekeeping and repair staff rocked!

Walk to the con center: Around 5 minutes.

The bad: The TV wasn't in HD or even digital although the TV itself was very capable of it. That meant crappy picture for The Olympics Opening Ceremony, which sucked. Also had to wait about a half hour for a cork screw on Saturday night, although that might have been our fault for having the Do Not Disturb sign up. However, if we called, obviously we want to be disturbed fro the cork screw.

The good: Garbage can was water tight, so we were able to use it as a bigger ice bucket. Housekeeping did a great job cleaning up Friday night and gave us extra soaps, towels and cotton swabs and balls. The repair staff was super super nice. We noticed late Friday night that our shower head was broken and leaked water all over the ceiling and outside the shower. So we called to report it at midnight. The repair staff were there by 12:15! Not only did he replace the shower head, but he gave us these kick ass chocolates shaped like machine parts! Really nice guy. The room was big and they gave us our roll-away bed before we even go upstairs after checking in, which was almost too speedy. But hey, fast is fast. Would certainly stay there again!

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Place I stayed: Residence Inn Inner Harbor/Downtown

Number of people in room: 4

Hotel Staff: Hotel staff was VERY polite, helpful and was interested in the convention. Fun to talk to and always were in good spirits. Anything we asked for we received in a timely manner.

Walk to the con center: Approx. 5-10mins

The bad:

-Parking: Hotel parking is valet only at a crunching 28 dollars a day. We ended up finding a better location to park without killing our wallets.

-Television: You'd expect a fairly high-end place to have a little better TVs in the room. They were good, but I think they could do better for the price we payed.

-Loading area: The loading ramp on thursday was packed, we had to park in the no parking area in an alley next to the hotel. This was the same case on monday when we left, and one of the people staying with us got a ticket while we were all loading things into the vehicles.

-Only has small garbage bins in the room.

-Internet connection was possible, but sketchy at times.

The good:

-Location: Not far from the con at all on Light Street.

-The Room: So roomy, comfortably fit four people. Kitchen was an awesome touch! Two TVs was another good thing. Lots of space for cosplayers to have their stuff set out.

-Increased security: Elevators can only be used with keycards. After hours the hotel can only be entered via your hotel card. This kept any unwanted people from lurking the hotel.

- Staff: As mentioned, helpful and friendly. Even offered to help carry our bags!

- Breakfast: Though some of the food was very meh, it was a great touch to have a hot breakfast every morning. Lots of room to sit also.

- Very clean and very comfortable. Temperature was always well kept.

Overall, the stay was great and I'm already looking into staying again next year.

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Place I stayed: Quality Inn West

Number of people in room: 5

Hotel Staff: Rude and irresponsible

Walk to the con center: Walk? Driving takes 10 minutes.

The only good thing about my trip was Otakon and the bed. The bed was comfortable. But the rest was horrid.

Would I stay there again? If I had to. But I'm looking for a different hotel thi time around.

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Place I stayed: La Quinta BWI

Number of people in room: 2 (pixietricks and myself)

Hotel Staff: Extremely polite & helpful.

Walk to the con center: Not in walking distance.

We had an awesome stay at this place overall. Free wireless internet (in room!), free breakfast. A shuttle would take you on a 1-2 min drive to the lightrail, where a 30 minute trip would deposit you right next to the con. Nightly rate? $94, with AAA discount ($100 otherwise). Definitely a fantastic deal. Plus, the hotel staff was excellent, the room was nice, and there is a McDonalds and a Wendy's less than half a mile away.

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Place I stayed: Sheraton Inner Harbor

Number of people in room: 4 (three staffers and a TCG)

Hotel Staff: Could have been worse, I guess.

Walk to the con center: About as short as you can get, I liked that it was near the security entrance since I was going in at 7:30 AM each morning. The skywalk was right there too.

The bad: THE BEDS. Oh my god, it felt like sleeping on a brick. The air conditioning was wonky too, I'd have it set at 63 degrees and it'd be hot in the room, but if I turned it up to 70 it cooled off. O.o Oh, and my room key didn't work more than once all weekend - I had to get a new key every time I wanted to go into the room (they tried to say that the security entrance was de-magging my key, but it still didn't work when I only used normal entrances and exits). $10-15 a day for internet kind of stinks too..

