How expensive are comic cons getting? How much do you pay for your hotel? It’s undoubtedly the cost of the Hilton in the NEC versus how quickly the few other hotels fill up which presents this blogger with a UK Games Expo challenge.
San Diego Comic-Con has a hotel portal on their site, most rooms are gone by now but we can still see prices and, for example, the Mariott Marquis San Diego Marina was asking $331 per night, the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp $306 and the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego $339.
Today, in an interview with Forbes David Glanzer, Chief Communication and Strategy Officer for Comic-Con International, the nonprofit group that puts on SDCC and WonderCon talked about Hotelocapylse.
When asked whether SDCC would move after the contract with the city expires in 2025, David said,
We would never want to leave, but if push came to shove and it became untenable for us, it’s something that we would certainly have to look into. As event planners, we’re always contacted by different cities and it would be reckless for us to not at least acknowledge that.”
And
Many of the hotels downtown have been incredibly wonderful to us. They’ve allowed us to use meeting space, they’ve given us huge room blocks, they’ve kept their rates very competitive. But it’s tough when those hotels offer a competitive rate and then a hotel that chooses not to be in the room block charges an exorbitant amount of money. That means the people who work with us end up losing out.”
If there’s going to be big news, then I’ll happen this month as SDCC runs from July 25 to 28th. David informed;
“2025 is when our contract expires, unless something happens before the convention this year. And if so, I imagine we would make an announcement during the show.”
As Rob Salkowtiz, the Eisner-nominated comics journalist and author who covered the story for Forbes, points out, David Glanzer’s comments are clear in timing. San Diego Comic-Con is the nonprofit’s big event, and it’s starting soon. We’re expected to notice this message.
Finally, can you get much more straightforward than this?
We are grateful the city allows us to have the activations outside that allow us to create a campus environment, and we want to stay here and make it work. But if our attendees end up finding it too challenging, it would be unfair for us not to consider potential other venues.”
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