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Author Topic: CinemaCon Hotel-mate? Michael Putlack Expert Film Handler Posts: 187 From: Fort Collins, Colorado Registered: Sep 2011 posted 02-22-2014 11:19 PM                        I'm headed to CinemaCon for the first time this March and was hoping to go with some industry friends of mine, but it looks like they're not going to be able to make it. Would anyone out there be interested in sharing a hotel room either at Cesar or somewhere not too far away to help defer some of the costs? I'm arriving Monday, March 24th. Then, I'm staying through next weekend for a little vacation (my girlfriend is meeting up with me Saturday), but having someone to room with through Thursday or Friday would be awesome! I'm a rad guy and would love someone to nerd out with and maybe someone who has been there that might be able to show me the ropes! You can either PM me or we can talk in this forum. If a few people were down it might make economical sense to get a small suite too!  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-23-2014 07:28 AM                     If you haven't booked rooms already, things are going to be tight. Some other convention must be in town for I saw rooms filling up/rates jumping even a couple of months ago. Oddly enough, booking through the CinemaCon site is going to be your cheapest bet for a hotel near the convention...though Caesars is booked (and was always absurdly expensive), I believe Ballys is still available...their rates via CinemaCon was (maybe still is) $65/night for a standard room. Booking direct or though typical web based travel sites all seemed to be more expensive when I booked. In the past 10 years, I've never heard anyone claim to have liked their stay at the Flamingo. Perhaps they have done improvements in the past year. If it were me...I would book on the cheap side for the convention and move up to a better site for the vacation. I've always liked the Mirage but there are plenty of "nice" hotels in Vegas...it all depends on your $$$ pain level.  |  IP: Logged Edward Havens Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 614 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 02-23-2014 10:00 AM                     I'd go to CinemaCon, if there were single day options available, like ShoWest used to have. Fly in early morning, hit the breakfast presentation, hit the trade floor, hit the lunch presentation, hit the rest of the trade floor, hit the evening presentation, take a late flight out. Get it, get out. The only way to do Vegas.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-23-2014 10:19 AM                     So violent are you! You hit this, hit that...and then take!  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-23-2014 11:38 AM                     Trouble getting rooms in Vegas...? Never! I never stay on the strip myself durng CinemaCon, especially if there is any place under construction (There was last year). It's too crowded and bogged down. I stay west at the Rio, Palms or even the el cheapo Gold Coast in which the redone floors are extremely nice and 45 bucks a night. I can be there from any of the three laces in less then ten minutes via one of the constantly circulating transfer busses. Mark  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-23-2014 12:17 PM                        If you are planning to take in all the convention events, there's no substitute for staying on-site. First time I went to ShoWest, the hotel was sold-out and I wound up getting a room at another hotel "across the street." It was about a 3/4 mile walk to get from my hotel to the convention. It would be easier now with all the shuttles and such, but it just simplifies things so much to have your room be a three-minute walk away as opposed to a half-hour hike through several elevators, a parking garage and two casinos. Of course if you're only going for the trade show or whatever, cheaper is more sensible.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-23-2014 12:36 PM                     Historically, I've staid at the Barbary Coast...renamed Bill's Gambling Hall...and now to reopen under a different name (and look)...I was always a better deal than staying at the hotel with the convention and I didn't find the walk/time any worse than being in the same hotel...it was indeed across the street (from either Balley's or Caesars). It also didn't have a huge lobby/casino to get through. Honestly, staying at any of the corner hotels by Caesar's is going to be pretty good. Caesar's is so big, staying there isn't necessarily really close...depending on which tower they put you in.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 02-23-2014 02:28 PM                        I always got rooms in the sold out hotel with no problem. A Southwest Airlines Vacation package had over 750 rooms blocked in Bally's in the old days. Even Showest couldn't get me a room. I also used Barbary Coast and liked it.