The good: The room itself was nice, and the pillows on the beds were way better than the mattresses? I spent very little time in there when I wasn't asleep, so I couldn't say much more. The bartender in the hotel bar was very generous with our drinks on Sunday night, I guess that should get a mention.

If I got to choose next year, I'd go back to the Days Inn. The slightly extended walk to the security entrance would be worth having a bed I can actually sleep in. But I'll stay in whatever hotel we get staff rooms in; I'll just bring an air mattress if it's the Sheraton again. x_X

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Place I stayed: Radission Lord Baltimore

Number of people in room: 4

Hotel Staff: They we're mostly rude and unhappy to work there :( only one guy was nice but it was creepy nice and the chick behind the desk was only nice AFTER we complimented her hair :)

Walk to the con center: not sure 10 mins? I walk slow I was always dragging something and it seemed up hill xD

The bad: omg free internet was worthless completely worthless! we could not keep the signal and the staff wasn't very helpful in troubleshooting. You have to log into a special page to agree to terms before using it AND it wasn't secure :( not happy about that at all. Not the cleanest hotel also and last day the elevators we're very slow. There was about 5 elevators but seemed like only 2 were even in use or maybe thats my imagination :( On check in they gave me the wrong room trying to give me a tiny double bed with no floor space but the guy I check in with (nice but creepy) made it his mission to get the that king room I made reservations for, But the chick at the front desk insisted I reserved a queen despite the print out I had that said king :o Other bad the bellhops we're really lazy and even though they were carts and no one was busy with anything else, they made us wait a good 30 mins standing by the car before they came to help with the luggage :(

The good: Once we got the room we actually reserved it was HUGH and we accidentally got a free fridge too. The bed was pretty comfortable and the shower was pretty nice. Aircon def working well. I did the early check in before leaving for Baltimore and stated I'd arrive at 8am. I actually arrived at 9am and my room was ready. Also because we arrived so early we were able to get the correct room.

Would you stay there again? If I had nothing closer or better yeah.

Edited by yamiko
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Place I stayed: Days Inn

Number of people in room: 7

Hotel Staff: Very friendly and willing to help and work with you on problems. I had a credit card situation :(

Walk to the con center: 1 min.... right across the street

The bad: rooms are small..... 'course I did have 7 people in there.....

The good: the hotel staff and the location [in between the con and the arena]

* I won't stay here again because the rooms and bathrooms are too small. I booked my room for next year at the Lord Baltimore. I do remember their rooms being rather large.

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Since there's so many hotels nearby Otakon, I thought it'd be helpful if there was a thread about what you thought of them. It'll be nice for comparison and deciding on hotels for next year. SO...

Place I stayed: Brookshire Suites

Number of people in room: 9

Bathroom steams up REAL bad when you shower...you almost can't breathe and everything gets damp.

It makes sense everything would get damp if you have 9 people taking showers. XD

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Since there's so many hotels nearby Otakon, I thought it'd be helpful if there was a thread about what you thought of them. It'll be nice for comparison and deciding on hotels for next year. SO...

Place I stayed: Brookshire Suites

Number of people in room: 9

Bathroom steams up REAL bad when you shower...you almost can't breathe and everything gets damp.
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Place I stayed: Days Inn

Number of people in room: 5

Hotel Staff: Friendly , i think they are used to us XD

Walk to the con center: 1-2 mins it's right across the street

GOOD::

It was a good stay the beds are comfortable the pillows are nice but the floor is hard as a rock XD but really helped my back when I passed out on it (the floor I mean) it wasn't an issue to ask for extra shampoo and stuff or trash bags to clean the room

BAD::

um whats with the shower??? ours was a handy caped shower ... I thnk it may have been??? there was no tub and so the floor was the shower floor... no guard to top the water and so it would flood the bathroom floor! we put towls to keep it from getting into the room or too far on the floor. it may have been just some of the rooms because it wasn't like that last year

over all i like staying there this is the 4th year I have :3 and Next year makes 5

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Place I stayed: Days Inn

Number of people in room: 5

Hotel Staff: Friendly , i think they are used to us XD

Walk to the con center: 1-2 mins it's right across the street

GOOD::

