Hotel details/ room blocks:

We have reserved a block of rooms for this year's festival at the Hilton Garden Inn on Portland's waterfront. This is a very nice hotel and is conveniently located near Ocean Gateway. The rate is much lower than the open rate. Here is a link to the reservation information:

http://hiltongardeninn.hilton.com/en/gi/groups/personalized/PWMDHGI-MCA-20100521/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG#reservation

Hotels in Portland part II- The Holiday Inn by the Bay

We have reserved a block of twenty rooms at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland for Saturday, May 16- Sunday, May 17 2009. The room rate is $119 per night. The Holiday Inn is located downtown in the Arts District. There will be a shuttle available to bring people to and from the festival or anywhere else in Portland.

http://www.innbythebay.com/

The rooms feature two beds per room and are for single or double occupancy. Reservations must be made by calling the hotel's local reservation department at 1-800-345-5050. Attendees must ask specifically for a room from the Maine Comics Arts Festival block to ensure you get the proper rate and availability. Reservations must be made by April 15, 2009. After that any remaining rooms will be released from the block for general public resale.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Hotels in Portland- The Portland Regency

We have three hotels that we are working with in Portland. The first one is the Portland Regency.

http://theregency3-px.trvlclick.com/default.htm

This fine hotel is right in the heart of Portland's Old Port. This is where we usually reserve rooms for guests who are appearing at our store. It is approximately a 30 second walk from the hotel to our store.

They have set aside a block of rooms for people attending the festival for the dates of May 16 and 17. The room rate is $149 a night (savings of $20 per night). Reservations must be made by phone to their reservation department and you must mention that you are attending the Maine Comics Arts Festival.

Reservations & Information: USA: 1-(888) 636-8311 or 1-888-893-4606.

Of the three hotels we are working with, this hotel is the most convenient to shopping, restaurants and bars.

We will be listing the information for the other two hotels next week. We need to finalize the contracts and have codes assigned to the reservations. Please e-mail us with any questions. Thanks!

Hotels in Portland

We have begun working with local hotels to secure rooms for the festival. We should have blocks of rooms at several hotels. Full details will be announced once we open registrations in January.

Here is the deal. The hotels are offering us rooms at pretty much the same price that you would pay if you booked the room yourself on the internet. While that does not sound like such a great deal at first it actually is not too bad. The rooms that you would book online are prepaid with no cancellations or changes allowed. If you book a room through the festival you will have the options to change your reservation if you need to do so. The price will be the same but you will have a little safety net if your plans should change.

The hotels would also be offering free shuttle service to and from the festival.

Thanks!