ZSRM 2015 Hotel

[TestRunner]

So I finally chose the hotel; Quality Inn & Conference Center at Somerset, PA: http://www.qualityinn.com/hotel-somerset-pennsylvania-PA497

It's really nice, and should be in a good location, although still a but far from the coast. Free breakfast. A lot of space (1600ft ballroom split into two rooms) which would easily accommodate for 40+ people if we have that many. The place in general looks really nice. Probably $75 entry fee to cover the cost of the event space and the tech. The bedrooms are $69, or $79 with a fridge and microwave. The bedrooms were pretty standard, but the bathroom was a bit small. There is a limit of 4 people per room. The hotel said they'll try to get the shuttle to the airport worked out, but that's unknown still. We may need to setup carpooling if that doesn't work out. I'll get the group code and contract worked out next week. Please feel free to use this thread to try to find roommates and work things out.

In the meantime, I'll put the game submission live: http://bombch.us/2c3

Old Reasearch

So there are two main places that I had in mind in Pennsylvania. I'll post my pros and cons of both hotels. In short, Meadville is probably nicer and more accomodating, but Enterim's place is free. I want to know people thoughts before making a decision. Also if you know any good places in PA, let us know. It's apparently pretty hard to find conference room pricing and information of hotels. I personally don't mind spending money on a place, so I'm leaning towards the hotel at this point.

1) Days Inn Meadville:

Pros:

• The hotel staff are really friendly.

• The place is fairly cheap, so expect something 60-70$ a night per room, that you can split to up to 4 people.

• Entry fees should be about 50$ for the entire stay (for the conference rooms, tech equipment, etc).

• The place is really close to a lot of food places and there's delivery in the area.

• Internet is good enough to stream.

Cons:

• This hotel is fairly middle quality, and room quality seem hit and miss.

• The Hotel is pretty much off the highway so it's easy to drive to.

• The big downside is that there is no airport in Meadville, and the nearest airport is pretty far.

• The hotel does not offer a shuttle service, so  we'll need to arrange carpooling or pickups or something for people flying in.

2) Enterim's Frat House

Pros:

• The big sell point of this place is that it's free.

• It's in Philadelphia, which might be easier to get to.

• It's pretty close to public transportation and there's food nearby in the area.

• You can take the subway to get from the airport.

• Expect something like a 25$ entry fee for tech.

Cons:

• The downside is that it's a frat house.

• There'll be like 20 other people around.

• The place might not be that clean.

• Internet is questionable, but possibly upgradeable.

• Sleeping arrangements are lacking; there are no bedrooms, just one big room everyone can sleep in. We can probably get a few room nearby, but then you won't be sleeping in the same building as the event.

[mabdulra]

I personally am leaning for the hotel, even if it will cost a little bit more. The biggest concern would be transportation, as I would very likely not have a car if I fly in. Renting a car is an option but that would add another cost atop of things. Are there no other options?

[TestRunner]

You pay for taxi, but it's really expensive. Ideally we can have people at the event pick up people from the airport with compensation, but we'll need people willing to do it. Probably not too unreasonable for an event this small.

[Otaku]

Whoa, that's a big gap between locations.

I reside in PA. Meadville is five hours away West, and Philly is like 1 hour East. Are these the only possibilities? The frat house thing just sounds kind of sketchy and not very desirable at least for privacy and whatnot (I think I'd pass if it ended up there, no offense of course), and the hotel is pretty far from the East which is what I thought the marathon was around, but I guess East is viewed differently between different people.

Have you tried around the Lancaster area? Not necessarily in the city, but the more rural / suburb area has tons of hotels that could probably be around the same price range. How many people are we expecting? I'd definitely rather go to a cheap hotel than the other option, but unfortunately 5 hours is a bit too far as well and I would have thought towards the East more would appeal to a larger group of people.

[TestRunner]

Everything I looked at in Lancaster and Philly were gonna be over 100$ a night. If you can find something though, let me know. I'm open to suggestions

[Otaku]

How many people are expected, or just like a vague guess? I'm finding some good prices around the South-Eastern end of PA, but I'm not sure how big the conference (or whatever) room will have to be.

[TestRunner]

I'd expect probably 20-40 people. We'll need two rooms (about 600sqft each) for the stream and practice room.

[Otaku]

This is near me, Google said $75 which they must have used the AAA rate for but for somebody without AAA it seems to average about $90 a night and climbs just a bit in the summer.

http://www.innatreading.com/

They have a ton of conference rooms and the rooms and location actually seem extremely nice rather than a cheap hotel. Not sure how long the marathon will go for but if people are splitting rooms it won't be pricy at all even though it's a little bit more than $70 or whatever.

