I read an article in the San Diego Union about how hotels are facing financial difficulties. The article talked about how hotel rooms have lowered rates, offered special incentives, yet nothing is working to get people into the hotels.

As I continued to read the article I was sure they would hit the high point. I figured this since my parents, who plan on being in San Diego at the same time as this event, have had a terrible time finding a hotel room and the ones they find are very expensive. Sure enough, at the end of the article many hotels said they were happy that Comicon was coming to town. It was guaranteed money, and of course to thank the people coming to the convention they have raised rates.

Here is the exact quote from the San Diego Union about Comicon:

In the meantime, hoteliers are looking forward to next month's blockbuster convention, Comic-Con International, the city's largest. With most local hotels expecting sellouts, they typically bump up room rates to take advantage of heightened demand.

That passage shows the exact problem with our economic forecast. Hotels are hurting for business during the summer, conventions aren’t coming to the city, but the big event in San Diego, the one almost 20 years ago the city wanted to move away, has become such a money maker that hotels raise prices for the event.

As a perfect example, the hotel I stayed at last year, during most of the year, cost $45 a day to stay in. It’s not a fancy hotel by a long shot, and its 10 miles from the Convention Center. When I tried booking a hotel a few months ago, the week before and after the convention the small hotel charged $65 a night for a room. The time after that it’s the same $45 a day. From what I saw last year, the small hotel was fully booked, as well as a few more hotels in the area.

I understand grabbing money and taking advantage of people as being part of business, but Comicon isn’t like the E3 or other high end business conventions. The Comicon, despite some changes, is still about fans. The majority of the 100,000 plus people that show up every year are people not in the industry. They are fans wanting to buy, trade and talk popular culture. A lot of the expensive hotels charging $300 or more a night for a room will have 3 to 10 people in a room, because they are fans trying to save money.

So on one hand you have hotels claiming poverty and moaning about needing guests yet they are upping their rates for Comicon. Hotels aren’t the only ones taking advantage of the guarantee of Comicon. Parking usually $5 a day downtown will go up to $10-$20. Restaurants charge slightly higher. Unless you booked in April, when there were sales offered by a number of airlines, airfare going to San Diego during the convention, if you can find it, is higher.

So you have a situation where the fans that are scrambling to get money for the convention are the ones who are paying the bill for the hotels to make up for the bad economy. It reminds me of the taxes, where we make taxes to try and hit the rich, yet there are options to get them out of it and the little guy gets hit footing the bill.