Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser Housing Block Sold Out Yesterday, as many Gen Con attendees are aware, was the opening of Housing Pre-Registration. Each year, a growing number of attendees from around the globe look to come to Gen Con to experience a world-class gaming experience. Due to this rising interest, lodging in Gen Con’s housing block has become much more in-demand each year. In the past three days, Gen Con badge purchases have far surpassed any prior year metrics.



Despite multi-year efforts to increase the total size of the housing block and a 13% growth of the room block this year alone, Gen Con’s housing block officially has sold out in less than a day.

To put this in timing perspective, last year, open rooms existed in the block through March 18. In 2013, housing took seven weeks to ultimately sell out. This year’s sellout of rooms with three or more consecutive nights happened in less than three hours with all other rooms selling out quickly thereafter. Many new 4-Day Badge purchases poured in less than an hour prior to housing registration opening, creating a new, unforeseen spike in total requests just prior to housing going live. The total amount of badge purchases, to date, has increased by more than 200% from last year’s week one numbers.

Technical and Housing Support Issues Gen Con is working with housing service company Q-Rooms and housing portal provider Passkey to look into the technical service issues created during yesterday’s surge in housing requests. These issues include, but are not limited to, server lag, cart timeouts, and inventory management. If you had specific housing issues and have yet to do so , please send an email to housing@q-rooms.com with any problems that you may have experienced. Q-Rooms is currently documenting these issues, resolving specific customer problems, and working with Passkey on these issues. Please indicate if a response is needed in your email, or if you are using it purely for documentation purposes.



Q-Rooms is processing a backlog of more than 1,300 voice mails and numerous emails currently. They hope to complete all requests and document all open issues by week’s end.



Gen Con apologizes for these technical inconveniences, and the team hopes to find and incorporate new solutions for growing housing placement needs.

FAQ To address specific customer questions that have arisen: Gen Con will look into ways to improve the housing registration process each year. With room demand sharply rising in the past few years, Gen Con is committed to making the process better for attendees. Gen Con reviews the message board discussions at the Community site and also through emails at customerservice@gencon.com . These are the two best ways to voice your ideas and questions.

Housing in the Indy metro is not limited to Gen Con’s Housing Block. Many attendees find acceptable deals throughout the Indy metro through travel booking sites. Attendees are encouraged to find the deal that best suits them, and share that information with fellow attendees. Many attendees also look for roommates, or will attend through non-traditional housing such as AirBNB.com or through other short-term housing rentals.

More than 99% of housing demand was used for 4-Day Badge attendees with equally high registration numbers for Friday and Saturday . 1-Day Badge holders account for less than 1% of the inventory needs and despite some speculation, Friday and Saturday received nearly equal booking nights throughout housing registration yesterday.

Gen Con is committed to the city of Indianapolis, and is contracted to hold its show there through 2020. Each year, Gen Con will look for ways to increase housing inventory and improve the experience for all attendees. Last year, a shuttle service deal was reached to improve access to suburban hotels, and this year, Shuttle Pass purchases are off to a brisk start. Gen Con will continue to look for similar ways to improve the overall convention experience. The team looks forward to working with Visit Indy and the City of Indianapolis to find more great expansion and partnership opportunities.

Q-Rooms is reviewing all calls and emails provided to them. While a new company, Q-Rooms is comprised of multi-year Gen Con and Housing Bureau partners with years of Gen Con experience. They love Gen Con, and are working hard to resolve issues created by the spike in demand.

In addition to expanding housing in 2014, Gen Con has expanded the Exhibit Hall space for this year’s show. Gen Con is preparing for another year of substantial growth, and has contracted additional space for exhibitors and events in 2014. Thank you for your patience and understanding! Gen Con 2014 is going to be another exciting show, and the team understands your frustration as everyone wants to have a great yearly Gen Con experience.



The Gen Con Team

