As
you've probably read or heard by now, the upcoming Minicon 34 will be
in downtown Minneapolis at the Hilton Minneapolis & Towers. (This is now
the official name of the hotel! Recent corporate changes have included
a new logo and hotel names that all start with "Hilton" instead of the
city name.) At 1001 Marquette Ave South, the hotel occupies the full block
between 10th Ave S., 11th Ave S., Marquette Ave S., and 2nd Ave S., just
a few blocks north of the city's convention center. They have 821 rooms,
of which we have 600 rooms blocked for Minicon. As of mid-December we
have our block half-filled. So there are still "rooms at the inn," but
be sure to get your reservations in soon - we could fill the remaining block
by mid-February. In any case, you must make your room reservation
before March 10th in order to be assured of getting Minicon's
room rates.
This year, Minicon is handling reservations only for suites. All reservations for non-suite sleeping rooms, and any special requests associated with them, must be handled through the hotel reservations folks. (See box on the next page for reservation details and phone numbers.) The Hilton is no longer accepting non-guaranteed reservations, so you must guarantee your reservation one of two ways:
1.¥Guarantee
it with a credit card number.
By the terms of our contract, use of this method requires no further deposit.
Your room will be held until 3 am the first night of your reservation,
at which point the card will be charged for that night. Some computer-printed
confirmations sent from the national corporate reservations system have
claimed that an early deposit is required. This is not true, but
it keeps creeping back into the national system because corporate Hilton
has been trying to make this hotel a "deposit-required" hotel starting
in 1999. Fortunately, our contract explicitly covers the terms of credit-card
guarantees.
2. Guarantee it with a cash deposit.
This deposit is due at the local hotel within ten days of making your
reservation. (Deposits are always handled by the local hotel.)
In either case, if you need to cancel a reservation, you must do so at least a full day before your scheduled arrival. Check directly with the local hotel (612-376-1000) if you have doubts about the status of your reservation.
To request and reserve a suite, whether a traditional two-bedroom Deluxe Parlor suite or an Executive King suite with connecting bedrooms, request what you want through Minicon by February 14th. You can indicate your request with your Minicon registration form, or if you have email access, you can contact us at <hotel@minicon34. mnstf.org>. We still have suites available, so let us know if you want one. Contrary to rumor, we have not been rejecting suite requests based on party content. Everyone who requested a suite by mid-December will get one. This includes folks from Convergence, Concussion, GT/PFRC, SF Minnesota, SFWA, TOR Books, the United Kingdom, and others. At least three other suite requesters said they intend to run music parties. There will be a variety of parties at Minicon this year, and we still have room for more. We also still have some Executive King suites on the quiet floors available for quiet party or non-party use. Contact us now!
Speaking of room parties, signs for parties are turning out to be a problem this year. Please check in with Minicon Convention Services to find out the final rules for posting signs in the Hilton. We will probably have kiosks set up as party boards.
Many people have asked about parking. There will be a good deal of parking available, but it won't be free. We're hoping to arrange a special deal with nearby garages (connected by skyway) and surface lots for Minicon members, but we haven't been able to do so yet. The surface lots are normally $3/day on weekends. The worst-cost case is the city-run garage under the hotel with 1200 spaces. Its night rate, from 4pm to 4am, is $4. The day rate increases hourly to a maximum of $11.50 per 24 hours. Nearby garages are slightly less expensive. We will announce any special Minicon parking rates on our web page <hotel@minicon 34.mnstf.org>, and, we hope, on a corner of the registration confirmation cards.
If you have any questions or problems, please contact us at the Minicon P.O. Box (Attn: Hotel) or via email at <hotel@minicon34.mnstf.org>. Hope to see you this April at Minicon!