that Metroidvania guy
The hotel has been finalized! It is the Crowne Plaza St. Paul Riverfront (to be rebranded as the InterContinental before we stay there). Go here for the full announcement:
https://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/sgdq_2015_hotel_final_choice_to_be_made_by_friday_feb_13_26.html
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As previously mentioned in the timeline thread, a final decision with the hotels is scheduled to be made by Friday, February 13. We have been talking to the hotels continuously since visiting last week and feel that there will be a tough decision involved. I will post the positives and negatives that we noticed for each potential venue, as well as prices, pictures, and general considerations (such as food options). We welcome community feedback at this time, although there will not be any sort of a "vote" on where we go; some issues (especially regarding internet) may force our decision, but we would like to help with community concerns on each location, regardless of where we end up being.
CROWNE PLAZA (to be rebranded as InterContinental)
• Pictures: http://imgur.com/a/Ss8T3
• Room price: $119/night (+13.625% tax, so about $135.21 total and divisible for up to 4 people)
• Juice, coffee, and breakfast pastries are provided every morning of the marathon. You can also go to the restaurant's regular breakfast area and pay for a full meal if you prefer.
• $12/day parking (discounted from the usual $18/day, which makes it lower than any other parking in downtown St. Paul; the lot is not owned by the hotel and they expect it to get good business anyway in the summer, so it was fortunate to even go that low)
• Guaranteed to have renovated rooms for everyone who books, which includes two queen size beds, a nice bathroom, and a mini fridge in every standard room. Microwaves are not included in the sleeping rooms, but will be provided in a hospitality area on the conference floor.
• Immediate restaurants (within 1 block) are mostly focused on the business district, so several fast food places close before 7 pm. To mitigate this problem, we plan to work with the St. Paul convention bureau and alert businesses that there will be a 24 hour event with around 1000 people to encourage them to stay open later and on weekends during our time there. We unfortunately cannot guarantee anything yet and will only be able to update the status of this in May or June when we are closer to the marathon starting.
• There are many other restaurants (tending not to be fast food style) that are open until 11 pm and within 3 blocks. There is also a dining district on 7th Street, which is very close to the hotel (less than 10 minutes walking).
• For midnight until 6 am, options will be limited to a 24 hour diner that is 3 blocks away, delivery from a 24 hour pizza chain called American Pie, and potentially late night options provided by the hotel that we are still working on (don't worry, this time we're making sure they take credit card).
• Skyways connect most of the downtown area, so you do not have to deal with traffic or weather when walking to places.
• Regular airport shuttles will be set up by GDQ for attendees on the major travel days, and people coming in on other days will have to set scheduled ones in advance with us if they want one. A thread will be made to work on this.
• The light rail station is right at the hotel, and it takes about 20 minutes to go to downtown Minneapolis for other restaurants or fun activities. This is incredibly cheap to ride ($2.25 during rush hours, $1.75 at all other times, in addition to other purchasing options for events/all-day), and there are also plenty of nice places to go just in the downtown St. Paul area.
• Internet was not thought to be a big issue until we actually visited the hotels. Something to keep in mind is that we will be contractually guaranteed a private line with the speeds we need, which is not something we have been able to set up with the Ramada yet.
• We will be in the bottom floor of the hotel for the conference space; the cell reception seems to check out well with most carriers, although Sprint and T-Mobile are mediocre (which means that you would have to use 3G for good reception, which is sufficient for texts and calls at least). From our AT&T and Verizon phones, we were able to directly verify that we could get LTE with 2/3 bars, which is good enough for phone calls and checking most standard online apps regularly.
• Bottom line: The renovated rooms are nice, we will have an entire floor with way more than enough conference space to ourselves (outside of one small banquet room that won't matter), and the internet situation is much safer compared to the Ramada. The extra conference space and high ceilings also allow us to toy around with more layout options that might fit the community's needs better (such as easier inclusion of a stage or a side area for more content to be streamed during setup times). The major downside is having to pay for parking and having less affordable food options throughout the night, although we can attempt to mitigate that problem. Even in its current state, accessibility to food is still much better than last AGDQ.
RAMADA
• Pictures: http://imgur.com/a/Xz3ym
• Room price: $109/night (+14.275% tax, so about $124.56 total and divisible for up to 4 people)
• Essentially the same free breakfast options, and you can get the full breakfast buffet if you pay.
• Concessions will be made available on the conference room floor.
• Hospitality areas where you can bring in your own food are not allowed in the conference rooms, so we will need to have extra suites on the conference floor specifically designed for this where people can go. Essentially, what this means is that we have less space to work with for planning hospitality areas.
• Free parking
• The airport is only 2 miles away, and there are regular shuttles every half hour. There will be absolutely no issues getting to and from the airport.
• Standard rooms have two double beds and incredibly small bathrooms (see pic). Fridges are not standard in every room but can be requested at no additional charge. Microwaves are also not standard, but there is one that can be used at the hotel's grab n go station if your room does not include one. It's also worth noting that the rooms are a little dated compared to the Crowne, as it was formerly a motel that was renovated.
