What is going on?  I am confused.  Portal registration begins at noon eastern.

Is this another deal where I had to buy a badge yesterday and log in then to be put on a waiting list for today?  It isn't where I just log in at noon EST and click Request and then we are all put into a waiting list like when we register for games?

I am 100% screwed already after just buying a badge!  3:30pm?  Nothing under the sun will be available 15 minutes after this goes live :\  Why do they do this?

Important note: Badges must be purchased by Friday, February 11, 2022 to be included in the randomized access queue. Any customers who purchase badges after the randomized housing access times have been issued will be placed at the end of the initial queue.

Good...freaking...god....why don't they put this AT THE TOP of the Housing Info and not buried at the bottom?  Jesus....

Update: just saw other notes about time compression with latest times being after 3PM so...yeah...hard to say but not looking good for downtown hotel. Just do keep in mind that you can keep swapping out your room in the portal right up until rooms transfer to the hotel in July.  I've gotten downtown hotels every year I've tried by checking the housing 2-3 times a day until I grabbed one. Especially useful around key cutoof dates (like event registration, badge cancellation, etc.)

ORIGINAL:

You're not screwed.

Housing Portal is run on a lottery. Your badge got you an entry into the lottery. There will be plenty of hotels available at 3:30PM.  There may not be plenty of downtown hotels - hard to say.

Last year, downtown hotels were available much of the day. 2019 I think they sold out by around 2PM - but that year badges sold out as well.

Good luck!

Sure I did because I didn't see that I had to buy a freaking badge 2 days ago.  It automatically puts me at the end of the waiting list, which is absolutely no chance of getting a hotel at that point.  Yes, I am screwed.

I will be shocked if any hotels are still available on that list by 3:30.  I'll come back and eat my hat if there is.  I've been in this before but not with this silly 2-day early requirement.  I've been screwed before.

The queued lottery times for housing isn’t new. It’s been happening for several years.

For people who haven't been to GenCon in several years, it would be nice to make it way more obvious than buried in that sea of info on the page.  It needs to be literally the FIRST THING on the page at the top.  MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE ENTIRE LOTTERY.

If you use Facebook, I publish a list of Gen Con key dates.

This is how far that CRITICAL INFORMATION is down from the top of the page.  Why isn't it at the VERY TOP IN BOLD LETTERS?  It's literally the NUMBER ONE thing you need to know about housing!

Important: The following housing policies apply to Gen Con registrants purchasing single and 4-Day attendee badges for the 2022 convention. Convention housing policies applicable to other Gen Con registrant groups (i.e. VIG, Trade Day attendees, exhibitors, artists, authors, and professionals) will be distributed to group members by their Gen Con coordinators. All registrant groups are subject to our standard housing registration Terms of Service.
Gen Con is proud to partner with Q-rooms to offer attendees a wide variety of discounted hotel rooms for the 2022 convention. Room type availability and rates vary by hotel.
Attendee group housing registration will open at noon (Eastern) on February 13, 2022 (“opening day”). Starting on that day, attendees can visit the online Gen Con housing portal to review guest room inventory and request a room assignment. The link to access the housing portal is located on the “My Housing” page within each attendee’s Gen Con account. After a room assignment request has been submitted, the online system will process the request and email the room assignment acknowledgment to the attendee email address provided.
Attendees can modify or cancel room assignments until housing registration closes at 11:59 pm (Eastern) on July 18, 2022 (the “closing date”). After housing registration closes, hotels will download final room assignments from the registration system, charge non-refundable deposits to guest credit cards, and issue hotel reservations confirming the room assignments. Until housing registration closes, the participating hotels will not have record of attendees’ room assignments.
Check out this slideshow from Q-Rooms for a step-by-step guide on making a reservation through the housing portal!
Housing Topics
If you are interested in learning more about housing registration, please click on the topic of interest below or scroll down the page to continue reading.