It was a good stay the beds are comfortable the pillows are nice but the floor is hard as a rock XD but really helped my back when I passed out on it (the floor I mean) it wasn't an issue to ask for extra shampoo and stuff or trash bags to clean the room

BAD::

um whats with the shower??? ours was a handy caped shower ... I thnk it may have been??? there was no tub and so the floor was the shower floor... no guard to top the water and so it would flood the bathroom floor! we put towls to keep it from getting into the room or too far on the floor. it may have been just some of the rooms because it wasn't like that last year

over all i like staying there this is the 4th year I have :3 and Next year makes 5

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Sheraton City Center (formerly Wyndham)

number of people: 4

Hotel Staff: AMAZING!!!! the bellhops were wicked friendly, especially with checkout

Walk to Con Center: 5 minutes? approximately?

The Bad: there were mushrooms growing in the room?? :D i think they tried to burn them away while we were gone, because every time we came back, they got blacker and more singed. it was weird...also, no free breakfast or internet :(

The Good: the beds!!! they were amazingly comfortable. we were on the 3rd floor, so we could take the stairs XD there was lots of noise, but i come from the heart of lancaster city, so it didn't bother me one bit

would i stay again? definitely, but i want to try the Days Inn this hyear, because their rates are cheaper

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Extended stay Inn (about 6miles from BCC)

Only Me and my Wife

Total cost of room for two nights 114 (made reservations thourgh Hotwire)

Pros: Great price. Nice spacious room w/AC.

Cons Asked for a nonsmoking room but the room (and hallway for that matter) reeked of cig smoke. Room was never cleaned the entire time we stayed.

Again, you cant beat it for the price and the fact that i booked it 4 days before the con, but you get what you pay for in the end. I think even one of the dealers stayed here (HouseofAnime.com)

I would definitely stay there again but would make sure that i had a room that didnt smell like an ashtray!

Edited by jrosario7
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Hotel: Hampton Inn at Camden Yards

Location: 2 Blocks west of BCC (Behind its larger, newer, but not opened yet sibling, Hilton at BCC)

Type of Room: King Suite

Pluses - Location location location - within tossing distance of the BCC, even with the Birds in town at the ballpark. Also, wanted 2 beds and a sofabed - could only reserve a single with sofabed - GOT the 2 bed with sofabed, save it was a smoker (non-smokers we be). TV with internet & Gaming capability, internet available in all modes (hardwired & wireless). Great service at all times. Nice pool with gym in the basement. Good breakfasts.

Minuses - $29 parking fee, and Vallet Only (Better not want your car during your stay - fortunately, we were there early enough for ours to be kept on site). The neighbors are a series of pubs and bars that serve the post game rioters coming out of the ballpark (very uneasy walk at 1 in the morning, especially since they need to hose down the street in front of the place every day because of this). The bathroom door misses the toilet by 1/8th". The decore... isn't truly a minus, but I hope you like Babe Ruth. The room did show some damage from previous users, which normally would not be a surprise, save for the fact that this hotel is less than 2 years old.

Would I stay there again - Yes, possibly, if nothing better shows up - OH LOOK! There's a HILTON! And it has PARKING! And it will be open NEXT YEAR!

Dibs!

BTW - One thing that was nice this time, and I wonder if anyone noticed this - Because the O's were in town, the weekend parking was only $10 in most garages nearby - we should book Ota more often when the Birds are roosting!

Ooh... The Orioles Vs Cosplayers... InuYasha at bat... oy...

A-N

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I know someone already complained about the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore, but my bunch has stayed their 4 years in a row!

Place Stayed: Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore

Walk to Convention: 10 mins

*We checked in online and our room keys were already set aside for us, we got a short line to check in! They let us check in at 1 pm - 2 hours before check in should have been. The desk people weren't overly friendly but we didn't have any problems.

*The room was what we requested. The bathroom was small, but the shower was nice. The maids always stocked towels, made beds. etc - the room was adequately clean. Room also had a fridge and we were suprised. I coulda brought some lunch meat & cheese for sandwiches.... oh well...

*The internet was slow, but that was probaly because it was free and probably everyone was trying to play WoW or something. We just needed to check a few things - and it worked ok.

