Got notified on Tuesday that we had floated to the top of the Hyatt waiting list for Arisia. (The Hyatt may be evil, but they're awfully convenient.) Went through the rigamarole to get a reservation: make a fake reservation for Thursday, pass the reservation number to the Arisia Innkeeper, who submits it to the Hyatt staff, who mutate it into an actual Fri-Mon reservation. The Hyatt website still just shows the Thursday one, but I just spoke with the hotel on the phone, and they confirmed that *they* think we're in for the convention. So I've cancelled my reservation at Le Meridien. (Which was cheaper and probably nicer, but the shuttle bus would put a mild crimp in my planning.)
I confess, I'm really looking forward to next year, and the prospect of a hotel that is (hopefully) actually big enough. (And hopefully less evil.) But in the meantime, yay for the Arisia Innkeeper, who is negotiating this PITA process with the hotel for getting people off the waiting list...
I'm also totally looking forward to the new hotel! There will be something like double the number of rooms available!