THe San Diego Comic-Con has launched a blog called “Staying in San Diego” to help with the most arduous task of the comics year: getting a hotel room for the show:

In 2007, Comic-Con International had 125,000 attendees. We realize the challenges related to an event of this size. One of the most challenging aspects of attending Comic-Con is trying to reserve a hotel room. Each year, we open hotel reservations only to have them initially sell out in a matter of hours. And while rooms almost always are added or become available due to cancellations, the simple fact of the matter is there are not enough hotel rooms in San Diego for everyone who wants to attend Comic-Con.

The purpose of this blog is to offer a forum on both the hotel reservation process and to help answer your questions. We will also offer tips on staying in San Diego, including nearby restaurants and attractions, Comic-Con’s shuttle bus schedule, the city’s mass transit, and more, as we get closer to the event.


The blog also includes a preliminary list of con hotels.

1 COMMENT

  1. Here’s a thought that might work for people: There are many other hotels and motels in San Diego than the ones that set aside rooms for Comic Con. Many of them are cheaper. You could even get a cheaper overall cost by staying in Mission Valley and taking a taxi–or the trolley–to and from the Convention Center every day. There are hotels and motels in Chula Vista, just south of San Diego, which could be a shorter taxi ride to the Con than from Mission Valley. There are even other hotels and motels in downtown, in Little Italy, in Old Town, and closer to the airport that could have easy-to-book rooms. I realize that many people will want to be within walking distance of the convention, but with so many people attending the con, everybody isn’t going to find a room right in the center of the action. You might very well save yourself a little aggravation–and probably a little money–by booking a hotel or motel a little farther away.

  2. I’ve toyed with this idea, but even after coming to the show for 10 years, I don’t feel like I know the San Diego area, and I’d be afraid of winding up even further away than I meant to, and spending all my time and the same amount of money getting to the Con, which would be frustrating to say the least.

    What would be nice is if the Con travel center would add not just a blog about getting a hotel (which seems to boil down to the advice of “Call early and try to book hotel rooms early” even though the non-Con rate rooms are apparently already booked) but an entry in said blog that expanded a bit on the area around, and cheaper hotels. A guide to getting a hotel in San Diego from the point of view of someone who has lived there would be most helpful, but I’m not sure anyone’s up to putting that together.

  3. I’d say that any location that’s on Highway 8 (including Hotel Circle) or south, and west of about 30th St (the street-name numbers get lower going west), and east of the airport would be no more than a 15 minute trip to the convention center by taxi.

    Of course the problem with driving to the San Diego Convention Center during Comic Con is the nightmarish traffic. If I were taking a taxi, I’d have it drop me off on Market Street downtown at about 4th Avenue. Then I’d walk south the few remaining blocks to the Convention Center.

    The trolley line that goes through Old Town is the one that stops across the street from the Covention Center. I don’t know how long the trolley takes–haven’t ridden it in years.

    If you look at a map of San Diego, downtown is south of A Street, west of approximately 14th street, and north and east of the water. Any place within those bounds is walkable to the Convention Center if you’re in reasonably good shape. There are several chain hotels and motels downtown–I don’t know what their prices are like, though.

    I wouldn’t recommend anyone stay in a non-name brand hotel downtown. There are a bunch of residency hotels that impress me as seedy.

    The problem with this San Diego resident providing some sort of hotel guide is that I don’t stay in hotels here as a rule, so I can’t give any detailed advice without a bunch of research which anyone else could very likely do for him- or herself online. I can only give general advice.

  4. Wow, that’s awesome Heidi, thanks! :)

    Though some of the best convo I’ve seen on this subject, is what some of the CBR peeps in the Community forum come up with every year as to travel arrangements and whatnot. If you’re friendly and up to meet new people, that’s probably the best way to go that I’ve seen so far.

  5. Thanks for the tips, Eric! I do realize the apparent silliness of asking a native (who presumably doesn’t stay in hotels in the area) about where a good hotel might be, but the information you gave regarding streets and such is exactly the kind of thing I think folks would find helpful.

    I know I will, if my plan to call on Wednesday nets me no hotel room. :)