* We did not use the Starbucks or restaurant inside the hotel, but being close to 7/11 was nice for late nite snack. We ordered from some take out place at midnite on thursday and I had an awesome gyro! :mellow:

*We parked in a garage close to the hotel that was $18/day. Cheaper than all other hotel parking. Worth it!

Would I stay here again: Yes! It is not an amazing hotel but it is cheap and a place to sleep for 6-8 hours before going back to the con. Never had any problems in 4 yrs.

Edited by Samiki
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i dunno I like the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore..... I stayed there last year and enjoyed it. the rooms are huge [even the singles] and i found the staff to be very friendly and helpful. I stayed at the days this year but i had a friend stay there and she had nothing but praise too. it's also very close to Mcdonalds, 7/11, dunkin donuts, etc for quick, cheap eats

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Hotel: Marriot Inner Harbor

Number of People: 4

Walk to BCC: Around the corner

The Good:

- Very courteous staff who seemed pleasantly ignorant of all the cosplayers loafing around

- Spacious rooms

- Large wide screen TV to hook up DVD Player, Wii or anything else you might need

- More electrical sockets than I knew what to do with

- Really, REALLY comfortable bed. Did I mention it was comfortable?

- Big bathroom with a good shower

The Bad:

- Way too expensive ($1256 since I didn't get the Otakon rate in time)

- Parking is way too expensive too ($150+ for both cars)

- Idiotic reservation system that will guarantee "2 doubles or 1 queen" rather than specifying which you needed (we got the queen when we needed the doubles and ran into a guy Sat. night who had 2 doubles but only needed the queen)

- No free Internet (at a going rate of $9.99 a day we just jumped onto the Holiday Inn's Wifi)

The Ugly:

- Mini bar was too tempting (side note: I found no control whatsoever on the mini bar to prevent minors from opening it and having alcohol charged to the room. Not a problem for us since we didn't use it and we were old enough, but it could be a problem for some parents who wind up accompanying their 12 - 17 year olds.)

- No free anything (My friends were afraid to ask housekeeping for an extra towel and a pillow because we thought we would get charged)

Overall:

It's a great hotel for the business class people who want a little more out of their stay and are willing to pay for it. But for Otakon it just doesn't seem like a good hotel. We always travel with a group that might need 2 cars and tries to be as cheap as possible without sacrificing amenities. And for me the Marriot just didn't cut it at the end of the day. We stayed at the Holiday Inn in '07 and I loved it. I would have rather been there, but they were booked when we finally decided to go ahead with the trip. That said I already have my reservation for the Holiday Inn in for '09.

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I stayed in two hotels so...

Place I stayed: Sheraton (formerly Wyndham)

Number of people in room: 1

Hotel Staff: Nice! I liked how the one staffer welcome me to the hotel and walked me to check in.

Walk to the con center: 5 mins at most, maybe.

The Good:

-THE BEDS=AWESOME. Sheraton beds are so comfy. I had a king bed, it was amazing.

-The tvs, I loved the TV. I like that a lot of hotels are switching over to flatscreens.

-Being on the third floor.

The Bad:

-Still feels like the Wyndham otherwise.

Would you stay there again? Maybe, if I had to. I ended up with it through Priceline.com, which is hilarious. I've stayed there two times before.

Place I stayed: Days Inn

Number of people in room: 4

Hotel Staff: Friendly

Walk to the con center: 1 min, across the street

The Good:

-Right across from the BCCC

-Beds were comfy as well

The Bad:

-Two elevators, lol

-Rooms were smaller then I'm used to

Would you stay there again? Have a room for Thurs night for Otakon 09, staying at Hilton rest of the time hopefully. I wouldn't make Days Inn my first choice though, I prefer bigger rooms.

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Hotel: Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore

Number of People: 1

Walk to BCC: 5-10 minutes

The Good:

- 4 elevators that never required a long wait

- Hotel restaurant was good, like what the former Wyndam used to be (my former server was around and fixed things up)

- Advance/Early check-in online up-to a week in advance with the option for near/away elevators/ice and high/low floor preferences.

