hotel booking, parking and local food INFORMATION
PROCESS OVERVIEW:
The official MAGFest hotel blocks for Super MAGFest 2025 will open for reservations on Wednesday, October 9 at 7pm ET (Housing Launch), but you must purchase a badge no later than Wednesday, September 25 at 11:59pm ET (Housing Cutoff) to be eligible for Pre-Registered Advance Attendee hotel booking. Please be aware that nearby hotels, especially within National Harbor, typically sell out within an hour of reservations opening. Here is this year’s pricing sheet for planning purposes. Below are the full details:
We will open pre-registration first. In order to get access to Pre-Registered Advance Attendee Hotel Booking, you must purchase your badge no later than Wednesday, September 25 at 11:59pm ET (the housing cutoff date).
After the hotel cutoff date, our third-party housing provider, Maritz, will receive the email addresses of all eligible attendees. Two informational emails will be sent before Housing Launch, to give folks a chance to ensure their emails are entered correctly and to whitelist the sender. After 6pm on Housing Launch Day, we CANNOT fix issues with hotel booking links or pins, so please ensure you check before then!
On the afternoon of Wednesday, October 9 (Housing Launch Day), the waiting room will open. The login credentials will be sent by Maritz beginning at 2pm ET on Housing Launch Day, and will be required to enter the waiting room, so make sure to have those handy! Anyone in the waiting room by 7pm ET on Housing Launch Day will be randomly ordered and placed into a queue; you’ll get notice of your place in line. From there, you may proceed to make hotel reservations according to the available inventory. Any users that join the waiting room after 7pm ET will be placed at the back of the queue.
All hotels in National Harbor require a three-night minimum to book (Thurs-Sun).
MAGFest can only assist with reservations that are booked through our official process. We can’t help with rooms booked at other unaffiliated hotels, or even booked at one of our official hotels if reserved directly with them through their website or by calling.
Informational note: if a hotel “overbooks” itself and they cannot honor your reservation when you arrive, generally it is their responsibility to find you another room at a nearby property and assist with the expenses of shifting you to the other property. For attendee awareness – the Club Wyndham in National Harbor is not a traditional hotel and does not have this obligation. If they cancel your reservation, they do not have any responsibility to assist you with finding alternate accommodations.
ATTENDEE ROOM GROUPINGS:
The link to the form for requesting an attendee room grouping is here. This link is to let us know that for attendees who get rooms at the Gaylord National, they would like the rooms in the requested blocks to be grouped together. This form closes on the Housing Cutoff Date (Wednesday, September 25, 2024 at 11:59pm ET). If you think you want a block, request one, there’s no harm in it if you don’t get into the Gaylord and it is very difficult to get one added after reservations open.
LARGE SUITE ALLOCATION:
The form for requesting one of the larger suites at the Gaylord will be available on this page at 12pm ET on the day after Housing Launch Day. You must have an existing reservation at the Gaylord National to request an upgrade to a suite. Requests are first-come, first-serve and we receive about 10 times the requests as the number of suites that are available. Within a week after launch, you will start receiving emails from our Hotel Department staff allocating suites and detailing the process - you can always decline getting a suite if your name comes up and you get an email from the Hotel Department with your options. Pricing of the suites will be available in the request form.
ANYTHING ELSE FOR NOW?
If you still have a question about this process, please contact us, and at the bottom of that page, you can subscribe to MAGFest’s newsletter, which will keep you up-to-date with all this information!
parking information - FROM 2024 BUT LIKELY SIMILAR
There are three options for parking in National Harbor, where Super MAGFest 2024 takes place:
Parking at the Gaylord National
If you arrive at the Gaylord between 9:00 AM and 10:00 PM on Wednesday, January 17 or Thursday, January 18, you will be required to pre-pay at the MAGFest rate of $19/day for the days for which you expect to park. Please have your credit card in hand and be prepared to tell the parking staff how many days you will be staying. You will be given a receipt by the gate staff that allows parking and gives you in-and-out privileges for the days for which you have paid. When you exit show the receipt to the booth attendant. No refunds will be given for unused parking, even if it is due to the Gaylord parking being full.
The Gaylord parking garage may be limited at times to only those who are staying at the Gaylord and those who pre-paid for parking. Please follow appropriate signage and directions by the staff for any changes to parking flows.
If you pre-pay for any day you are good for that day until 11:59 PM.
If you arrive outside the above pre-payment hours you may take a ticket and park, either charging the parking to your room or paying when you exit. You can also purchase a discount parking voucher from the Parking Desk in Hall E (where you pick up your MAGFest badge).
Valet Parking is available in-front of the Gaylord at the main entrance for $64/day.
EV charging capabilities at the Gaylord are wall sockets near the elevators on each level. Gaylord does not have rapid charging facilities at this time.
If you are a MAGFest participant, panelist, etc. and MAGFest has already agreed to cover your parking costs, you will receive a flyer to display to the gate staff when you enter which will allow you to enter without paying. This flyer can be printed or displayed on your cell phone.
Reserved Parking within National Harbor
How to buy reserved parking at the two National Harbor open lots:
You must purchase each day you wish to park separately. Parking starts runs from 12:00a and ends at 11:59p the same day, so if you're intending on parking overnight, please keep that in mind when purchasing. Both of these parking lots have in-out privileges.
After clicking on the link below, scroll down the left side menu and click the menu button VIEW ALL EVENTS. This will lead you to where you can choose the days of parking you wish to purchase, each day purchased separately.
Plateau Lot - $22/day. SOLD OUT FOR ADVANCE BOOKING. Drive-up available until capacity reached. As of Friday morning, there are 700 parking spot available for drive-ups. This lot is diagonally across from the Gaylord National, across the street from the Hampton Inn. You can either scan your pass to enter the lot at the gate, or print them and display them on your dashboard.
Southpointe Lot - $20/day. SOLD OUT FOR ADVANCE BOOKING. This lot is behind the Gaylord. If you reserve in this parking lot, please print your parking passes and display them on your dashboard. Note: You MUST have your reservation on you at the time of parking, either as a printout or on your phone.
Standard Parking Lots within National Harbor:
There are three other parking lots within National Harbor, and the website with this information is linked here, including where there are EV charging spots.
Food information - FROM 2024 BUT LIKELY SIMILAR
The Gaylord National has new food options, and the details will be coming shortly. During MAGFest, the Marketplace will be open 24 hours on Thursday-Friday-Saturday nights.
National Harbor has lots of food options, and you can access special discounts through their Show Your Badge program.
CHANGELOG
2024/09/18 - updated Housing Launch date to October 9
2024/09/17 - added link to pricing sheet
2024/09/11 - corrected deadline for hotel block request form
2024/09/11 - updated dates for 2025 process
2024/08/06 - more detailed process update
2024/07/19 - updated to initial 2025 information