• There are regular shuttles every hour (and we are working to make it more often) to the Mall of America, which has tons of shopping and food options. The Mall is open until 9:30 PM most nights, and until 7:00 pm on Sunday. We will try to work with Bloomington's convention bureau to make things stay open later, although it will likely be significantly more difficult to accomplish for the Mall. There is also a Wal Mart in the area that we are trying to have some shuttles set up for in case people want groceries.
• Late night options from midnight to 6 am are primarily an IHOP on the other side of the Mall, delivery from a local pizza chain called American Pie, and a grab n go station at the hotel that is open 24 hours (see pic).
• The Mall is within comfortable walking distance in the summer even if shuttles are being overcrowded, and there is a light rail station there so you can go to downtown Minneapolis.
• The main issue with this hotel at the moment is that we have to go through an outside company to install sufficient internet for our needs, and it is unclear whether this will be done in time for the event or if we will have support available 24 hours in the event that something goes wrong. The exact cost of the internet is also uncertain at this time. We absolutely need these issues cleared up before we can sign with this hotel, and have been working hard to do so.
• We could not shoot pictures of the marathon room because there was an event going on, but it is close to the same amount of floor space as the AGDQ room but with lower ceilings (see the casual room pic for an idea of how high the ceilings are). There is less space than the Crowne, but we expect it to be cozy and sufficient for our expected amount of attendees (even if it is close to AGDQ's attendance).
• The conference rooms are on the 2nd floor in this hotel. There are several staircases scattered throughout the hotel, but only one standard elevator and another freight elevator near the lobby. Cell service is slightly better than the bottom floor of the Crowne, with 3-4 bars on LTE.
• Bottom line: The hotel is a little cheaper and very close to the airport, as well as a GIGANTIC mall (a fun game to play there is finding all of the Caribou Coffee locations) with not only great shopping and food choices, but also an amusement park and arcade. The parking is free and late night eating options seem to be a little more affordable although equally limited from midnight until 6 am. The grab n go station at the hotel is very convenient. The major downsides are that the bathrooms might be uncomfortably small for groups of four, and the internet situation is something that will take time to resolve. While we can put off signing for a little bit if people are largely in favor of the Ramada otherwise, we can't hold back for too long and cannot possibly choose it if a clear solution is not in sight. A minor downside is less conference space and having to use suites for the hospitality rooms, but that is not a very big deal in the grand scheme of things.
Please leave questions or feedback! We look to make a decision soon, but of course want to make sure the community's concerns are addressed before finalizing anything.
https://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/sgdq_2015_hotel_final_choice_to_be_made_by_friday_feb_13_26.html
--------------------------------------------------
As previously mentioned in the timeline thread, a final decision with the hotels is scheduled to be made by Friday, February 13. We have been talking to the hotels continuously since visiting last week and feel that there will be a tough decision involved. I will post the positives and negatives that we noticed for each potential venue, as well as prices, pictures, and general considerations (such as food options). We welcome community feedback at this time, although there will not be any sort of a "vote" on where we go; some issues (especially regarding internet) may force our decision, but we would like to help with community concerns on each location, regardless of where we end up being.
CROWNE PLAZA (to be rebranded as InterContinental)
• Pictures: http://imgur.com/a/Ss8T3
• Room price: $119/night (+13.625% tax, so about $135.21 total and divisible for up to 4 people)
• Juice, coffee, and breakfast pastries are provided every morning of the marathon. You can also go to the restaurant's regular breakfast area and pay for a full meal if you prefer.
• $12/day parking (discounted from the usual $18/day, which makes it lower than any other parking in downtown St. Paul; the lot is not owned by the hotel and they expect it to get good business anyway in the summer, so it was fortunate to even go that low)
• Guaranteed to have renovated rooms for everyone who books, which includes two queen size beds, a nice bathroom, and a mini fridge in every standard room. Microwaves are not included in the sleeping rooms, but will be provided in a hospitality area on the conference floor.
• Immediate restaurants (within 1 block) are mostly focused on the business district, so several fast food places close before 7 pm. To mitigate this problem, we plan to work with the St. Paul convention bureau and alert businesses that there will be a 24 hour event with around 1000 people to encourage them to stay open later and on weekends during our time there. We unfortunately cannot guarantee anything yet and will only be able to update the status of this in May or June when we are closer to the marathon starting.
• There are many other restaurants (tending not to be fast food style) that are open until 11 pm and within 3 blocks. There is also a dining district on 7th Street, which is very close to the hotel (less than 10 minutes walking).
• For midnight until 6 am, options will be limited to a 24 hour diner that is 3 blocks away, delivery from a 24 hour pizza chain called American Pie, and potentially late night options provided by the hotel that we are still working on (don't worry, this time we're making sure they take credit card).
• Skyways connect most of the downtown area, so you do not have to deal with traffic or weather when walking to places.
