The Wolf, Little Red, H & G, and even the Goats Gruff have been working their tails off hunting for a gaming den for 2015.
After talking with 50+ hotels, as far south as Santa Clara, San Jose, and Fremont, as far west as San Francisco, as far north as El Cerrito and Pinole, and as far east as Walnut Creek, San Ramon, and Dublin, we’ve finally come full circle back to the Oakland Airport Hilton.
The good news.
Hilton Corporate has dropped the spurious charges as of 4/22. More good news. Since we had already been talking to the Hilton, they have held our space for October 16-18.
The challenging part.
Last year there was some confusion about the private rooms (specifically if we would pay for them the Thursday night before the con in order to ensure they would be ready on Friday). That’s where the extra charges came from. This year we’re all trying to be very careful to avoid that confusion in 2015. Unfortunately words like “guarantee” are very important to the con (we need to make sure rooms are ready when we have games scheduled) but unpopular with the Hilton (or perhaps just the Hilton’s lawyers). We also saw several fees jump up this year as well as some brand new ones. All of these conspire to make the con much more expensive this year, so we’re working on removing or at least reducing those where we can.
We’ve been talking to the Hilton almost every day for the last month, but often changes need several approvals, so even though we’ve been diligent, there have been several delays. Little Red will keep you posted with more frequent updates on Facebook and twitter.
Before signing off, we want to thank some of the amazing people that have helped the con find a home this year.
Out Hotel Liaisons: Michael Thomas, J Li, and Vincent Salzillo.
Our Contract Reviewers: Kristin Firth, Brian Williams, and Mark Diaz Truman.
Folks who have put us in contact with other hotels: Kris Miller from CelestiCon, David Jones, Greg Wirth, Antonio Morton, Tess Meyer, and more
Finally, The Wolf’s eternal gratitude to Eric Ullman, who has been tirelessly sending emails, making phone calls, and driving to the Hilton for visits, in order to bring this one home for us. There would be no Big Bad Con without Eric.
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