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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mistwell" data-source="post: 7678898" data-attributes="member: 2525">I agree. It's just that so many people live in the west that it's not out of line to suggest Las Vegas or Seattle as a destination instead of or in addition to Indianapolis. I love GenCon. But the year I went, it was because the convention was paying for our hotel room for us and booking it for us.  We couldn't have afforded it without that, as the plane flight alone was a huge amount of money.  A convention in Seattle or Las Vegas, on the other hand, I can handle.  Personally (and I am not sure this is the right thread for this, but I think it's related) I think GenCon should move to Vegas after their 2020 lease is up in Indianapolis.  It's outgrown Indianapolis, and even with Indianapolis expanding it's still going to outgrow it.  It won't ever outgrow Vegas, and Vegas is a much more pleasant destination for the convention.I just got back from a convention in Las Vegas (ASD Consumer Goods Show), and it was inexpensive, nice, and easy.  It's a fair comparison because this con has about the same number of attendees as GenCon (50,000 or so).  It's roughly the same week as GenCon (early August).  It has a bigger set of convention floors and booths (roughly 2600 booths across 6 floors - but of course no gaming so some booth space would be replaced by gaming space, though we're still talking more space to work with by far than GenCon), and more room to expand into beyond that (the Star Trek convention was taking place in the next week at the Rio convention center for example, and the Vegas convention center itself will be double the size by 2020 as they are expanding it right now and construction is already half completed).The convention was free with prereg or $40 at the door - which means while I don't have private contracts in hand for GenCon and ASD, it's fair to say the Vegas convention center isn't breaking the bank any more or less than GenCon for the conventions renting that space (and is probably cheaper - it is, after all, build on cheap land in a desert, in a town massively hit by the recession).  Rooms were $39/night in a nice hotel right next to the convention center, and around that at other hotels (ours was $45/night because we stayed at Circus Circus, but you can find even cheaper than $39 pretty easily, particularly in Downtown Vegas which has some nicer cheap hotels).  Food was plentiful, good, and cheap, with lots of good inexpensive all you can eat buffets as well. Transportation was readily available using a monorail between major hotels and skyway/mini monorail/tram between smaller hotels.  Parking was plentiful and $5-$10/day depending on where you parked (or free at hotels).  We stayed at a kid-friendly hotel (Circus Circus) which had an indoor amusement park, circus shows, kid-friendly restaurants, and lots of swimming pools.  We also went to see, for free, the exploding volcano at the Mirage, and the pirate ships with pirates fighting at Treasure Island.  We also could have gone to see the Fountain show at the Bellagio, the fall of Atlantis at the Fourum shops at Ceasars, the Freemont Street Experience in downtown Vegas or the outdoor Neon museum in downtown, the Flamingos at the Flamingo, etc. all for free and all kid-friendly.  Or we could have paid for the dolphin show, aquariums, tigers, cirque du soleil, blue man group, magic shows, etc., and there are coupons for those as well. Las Vegas has a major airport, and pretty much every major airport flies to Las Vegas frequently, much more so than Indianapolis, which means tickets tend to be cheaper.  In fact I just checked a random set of destinations and Detroit to Indianapolis was $400/ticket (though it's MUCH closer to Detroit), while Detroit to Vegas was $237.    I then checked Tulsa to Indianapolis, and Tulsa to Vegas, and again Vegas was cheaper even though it's much further.  Finally I checked Charlotte, NC to Indianapolis and then Las Vegas and the prices were almost the exact same (though the distances outrageously different).  In sum, on average it's cheaper to fly to Las Vegas from almost anywhere in the U.S. than it is to fly to Indianapolis.  Of course, driving to Indianapolis is cheaper than Las Vegas for many, though not necessarily once you figure in gas, parking, and of course all the other costs of holding the convention in Indianapolis like hotel, food, etc..Bottom line, the experience of going to a convention in Vegas was significantly better than it is in Indianapolis. Everything costs less, and is higher quality, and easier to access.  There are more options for families, and for those on a very tight budget.  There is a reason the Vegas convention center is ranked #3 in the nation, while Indianapolis is ranked #27.  I know this sounds blasphemous to suggest moving it from it's traditional mid-west location to a western location, but I really think it would serve the convention attendees and the companies renting booths or running games there much better than Indianapolis.And as for the expected argument that gambling detracts from spending money on the convention floor - this example was a major consumer goods show.  They do extremely well every year, and grow every year.  They're selling stuff left and right - that's what the show is about, even more than GenCon, to sell stuff.  The gambling doesn't seem to detract from their ability to sell.  Anyone going to GenCon for tabletop gaming is still going to spend their money on tabletop gaming.  Just like people going to a consumer goods show for consumer goods, are still spending their money on those consumer goods.  I didn't even gamble when in Vegas this time, for instance.  There was just too much to spend my money on inside the show, to bother spending money outside the show.</blockquote>

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