Anthrocon puts the "con" back in convention.

I was linked to Anthrocon's policy on hotel reservations. Apparently, this year, you can't cancel your reservation without losing your deposit regardless of how much notice you give, you can't transfer your reservation for any reason, the hotel will not give out extra keys for any reason, and you are required to let housekeeping staff into your room for a daily inspection whether or not you want service. So, basically, even if you have a medical emergency or simply have to change your plans, you're still out at least $150; some people have complained they were being billed for more than just the first night and, as such, are out quite a bit more.

While I can kind of understand the "no refunds" policy, as it keeps people from taking up rooms they can't fill, preventing people from transferring the rooms is patently absurd. It's just another way the con has found to completely screw over the people who want to attend. If something happens, people should at least be able to transfer the room to someone else who can make the event. The "no spare keys" policy is also ridiculous; while issuing a dozen keys for a "one-person" room is definitely suspect, there are times when having a spare key is valuable. Also, if I don't want housekeeping in my room, I don't want housekeeping in my room. I don't care what corporate says: "do not disturb" is a very, very simple request. And while I've been fortunate enough to never have anything stolen, I know plenty of people who have had expensive electronics and the like simply disappear from their rooms. One person, who had the only key to his room and no roommates who could have gone through his stuff, had a $900 camera "vanish" after the room was made.

I'm just waiting for people to finally realize that Anthrocon is the most overrated event in the entire fandom, run by a bunch of elitist pricks who don't give a rat's ass about anything except their inflate egos.The only reason at all to attend are the people, all of whom have been duped into spending vast sums of money for an event that isn't even worth the cost of a plane ticket. Seriously, if you're even thinking about going, don't. Find a smaller convention or just visit your friends directly. It'll be cheaper and you'll enjoy it far more. If enough people decide not to go to Anthrcon, maybe we'll be lucky enough to have the con implode and either change its policies completely or - even better - simply cease to exist.