Here's the conference room layout:

http://www.innatreading.com/Guide.pdf

I was thinking maybe like Chamberlain A & B with the separator removed to make 600 sq ft. for the stream room, and then the Hancock room for the practice room. It's only 400 sq ft. but if we need the space the Buford room seems to be an exact copy (just flipped) of that room, and I picked those because they're mostly the right size and they're all right next to each other. The other rooms are pretty huge (a lot more than we need at the moment) but there's a TON of room to expand for future years if needed. Better yet, I live in Reading so I can help setup, tear-down, and could probably save up a few extras CRTs to bring with me not to mention consoles. If the conference room rates aren't ridiculous I would suggest considering this, even though the room are a bit more expensive than the $60-70 range it seems to come with good reason (it looks "newly renovated" and not "40's hotel renovated in the 70's kind of deal" and the layout seems really convenient. There's also some cheap hotels around if people really can't afford the price of the rooms but it doesn't seem so bad and they offer group rates. AAA rate is really cheap but I realize I can't expect everybody to have that. Hope this helps! I could always try and get pictures if needed, it's like 10 or 15 minutes away from my home.

[TestRunner]

I'll check it out later, thanks for looking around. This place seems pretty decent at a glance.

[Otaku]

Yeah, no problem. The rooms are probably worth dropping the extra $20 on, I've been to some bad hotels and it was an overall crummy experience until we left just based on the rooms.

If you decide to hold it there, I can probably start hoarding some CRT TVs and bring some other stuff along if needed.

[TestRunner]

I contacted the hotel, they are both booked and their internet is not good enough

[keymakr]

Just want to put my opinion on here real quick. I'd personally be against doing it at a frat house. Even though this isn't going to be a huge marathon on the scale of the GDQs, having it there would just seem very unprofessional and a little bit sleezy. I personally wouldn't feel very comfortable going if we held it there and would probably have to pass. Having something close to public transport however would be a huge plus (that's my only beef with the other option) as it would really help people get in. I looked quick at google maps from NYC to get Meadville via public transport and there simply wasn't any way of doing it.

Also, just some side things that are off topic from the hotel search stuff. Let me know if you want me to edit it out (I don't want to distract from the hotel conversation):
1) I saw on the general discussions thread from the #zelda irc meetup that we were looking at something like July 10-13. Even though I know this date isn't set it stone, are we defiantly looking at a friday-monday timescale on the marathon? I'm just starting to look at getting the days off from work and seeing how much vacation time I have. Just want to know how many vacation days I should keep on hold in case I end up attending.

2) Are there any runners from the NYC area that would be interested in a carpool? If so either just do a quick reply here or PM me. I don't want to clog up the hotel search thread with tangential posts.

[Habreno]

I went to college at Allegheny (which is in Meadville) and I have to say that the food selection is actually pretty solid. You have your normal fast-food places, pizza (Domino's, if it matters), and a few other smaller chains/independents for faster food. Think there's a couple sit-down places too. There's also a couple gas stations (Sheetz, think one other) with food options on the strip.

The hotel itself isn't bad. My mother stayed there when she came to see me. The rooms in general are clean, but there are a couple buildings. If I remember correctly their main conference spaces are in/close to the hotel lobby. Friendly staff.

Parking at the hotel isn't a big issue, there's a fair bit of spots.


I think it'd be a decent place. Good luck guys!

[TestRunner]

So I finally found another hotel: http://www.qualityinn.com/hotel-somerset-pennsylvania-PA497

It's actually really nice, and should be in a better location, although still a but far from the coast. It's close to the airport and has shuttles. Free breakfast. There's nearby food. A lot more space (1600ft ballroom) which would easily accommodate for 40+ people if we have that many. The place in general looks really nice. The big catch is that it's more expensive. The bedrooms are about the same price, but the ballroom is not. However if we have more attend for the increased size, then the cost wouldn't be that much more. Probably 75$ entree fee (compared to like 50$ for the Days Inn)? The internet situation is a bit unknown. They have a LAN line, but I don't know how fast it is. The Days Inn internet is only 5 up, and is really expensive...

I'll drive up and check out the place and take pictures next week.

Let me know what you guys think of this place.

[TestRunner]

After visiting the place, I've decided that were are going to stick with the Quality Inn. The internet there wasn't good enough, but they can upgrade it to 15up, so it should be fine. There's a lot of food in the area; McDonald, Subway, Ruby, etc. There's also a lot of hotels apparently? The bedrooms were pretty standard, but the bathroom was a bit small. Half the rooms will have a fridge and microwave which will cost an extra $10 for those room. There is a limit of 4 people per room. There's free breakfast everyday. The hotel said they'll try to get the shuttle to the airport worked out, but that's unknown still. We may need to setup carpooling if that doesn't work out. I'll get the group code and contract worked out next week. Please feel free to use this thread to try to find roommates and work things out.

In the meantime, I'll put the game submission live: http://bombch.us/2c3

(I edited the OP to have all this info)