Hotel Report
Condensing the fangirl squee for those of you coming to Yaoicon this year at the San Mateo Marriott. :)
The Property Itself:
The Marriott is just off of the 101, so it has good access to and from San Francisco proper and is down the road from the Hayward stop. The best description of the stores in the area belongs to BARTboy, who lives literally down the road from the hotel (link here).
In addition to the stores that he mentions, there's also Circuit City, RiteAid, etc for your battery/camera/technology and general drugstore emergencies. It's about the same distance to Albertson's at the last hotel only with less construction on the walk over.
Inside the hotel:
The lobby is split into two areas, one with a fireplace and the other right beside the California Grill. Which incidentally serves a bowl of fresh berries as a dessert. I've never actually seen that.
There's a coffee shop in their gift shop area, but I don't know how their prices are. The boyfriend was usually the one who ventured into it. ;)
There's also a rent-a-car agency on site, so you don't have to worry about being trapped in one spot if you don't want to walk.
The best part of the whole deal, noisewise, is that the meeting area and guest rooms are separate. You access them by two different elevators or sets of stairs, whatever you prefer. Theoretically, if you don't want to go to the dance, your sleep shouldn't be disrupted by the music. Also, the entire hotel is being taken up by Yaoicon, so we won't have to worry about the nice ladies from Mary Kay bitching us out for being vaguely loud, nor will we have to listen to the whining from UCLA cheerleaders that the lesbians are looking at them omg.
The rooms themselves:
As mentioned, the rooms have HDTVs in them, and those are just the regular rooms. We're planning on bringing our Wii for our suite. I dread them, to be honest, but it looks like we're going to try having a party in our room. Usually I just like quiet spots to relax and such. Anyways.
Beds are comfy and have a ton of pillows. Extra blankets are already in the closet. Don't worry about temperature though. The thermostat has a digital readout by the bathroom, so you don't have to bitchslap a radiator-shaped heater into working.
As mentioned in the con report, there are three mirrors in the deluxe room: one in the bathroom, one above the desk, and a full length one on the wall instead of on the closet door. The room is well lit, so you can make sure you look good in your cosplay stuff. I found on the site that they have same day laundry service, so that might be something to look into if your costume took a bit of a beating over the con (or you can probably save money by having it done or doing it yourself when you get home).
The hotel employees:
Will rock your socks, boxers, etc, right off. There's a small horde of bellmen at the door, and they are more than happy to help. They've had a furry con there, so we shouldn't freak them out too much. ;) The front desk people know all, and if they don't, there's a free access computer with web capabilities (which is how we discovered that the only movie playing that night at ToA was 300, and there's no way in hell we were going to take his little sister to see that).
Two hotel folks stopped by the game room, and those who were watching the door told them to go ahead on in, and they refused. "Oh, we just wanted to make sure that the electricity was working okay."
The security guy even stopped for a bit during the night, apparently, and said it was better than walking the halls. He was only scared off when there was an eruption of swearing. ("Fuck me!" *escape!*)
Cosplay opportunities:
The courtyard that they mention on the site is beautiful, no doubt about that. There are numerous trees and birds of paradise plants. Also plenty of places to sit down if you want to have lunch in a nice, quiet spot.
There is access to some lovely balconies as well as http://conpix.net can attest. He's a great photographer, and he's looking to really get some more shots to build his portfolio out more, I hear. I could be wrong, but he's a really nice guy, and I can't help but oblige him. :)
As mentioned in BARTboy's report, there's a large and lovely park with a Japanese garden area which was undergoing some renovation at the time of ToA but will be open again well in time for Yaoicon.
Ta da?
The Property Itself:
The Marriott is just off of the 101, so it has good access to and from San Francisco proper and is down the road from the Hayward stop. The best description of the stores in the area belongs to BARTboy, who lives literally down the road from the hotel (link here).
In addition to the stores that he mentions, there's also Circuit City, RiteAid, etc for your battery/camera/technology and general drugstore emergencies. It's about the same distance to Albertson's at the last hotel only with less construction on the walk over.
Inside the hotel:
The lobby is split into two areas, one with a fireplace and the other right beside the California Grill. Which incidentally serves a bowl of fresh berries as a dessert. I've never actually seen that.
There's a coffee shop in their gift shop area, but I don't know how their prices are. The boyfriend was usually the one who ventured into it. ;)
There's also a rent-a-car agency on site, so you don't have to worry about being trapped in one spot if you don't want to walk.
The best part of the whole deal, noisewise, is that the meeting area and guest rooms are separate. You access them by two different elevators or sets of stairs, whatever you prefer. Theoretically, if you don't want to go to the dance, your sleep shouldn't be disrupted by the music. Also, the entire hotel is being taken up by Yaoicon, so we won't have to worry about the nice ladies from Mary Kay bitching us out for being vaguely loud, nor will we have to listen to the whining from UCLA cheerleaders that the lesbians are looking at them omg.
The rooms themselves:
As mentioned, the rooms have HDTVs in them, and those are just the regular rooms. We're planning on bringing our Wii for our suite. I dread them, to be honest, but it looks like we're going to try having a party in our room. Usually I just like quiet spots to relax and such. Anyways.
Beds are comfy and have a ton of pillows. Extra blankets are already in the closet. Don't worry about temperature though. The thermostat has a digital readout by the bathroom, so you don't have to bitchslap a radiator-shaped heater into working.
As mentioned in the con report, there are three mirrors in the deluxe room: one in the bathroom, one above the desk, and a full length one on the wall instead of on the closet door. The room is well lit, so you can make sure you look good in your cosplay stuff. I found on the site that they have same day laundry service, so that might be something to look into if your costume took a bit of a beating over the con (or you can probably save money by having it done or doing it yourself when you get home).
The hotel employees:
Will rock your socks, boxers, etc, right off. There's a small horde of bellmen at the door, and they are more than happy to help. They've had a furry con there, so we shouldn't freak them out too much. ;) The front desk people know all, and if they don't, there's a free access computer with web capabilities (which is how we discovered that the only movie playing that night at ToA was 300, and there's no way in hell we were going to take his little sister to see that).
Two hotel folks stopped by the game room, and those who were watching the door told them to go ahead on in, and they refused. "Oh, we just wanted to make sure that the electricity was working okay."
The security guy even stopped for a bit during the night, apparently, and said it was better than walking the halls. He was only scared off when there was an eruption of swearing. ("Fuck me!" *escape!*)
Cosplay opportunities:
The courtyard that they mention on the site is beautiful, no doubt about that. There are numerous trees and birds of paradise plants. Also plenty of places to sit down if you want to have lunch in a nice, quiet spot.
There is access to some lovely balconies as well as http://conpix.net can attest. He's a great photographer, and he's looking to really get some more shots to build his portfolio out more, I hear. I could be wrong, but he's a really nice guy, and I can't help but oblige him. :)
As mentioned in BARTboy's report, there's a large and lovely park with a Japanese garden area which was undergoing some renovation at the time of ToA but will be open again well in time for Yaoicon.
Ta da?