Housing Eligibility
Room Limits
Online Registration Requirement
Housing Portal Access Scheduling
Multiple Room Requests
Minimum Night Stay Restrictions
ADA Accessible Room Requests
Credit Card Requirement
Modification Policy
Cancellation Policy
Hotel Deposit Requirement
Wait List
Room Assignment Management
Credit Card Security & Fraud Prevention
Housing Registration Terms of Service
Gen Con Housing Contact Information

• HOUSING ELIGIBILITY
  Attendees desiring rooms in the Gen Con housing block must first purchase badges through Gen Con’s badge registration system. Upon purchase, Gen Con’s registration system will create unique links for housing registration and activate the links when housing registration opens. The housing registration links will be located on the “My Housing” page of the Gen Con account.
  Badge purchasers — not badge holders — are eligible to request room assignments in the Gen Con housing block. The account holder who purchases the badge must request a hotel room assignment through the unique links located on the My Housing page of their Gen Con account. Only badge purchasers can request room assignments. If a badge is bought for you, you are not eligible to request a room assignment through your account.
  ROOM LIMITS
  Badge purchasers are allowed to request one hotel room for every 1-2 badges purchased.
  ONLINE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT
  On opening day, all room assignment requests must be submitted online via the housing portal.
  To request a room assignment, follow these steps:
  Customer phone support will be restricted to individuals needing assistance to make changes to their initial room assignments. Callers are asked to have their room assignment acknowledgment number ready to expedite phone support on opening day. Please make sure to call the Q-rooms call center (317-688-1323) and not the Gen Con Customer Service line for all housing-related questions.
  HOUSING PORTAL ACCESS SCHEDULING
  Scheduled access to the housing portal is required to distribute initial opening server demand, eliminating housing registration "time outs" and system crashes. When housing registration opens, attendees who have purchased badges will be tallied and randomly assigned housing registration access times, after which they can use their “Request Room” links to visit the online housing portal to request specific room assignments.
  After the randomized scheduling occurs, a countdown timer for your unique access time will appear on the “My Housing” page of your Gen Con account. Attendees should be aware that access to the online housing portal will be spread out over many hours, the duration of which depends on how many customers are queued for access. After opening day, housing registration access will be granted immediately upon completion of badge purchases.
  Important note: Badges must be purchased by Friday, February 11, 2022 to be included in the randomized access queue. Any customers who purchase badges after the randomized housing access times have been issued will be placed at the end of the initial queue.
  
  
  
  • 
    
    
    
    • 1-2 badges = 1 room
      
    • 3-4 badges = 2 rooms
      
    • 5-6 badges = 3 rooms
      
    • 7+ badges = etc ...
      
    
    
    
    
    1. Sign in to your Gen Con account.
       
    2. Visit your My Housing page.
       
    3. Click the "Request Room" link.
       
    4. Click "Go To Housing Portal." The link will connect you with the online system where you can select the hotel and room type you want to be assigned. Submit all required information, read and accept the Terms of Service, then submit your room request.
       
  
  

You can also find it stuck to the very top of this forum.

https://www.gencon.com/forums/91-travel-housing-and-dining-2022/topics/17135-housing-portal-tips-and-tricks

Mike

There will be rooms at 3:30. They may not be the ones you would like most, but there will be something there. You can always keep checking regularly over the next few months (particularly as we approach the hotel and badge refund deadlines) and grab things that show up.

Mike, it really is a simple process of putting it at the very top of the place that people are going to look first.  You guys made a guide and point us to it on the front page.  Forums aren't going to be where I first look

This is such an easy change to make sure newcomers are aware of this really important feature.  I have no idea why it isn't at the very top of the main guide page or even on the FRONT PAGE showing people who come to GenCon to know there's a deadline to buy badges for housing.

Checking off and on over months never works.  That requires such crazy luck to time it where someone has canceled and NO ONE else has picked the room up in that span.  You have to be on this place constantly to catch those kinds of cancellations.  They don't last.

As I knew, hotels downtown are all sold out long before 3:30.

This is so ridiculous how absolutely CRITICAL it is to buy a badge by February 11 and it's not on the front page of GenCon Indy.  Don't JUST put Housing Registration date, put the freaking Badge Deadline right below it on the main page.

Absolutely absurd.

I mean I bought my badge like 5 minutes after they went on sale and got assigned 3:19 as my time, so it really makes not a lot of difference ha.

There look to be a lot of hotels still available on Hotels.com, I think a lot of the hotels outside downtown weren't in the block this year, or had fewer rooms in it, possibly due to last year's reduced attendance. 

I made a reservation as a "backup plan" for the Homewood Suites that is about .6 miles away since it wasn't part of the hotel block.  The thing that stinks is there's 4 of us (me, my husband, and our two male friends) so we need 3 sleeping surfaces.  This room is more than I've paid staying at like the Hilton or any of the other close to convention hotels in the past, and we're all crammed in one space.

Those who are not in the lottery literally have a 0% chance while you had a 1% chance :)