The Bad:

- Was able to just come in, grab my keys, and change for Thursday TCG orientation (before official check-in time.) The room was freezing on arrival (60 & fan on full blast,) which is no problem once you turn it off. Even turned it to 85-heat & mid-fan for the sake of argument, but apparently a central system, so it just sat there doing nothing. Woke up the next morning after finally falling asleep and realized the problems I was having ... there is a window unit installed. Granted they may not expect lows in the low-mid-60s in early August much, but venting the room all night/day is still very inefficient. And did I mention my preference was for a low floor (to avoid possible elevator delays?) Oops! My corner room could hear everything crystal clear happening on the streets below.

- Decided to leave my phone locked in the room, so couldn't call to have it taken out Friday, but did call down Saturday morning on returning. I understood they couldn't remove immediately (*grumble* the hotel I worked at had engineering on-hand 24 hours a day,) but figured there would be at least one night without problems. Arrived back at the room Sunday morning to find the A/C on 60-full fan again ... and now, so was the window unit. Apparently "remove the window unit" came through as "the A/C doesn't work, and please ignore that someone clearly set the main control to heat."

- Forgetting to note on my reservation that there should be no down, I simply removed the down pillow & comforter (leaving me with only a single fitted sheet for warmth,) tossed the rest on the other bed, and left a note on the pillows before leaving for con Friday morning that read "NO DOWN". Apparently calling guest services to have them remove it is the usual (and only) option given housekeeping's language barrier, as I returned Saturday morning to find everything made. She also hasn't been briefed on their "don't replace towels unless requested" policy, but I didn't really care whether my towel-floormats were freshly laundered.

- Good old fashioned CRT television with about a dozen channels. RAH! Better still, everything flickers when it turns on, which was quite a trick using the remote. While on the subject of power, there was exactly one open outlet in the sleeping area for me to plug my CPAP into: the desk-lamp. Luckily I already use an extension tube, so it just barely reached the closer bed.

- Speaking of the closer bed, plan to pack light or small, because the gap between the bed and desk corner is not even 11 inches. Again luck would have it that I chose luggage with casters rather than standard wheels, so I could barely get through.

- Not necessarily something they have much contrtol over, but I now know my sleep number is get-that-damn-bed-away-from-me. Sleeping on dry land is always rough, but I woke up in worse shape than ever went to sleep in.

- Finally, the staff/managers really should learn that if you have an upset customer in the lobby, leaving them to stew for 10-15 minutes isn't going to make them give-up and walk away ... it only makes me angrier. Though it did waste time I could have otherwise used to get them take more off my bill.

The Ugly:

- The room: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome...0AbNXLNi1ZMmTkI (use the slideshow with captions turned on.)

Overall: Didn't really have any intention of returning next year, certainly don't now that I've been there, and hope you don't make the same mistake I did.

Edited by Transepoch
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Hotel: Sleep Inn & Suites Baltimore

Number of People: 3

Walk to BCC: about 15-20 minutes average (including time waiting for train)

The Good:

- Clean room with plenty of space

- Friendly Staff

- Peace and quiet!

- Next door to the Rose Restaurant (which I enjoyed greatly)

- Located right across the street from the train station which takes you right next to the convention center (the train ride is about 8 minutes)

The Bad:

- The door keys failed to work 3 times. However, this was a quick and easy fix by exchanging keys at the desk with no wait.

- There was some minor vandalism done by someone during our stay to the vending machine and AC/Heater controls in the hallway.

- CRT television with not many channels. They did have CN though so at least I could still watch Adult Swim!

- The bathroom is very tiny

- The weight room is pretty small everything that is said in that room echoes throughout the 1st floor hallways. Don't say anything "bad" while in there or you'll be called out on it. >>;

- Not very close to the BCC, so you either need to drive there or (as we did and highly recommend) take the train.

Overall: To be honest, I enjoyed the hotel itself. Aside from some minor annoyances (some of which they had no control of whatsoever... dumb kid vandals...) I really could see myself going back if need be. However, with that said, we're still booking a hotel much closer next year to try to avoid the minor financial cost ($3.50 per day/ per person) of taking the public train.

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Place I stayed: Tremont Park

Number of people in room: 5

Hotel Staff: Lazy, unhelpful (and borderline illiterate).

Walk to the con center: Around 10 minutes? Didn't time it but it was massively far

The bad: No tv hook ups, room wasn't what we asked for (1 bed instead of 2), tiny bathroom, water temp was horrible (one min it's scalding the next it's cold), room temp was as bad. There was next to no parking, we had to go 2 blocks down for a garage or pay for valet parking.