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-23-2014 02:52 PM                     I've gone on the theory that most rooms look the same when you are sleeping...so why bother with the higher price? There is a minimum threshold of amenities that I desire and noise level I require...once those are met...I'm not too fussy. Though I'm done sharing rooms with anyone. On a vacation...I'm more apt to splurge a bit and actually take advantage of services a fancier hotel may offer. But at CinemaCon...it is a place to sleep.  |  IP: Logged Sam D. Chavez Film God Posts: 2153 From: Martinez, CA USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 02-23-2014 08:09 PM                       During my busiest years I stayed at Bally's/MGM Grand and never left the hotel from Sunday to Friday.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-23-2014 08:47 PM                     quote: Steve Guttag Caesar's is so big, staying there isn't necessarily really close...depending on which tower they put you in. They need more moving sidewalks in there! Geez, I hope they move Cinemacon out of Caesar's. It's so spread out and for new people it's very confusing being on different levels and such. A poor choice to hold it IMHO. Bally's was more crowded but it was all there in front of you. Mark  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-23-2014 09:55 PM                        It had way outgrown Ballys though....half of it was in Paris, wasn't it? I think one of the biggest reasons they picked Caesars was because of the Colisseum + the amount of tradeshow space. It IS a confusing layout though.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 02-23-2014 10:36 PM                        quote: Steve Guttag Historically, I've staid at the Barbary Coast...renamed Bill's Gambling Hall... I stayed at Bill's Gamblin' Hall on a NAB trip a couple of years ago, and it was second most gross and disgusting hotel I've ever entered. The tobacco smoke in the lobby/casino would have made the San Quentin gas chamber eligible for a clean air award, and there was no way to avoid walking through it to get to the elevator. I'm not politically correct about smoke, but I do resent being forced to walk through dense clouds of it. My eyes stung for days afterwards. Once in the room itself the bedclothes were stained, the shower wouldn't drain properly (I was standing in ankle-deep water for most of the shower) ... yeughhh. And it wasn't even that cheap ($130 a night, if I remember correctly). Hopefully the refurbishment of this place will fix all of that. Incidentally, the no. 1 spot for gross and disgustingness was experienced on the way back from that trip: the wonderfully named Bun Boy Motel in Baker, CA. The timing belt in my rental car broke on the way back from Vegas at about 9pm. Hertz arranged for me to be towed to Baker (the nearest settlement), but they couldn't get a replacement car to me until the following day. I think what summed that place up was the placard above the window warning guests not to leave it open because snakes might get in. It would put the Bates Motel in a positive light. Something else that could have summed the place up was just it is situated just opposite the turnoff for the road that goes to Death Valley. I imagined Jean Hersholt staying there in pursuit of Gibson Gowland in the closing scenes of Greed! I've made the drive from SoCal to Las Vegas several times since, and have always heaved a sigh of relief when passing Baker without having to stop there.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-24-2014 01:06 AM                     They must have put you on the UK side of the hotel Smoke and Vegas go hand-in-hand...I've never smoked but I can normally tolerate it, to a degree. I never found I had a hard time getting to the elevators without being overcome with smoke. They are the shortest trip through any hotel lobby if you entered from the Flamingo side. You didn't even have to go through the casino to get to them...they were 10-feet from the door. I also never had a room like the one you described. Mind you, it wasn't the "Ritz" but it was sufficient for me. If booked a month or two in advance, I typically got a room from about $49 to $80/night. If I booked late, it could get over $100 but that was much more rare. Now many more years ago, I stayed at the fleabag hotel known as The Bourbon Street Inn that was next door...that was always cheap...and rather run down. But it was across the street from Bally's.  |  IP: Logged Michael Putlack Expert Film Handler Posts: 187 From: Fort Collins, Colorado Registered: Sep 2011 posted 02-25-2014 08:00 PM                        While I appreciate the advice, do any of you advice-givers need a roommate for the week?  |  IP: Logged

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