13 APRIL 2026
Okay - we knew it was coming and we knew it would be a Wednesday in April, most likely. Last year was short notice too. So why was everyone falling onto their fainting couch this morning? This is how CCI rolls. We know this.
The hotel lottery is April 15, on Tax Day to make it extra fun, and I suspect it will be extra disappointing. I'd love to be wrong. But remember that it's different this year! - and that could mean several new ways to lose your mind. Or possibly get lucky.
The inventory is live.
Let's start with the positive. You'll know right away how you did. You won't be waiting for the email that announces your fate while you keep checking social: Did anyone get the Omni yet? You won't have to wait another week after that. You won't be subject to those tedious bitchfests about how he got in at 9:02 and got Residence Inn while she got in at 9:05 and got Hilton Gaslamp and he has screenshots, goddammit, and he's going to email CCI right now.
So yes, there is an upside. But you will have to make life-altering - well, Con-altering - decisions on the fly. You'll go right to your first pick and if it's sold out, go to your 2nd, and so on down the line. And if you successfully put a room in your cart, it could vanish before you've checked out, so now you'll have to go back and grab another.
This means you'll have to decide if you want to hedge your bets. If you see a Hilton Bayfront room available, do you grab it or do you go for a slightly less alluring room knowing it's more likely to stay in your cart? I think a lot of this could be mitigated with signifiers like low inventory so let's hope they do that. And hopefully they make the sale go sloooowwww.
You have to pay right away - and that money is gone forever.
Your two-night deposit gets paid right then and there. And it's nonrefundable. And it has to be paid on a credit card good until August.
Some people think this could free up rooms - that people are less likely to grab a safety room, knowing they can't release it later. (Not easily, at least.) But what it definitely means is that you must communicate clearly and in real time with your group. If you book 2 rooms, assuming your friend wants that 2nd room and you pay for it and then you learn he already booked his own - well, you're permanently out that deposit. If it's a good hotel, though, you'll probably find someone to take it.
You can only book 2 rooms.
I like this, selfishly, because I know some people would book massive quantities of rooms in one go. But I know it's going to break up a lot of friend groups, which is tough.
It's all going to feel more permanent in a faster timeframe, upending our usual SDCC hotel sale culture.
Okay, some of you have the good sense not to participate in this. But if - and I am in the thick of this every year - you are one of those people who starts texting and calling and begging and seeing who you can trade with and is it true that Olivia has an extra Hard Rock room, and okay, you're #3 on the list, did anything change yet? You may be swiftly out of luck this year, with less room to wheel and deal. Usually there's a swirl of room trades and transfers and rumors and phone calls to OnPeak. But I think a lot of that will vanish this year.
Paying on the spot nonrefundably will force people to accept their room and make peace with it. Not everyone, of course - some will squirrel their way into a better situation. But we'll see a much lower volume.
I also think we'll see fewer rooms released - again, because of the deposit. In the past, if you really, diligently stalked the site, you might see a Hyatt room pop up in May or June. I think that will still happen but it will be rare.
All in all, I think Wednesday will be brutal for many of us but we'll have to see how it shakes out. I'll be around, sharing whatever I hear. Good luck - and if you haven't put a strategy together, I'd do that now.
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