Jeff Mach's Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire V: The Mad Tea Party

That big, splashy, lit-up-at-night picture that luxury hotels like to put on their websites. It was either this shot, or the one where you mostly see grass and trees--which are beautiful, but not really as useful in February.

Our event hotel this year is The Doubletree Hotel and Conference Center of Somerset, NJ. It’s located at 200 Atrium Drive, Somerset, New Jersey; their phone number is 732-469-2600.    That hotel is sold out of hotel rooms except for Friday – if you’d like to get a room on Friday,  you can call the number above (tell them you’re with the Wicked Faire, or at the website (group code WRF).

It is essential if you’ve gotten a room that you email wickedhotel@gmail.com and tell them if you:

(a) want us to try to put you on a quieter floor if we can

(b) want us to try to put you in a less-quiet floor if we can

(c) don’t care and can be placed anywhere.

Our official overflow hotel is the Radisson of Piscataway – 21 Kingsbridge Road, Piscataway NJ 08854.  Room rate is $89/night, for SleepNumber beds! They also offer a shuttle service to Wicked Faire.   If you didn’t get into the Doubletree, definitely give these folks a call; we’ve done other events with them, and they’re good people.   Plus, it’ll be good to have your fellow Wicked-goers near you!

It really helps the event if you use the Overflow hotel.   It helps us negotiate better deals for you for next year, for one thing; it also helps hotels in general have more respect for our group.

About the Doubletree:  Every year since we left the Expo Center, we’ve tried get a nicer and nicer hotel. I think this one beats out last year’s by just a little bit. It’s spaced out differently, but there’s rather more total conference space; sleeping rooms are a little nicer, have a slightly more individual flavor, and there are a few more amenities.

Unlike last year, if you want to take public transit, there currently is a shuttle available from the train station for patrons with rooms.

Call the hotel directly if you want to try to set up a pickup; if you have trouble, contact me directly and let me know. (Or, heck, if you have a particularly good experience, let me know about that, too; I’d like to see how this hotel stacks up.)

Basic things to keep in mind about dealing with the hotel:

1.   The Radisson of Piscataway is where the Steampunk World’s Fair will be held.  Be nice to them; we’ll be coming back in May!

2. It does help the event when you patronize the hotel’s restaurants and bar. That always helps us with future negotiations.

3. If you want to hear about unofficial events, gatherings, parties, and the like, your best bet is to go to http://wickedvillage.org, which is probably the best place to talk to Wicked Fairegoers ahead of time.