it's far more important that the venue matches the size of the convention and is prepared to be welcoming to us weirdos
Absolutely ^^this^^. What the OP likely doesn't understand (possibly since, by their own admission, they're fairly new to the fandom) is that when we pick a venue for a con, the size of the space and their attitude towards "fannish" conventions is critical, and pretty much takes precedence over any other considerations.
To expand on those points, for OP's benefit (if they actually read the responses):
Size of the venue is important for several reasons: First, is simply a matter of cost; larger spaces cost more to rent for the weekend. A second, related issue, is the matter of "room-nights", which is an industry term for how "many rooms are your convention's attendees going to rent, and for how many nights' stay?" If we, as a convention, can credibly promise to book the entire facility to, say, 75% capacity or more over that entire weekend, that puts us in a strong position to negotiate for (a) discounted room rates for our attendees, and (b) reduced pricing on the use of the ballrooms and meeting rooms used for events. Smaller cons, therefore, pretty much have to go to smaller hotels, regardless of other considerations like public transit or amenities within walking distance, because otherwise we'll have to charge $100+ just for basic memberships to oover the meeting-room, costs and you'll be paying $200+ a night for rooms because they aren't going to give us discounts if we can only book out 10% of their space.
(And worse, if a convention over-promises how many room-nights they can sell, and we come up short, the convention's contract with the hotel generally can and will put the con on the hook for the difference.)
The other issue with size -- which also goes hand-in-hand with "how does the hotel feel about our kind of conventions?" -- is that "fan" conventions can, and often do, end up running into conflicts with other guests at the hotel who aren't part of our group. Even if it's nothing worse than non-attendees becoming annoyed because it takes so long to get an elevator to show up when they're ready to go out for breakfast, it's not good for anyone when the hotel starts getting complaints from other guests about "those weird people."
So, the net result is, some hotels are simply not suited to our type of convention, regardless of any other considerations. It has nothing to do with "car culture"; it has everything to do with how much business we can credibly promise to bring to their establishment while not coming into conflict with other guests or events that we'd end up having to share the space with if we can't fill it ourselves.
Absolutely ^^this^^. What the OP likely doesn't understand (possibly since, by their own admission, they're fairly new to the fandom) is that when we pick a venue for a con, the size of the space and their attitude towards "fannish" conventions is critical, and pretty much takes precedence over any other considerations.
To expand on those points, for OP's benefit (if they actually read the responses):
Size of the venue is important for several reasons: First, is simply a matter of cost; larger spaces cost more to rent for the weekend. A second, related issue, is the matter of "room-nights", which is an industry term for how "many rooms are your convention's attendees going to rent, and for how many nights' stay?" If we, as a convention, can credibly promise to book the entire facility to, say, 75% capacity or more over that entire weekend, that puts us in a strong position to negotiate for (a) discounted room rates for our attendees, and (b) reduced pricing on the use of the ballrooms and meeting rooms used for events. Smaller cons, therefore, pretty much have to go to smaller hotels, regardless of other considerations like public transit or amenities within walking distance, because otherwise we'll have to charge $100+ just for basic memberships to oover the meeting-room, costs and you'll be paying $200+ a night for rooms because they aren't going to give us discounts if we can only book out 10% of their space.
(And worse, if a convention over-promises how many room-nights they can sell, and we come up short, the convention's contract with the hotel generally can and will put the con on the hook for the difference.)
The other issue with size -- which also goes hand-in-hand with "how does the hotel feel about our kind of conventions?" -- is that "fan" conventions can, and often do, end up running into conflicts with other guests at the hotel who aren't part of our group. Even if it's nothing worse than non-attendees becoming annoyed because it takes so long to get an elevator to show up when they're ready to go out for breakfast, it's not good for anyone when the hotel starts getting complaints from other guests about "those weird people."
So, the net result is, some hotels are simply not suited to our type of convention, regardless of any other considerations. It has nothing to do with "car culture"; it has everything to do with how much business we can credibly promise to bring to their establishment while not coming into conflict with other guests or events that we'd end up having to share the space with if we can't fill it ourselves.