The good: Umm... not much... the bed was comfy?

Would you stay there again?: Hell no!

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I have stayed at several hotels over my years at otakons past. I will give you my reviews of the past two.

Place I stayed: Holiday Inn - Inner Harbor

Number of People in room: 1 (2008-2007), 5(2006),7(2005)

Hotel Staff: Great in recent years, in 2006 I had an incident with the night staff but the day time manager upgraded me to a suite because of major problems with my room.

Walk to the con center: At most 5-10 minutes depending on the trolleys and traffic crossing the street.

The bad: TV front hook-ups are disabled. Parking was 21 dollars a night, 19 if you are a priority club member, the in-house coffee shop charges star bucks level prices.

The Good: Comfortable beds with a selection of pillow types, Proximity to the Con. Center and price are very good, In-house restaurant breakfast bar on sunday is nice but pricey, Hotel staff at check-in moved pretty fast.

Would I stay there Again: Yes .. If I didn't already have a room booked at the days inn.

Place I stayed: Hyatt Regency Inner Harbor

Number of People in room 1(2004), 4(2003-2002),3(2001-2000)

Hotel Staff: A bit stuck-up and actively looked down on cos-players, I was in normal street attire and I have overheard conversations as it was assumed I was with whatever conference was going on in the hotel's ballrooms,this occurred in 2002. I can report that they were much nicer when I visited a friend staying in the hotel.

Walk to the con. Center: 5-minutes via crosswalk

The Bad: No Free internet, No Tv hook-ups, No cheap anything inside the hotel ( this is a high end place they EXPECT you to have money or be able to expense it to a company card), Hotel staff is quick to arrive if there is any type of disturbance (aka no room parties allowed), They have 2 or 3 I forget really nice looking but really SMALL and SLOW elevators ... if you book ask for a low floor assignment in your reservation.

The good: Very nice and clean rooms with Really comfy beds, Bistro 300 has a great breakfast bar if you can afford it, If you get a harbor view room you are treated to a magnificent view.

Would I stay there again: Yes but only if I could get a con rate because this hotel normally goes for over 350+ a night for a city view room. even with a AAA discount you get into the mid 200's.

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Since there's so many hotels nearby Otakon, I thought it'd be helpful if there was a thread about what you thought of them. It'll be nice for comparison and deciding on hotels for next year. SO...

Place I stayed: Brookshire Suites

Number of people in room: 9

Bathroom steams up REAL bad when you shower...you almost can't breathe and everything gets damp.

It makes sense everything would get damp if you have 9 people taking showers. XD

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Hotel: Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore

Overall: Didn't really have any intention of returning next year, certainly don't now that I've been there, and hope you don't make the same mistake I did.

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I didn't stay in a hotel for this year but last year (2007):

Place I stayed: Sheraton (formerly Wyndham)

Number of people in room: 2

Hotel Staff: Were great, they helped us out whenever we needed something.

Walk to the con center: 5 minutes

The Good:

-The beds were comfy

-They brought champagne to my room while I read Harry Potter book.

-Brought me orange juice when I was sick, I got a cold on the second day and I was miserable.

-Gave me good turn down service, cleaned the room daily with extra towels and soap.

-TVs rocked.

The Bad:

-The walls are paper thin, there was a group who was having a reunion there on the same floor and they decided it was best to talk loud back and forth across the hall from one another at 3am. They were not Otaku, lol - they were some older women who obviously went out on the town and couldn't control themselves.

-Odd but the pillows smelled like feet - requested different pillow and it smelled like feet too! I think the batch of laundry was bad and they were left in the wash too long.

-Parking - valet parking didn't have our car ready at any time when we called down in advance and there were so many cars pulled up we had to wait 30-40 minutes each time to get our car from being wedged in the middle.

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Place I Stayed: Sheraton (Wyndham)

Number of People: 13 (2 connecting rooms)

Hotel Staff: Oh my god. They were unbelievably friendly and helpful. We were kindly greeted every time we stepped into the hotel. The folks that took our bags to hold on Sunday were very nice, and very gentle with my laptop bag and the Hubby's very fragile figurine.

Walk: Maybe five minutes, tops.

The Good:

Our area of the hotel was very quiet. We faced north and I think it was a quieter part of the streets. Very nice.