• Regular airport shuttles will be set up by GDQ for attendees on the major travel days, and people coming in on other days will have to set scheduled ones in advance with us if they want one. A thread will be made to work on this.
• The light rail station is right at the hotel, and it takes about 20 minutes to go to downtown Minneapolis for other restaurants or fun activities. This is incredibly cheap to ride ($2.25 during rush hours, $1.75 at all other times, in addition to other purchasing options for events/all-day), and there are also plenty of nice places to go just in the downtown St. Paul area.
• Internet was not thought to be a big issue until we actually visited the hotels. Something to keep in mind is that we will be contractually guaranteed a private line with the speeds we need, which is not something we have been able to set up with the Ramada yet.
• We will be in the bottom floor of the hotel for the conference space; the cell reception seems to check out well with most carriers, although Sprint and T-Mobile are mediocre (which means that you would have to use 3G for good reception, which is sufficient for texts and calls at least). From our AT&T and Verizon phones, we were able to directly verify that we could get LTE with 2/3 bars, which is good enough for phone calls and checking most standard online apps regularly.
• Bottom line: The renovated rooms are nice, we will have an entire floor with way more than enough conference space to ourselves (outside of one small banquet room that won't matter), and the internet situation is much safer compared to the Ramada. The extra conference space and high ceilings also allow us to toy around with more layout options that might fit the community's needs better (such as easier inclusion of a stage or a side area for more content to be streamed during setup times). The major downside is having to pay for parking and having less affordable food options throughout the night, although we can attempt to mitigate that problem. Even in its current state, accessibility to food is still much better than last AGDQ.
RAMADA
• Pictures: http://imgur.com/a/Xz3ym
• Room price: $109/night (+14.275% tax, so about $124.56 total and divisible for up to 4 people)
• Essentially the same free breakfast options, and you can get the full breakfast buffet if you pay.
• Concessions will be made available on the conference room floor.
• Hospitality areas where you can bring in your own food are not allowed in the conference rooms, so we will need to have extra suites on the conference floor specifically designed for this where people can go. Essentially, what this means is that we have less space to work with for planning hospitality areas.
• Free parking
• The airport is only 2 miles away, and there are regular shuttles every half hour. There will be absolutely no issues getting to and from the airport.
• Standard rooms have two double beds and incredibly small bathrooms (see pic). Fridges are not standard in every room but can be requested at no additional charge. Microwaves are also not standard, but there is one that can be used at the hotel's grab n go station if your room does not include one. It's also worth noting that the rooms are a little dated compared to the Crowne, as it was formerly a motel that was renovated.
• There are regular shuttles every hour (and we are working to make it more often) to the Mall of America, which has tons of shopping and food options. The Mall is open until 9:30 PM most nights, and until 7:00 pm on Sunday. We will try to work with Bloomington's convention bureau to make things stay open later, although it will likely be significantly more difficult to accomplish for the Mall. There is also a Wal Mart in the area that we are trying to have some shuttles set up for in case people want groceries.
• Late night options from midnight to 6 am are primarily an IHOP on the other side of the Mall, delivery from a local pizza chain called American Pie, and a grab n go station at the hotel that is open 24 hours (see pic).
• The Mall is within comfortable walking distance in the summer even if shuttles are being overcrowded, and there is a light rail station there so you can go to downtown Minneapolis.
• The main issue with this hotel at the moment is that we have to go through an outside company to install sufficient internet for our needs, and it is unclear whether this will be done in time for the event or if we will have support available 24 hours in the event that something goes wrong. The exact cost of the internet is also uncertain at this time. We absolutely need these issues cleared up before we can sign with this hotel, and have been working hard to do so.
• We could not shoot pictures of the marathon room because there was an event going on, but it is close to the same amount of floor space as the AGDQ room but with lower ceilings (see the casual room pic for an idea of how high the ceilings are). There is less space than the Crowne, but we expect it to be cozy and sufficient for our expected amount of attendees (even if it is close to AGDQ's attendance).
• The conference rooms are on the 2nd floor in this hotel. There are several staircases scattered throughout the hotel, but only one standard elevator and another freight elevator near the lobby. Cell service is slightly better than the bottom floor of the Crowne, with 3-4 bars on LTE.
• Bottom line: The hotel is a little cheaper and very close to the airport, as well as a GIGANTIC mall (a fun game to play there is finding all of the Caribou Coffee locations) with not only great shopping and food choices, but also an amusement park and arcade. The parking is free and late night eating options seem to be a little more affordable although equally limited from midnight until 6 am. The grab n go station at the hotel is very convenient. The major downsides are that the bathrooms might be uncomfortably small for groups of four, and the internet situation is something that will take time to resolve. While we can put off signing for a little bit if people are largely in favor of the Ramada otherwise, we can't hold back for too long and cannot possibly choose it if a clear solution is not in sight. A minor downside is less conference space and having to use suites for the hospitality rooms, but that is not a very big deal in the grand scheme of things.
Please leave questions or feedback! We look to make a decision soon, but of course want to make sure the community's concerns are addressed before finalizing anything.
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