Flat panel TVs!

Very comfortable beds and pillows. We stayed in the Radisson last year and they had just put in Sleep Number beds where if one person moved, you felt every movement. The woes of air mattresses--makes me glad the Sheraton used regular beds!

The elevator wait on Sunday wasn't bad, but then again we checked out early (9AM or so).

The Bad:

$3 water!

No fans in the bathroom! We had one person showering with the door open because of how steamed up the bathroom would get.

Seeing only three elevators in the South Tower had me worried as we were on the 9th floor, but in the end it worked out okay.

I would stay there again, but because we want a kitchen next year, we're going with a suite down the road.

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I wish I had your room, I was stuck in a closet for a room on the 4th floor. The elevator doors opened up and there was my room. I was going to have room mates, but I was glad they backed out. The bed could fit 3 really "close" friends and the there was no floor space. I asked for a non smoking room, but I was late to check in so I got a room that smelled like an ashtray. The windows looked like they opened but I couldn't get them open for some fresh air.

I was able to hear everything out on the street too, Thursday night (I think) some crazy guy that looked like the fat guy from "Lost" was yelling at cars out on the street below.

The breakfast was awesome though, a nice sit down breakfast with a view of the harbor. Was the best meals I had all weekend. Sunday morning I watched as they put the Constellation back in place after they took it out Saturday.

It was good for a small hotel, but next year I got a room at the Hilton. It's much closer, and the distance I had to walk was the only thing I had a real problem with. Not that it was THAT far a walk, but with arms full of goodies it seemed like I was walking forever.

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Place I stayed: Residence Inn Marriott

Number of people in room: 4

Hotel Staff: The hotel staff were nothing but courteous to us during our stay. The few times we had to deal with them were pleasant enough. There was an issue with my bill, which is described below, but it was fixed in a matter of minutes before we checked out. They answered all our questions, and were very curious about the convention. No idea about the cleaning staff though. We didn't use them at all during our stay. We cleaned the room ourselves and just recycled towels.

Walk to the con center: Between 4 and 5 minutes.

The bad: Nothing terribly bad about our stay. The only thing that was remotely irritating, was getting double charged for parking on thursday/friday. They had a total of five charges on there for parking. I took our bill down to the front desk, and the lady cleared it up right away. I think one of the staff accidentally counted our car twice on the first two days or something. Didn't matter, they cleared the two extra charges and were very nice about it. The parking is expensive, since they only have valet parking at 28 dollars a night, but it was worth it not having to find a place to park on our own. Oh, and the room had a coffee maker, but no coffee pot..which was also odd. But, after a quick phone call, we got a coffee pot delivered with no hassle.

The good: Didn't have a problem at all. Apparently, some other con-goers were having problems getting extra keys for their rooms. We only had three people listed as staying in our hotel room, and since two of us were always together, we only needed one extra key anyway. Gave it to us, no problems. Television is abit older then most hotels, but it had front inputs to attach any device you'd like. So, two of us promptly went to best buy and bought a cheap-o 30 dollar dvd player. Had a kitchenette in the room, with a stove, microwave, and full sized refrigerator. Made eating on the cheap very easy. Even though we still ate out saturday night. Even though check-out is at noon, you can keep your car there until five in the afternoon. The room was moderately sized, but it had a king sized bed, and a pull out bed which wasn't much smaller. You can easily fit five or six people in the room. Free breakfast buffet every morning was great. Had a waffle machine and everything. Also, free coffee if you want it in the mornings. And only a block from the Dunkin Donuts/CVS and right across the street from the 7-11. Valet staff, even though swamped on sunday, were very cool and helpful. Overall, probably the best con experience at a hotel I've ever had. The bathroom was abit small, with only a toilet and shower/tub inside. The sink was outside of the bathroom. Free wired internet for every room was cool. Of course, we could have easily leeched off the wireless networks people set up in the other hotel rooms. Most of them were not protected at all. So, if you must, you can easily locate and get free access for a wireless device and not pay for it. But why bother? You just jack into the wall, and you're getting a better speed anyway. :)

Would you stay there again?: Definitely, the price was only 179.00 per night..not a con rate. The amenities were awesome, and the staff were very nice.

Edited by HightopNinja
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