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[o'wolf]

lightweight drapes hung from the ceiling would easily stop prying eyes. They needn't even be totally opaque, just a fairly sheer fabric that would still allow air flow.

Two words: fire safety.

We thought about it as well. It's not possible due to fire safety regulations, roof stability, material costs and setup/teardown effort concerns. For example, the drapes would need to be certified fire proof and very light — the material alone costs a fortune. And they must not obstruct the ventilation and sprinkler system. Which is pretty much impossible to achieve in this room to begin with, let alone getting permission to do it from the hotel and the district fire marshall.

[VulpesRex]

...Unfortunately as 'right' as using my room is, being on the 13th (top) floor in Wing 2, the one with all the breaking lifts and the heaviest usage, meant I was very limited in terms of how often and how long I could suit due to this

...

   You know - this raises an interesting question.

   A few conventions have been forced to set up a security detachment just to regulate the use of elevators at their hotels, due to the sheer volumn of people going up to their rooms and coming down again (which pretty much guarantees that after a wait in line, you can actually get an elevator from the grown floor lobby...but does nothing to get you a ride back down, as all the down-bound lifts seem full when (and if) they stop at your floor).  I've often pondered over what prompts people at conventions to be making all those trips back and forth to their rooms.

   I had gathered that this is a problem with all fan-based conventions, and just a peculiar behavioural quirk of Fandom and the fannishly-inclined, but I now wonder if it can be determined it it is just a problem at costume-oriented conventions, such as Anime and Furry cons; I've never really noticed it as a problem at the typical Sci-Fi cons which I have attended.

   So - just how many, or what percentage, of those elevator trips to and from the guest rooms are generated by people going up to change into and out of suit or costume?

**********

   Both EuroFURence and AnthroCon are becoming more costume-dominant; while the general attendance numbers for both conventions rise, the ratio of fursuiters-to-general fans also increases, and it becomes an exponential progression, rather than a linear gain (and in fact, general attendance figures are "curving upwards" on their own, and not behaving like nice straight lines).  This would mean an extraexponential increase in the use and need for elevator trips.

   Perhaps it might make sense to reconsider the need for a ground-based changing and storage facility for costumers and fursuiters, as so much cumulative time (and elevator life cycle!) is being expended on the rather unproductive and wasted act of going to and fro, just to change into and out of suits?

   And just to make it clear - I am not a fursuiter or costumer, this is not meant as a complaint or criticism.  And if the fursuit lounge is already being used in this capacity (informally, I should suppose) then I'm not aware of it.

[DarkFoxDK]

So - just how many, or what percentage, of those elevator trips to and from the guest rooms are generated by people going up to change into and out of suit or costume?

As a suiter: Relatively few. A lot of it is going up to the room retrieve or deposit things. Of course, that's just my personal experience, so I might be wrong.

I'll definitely make sure to plan a bit better next year, and try to bring everything I'd need during the day with me in a bag, so I don't have to take so many trips to the room.

[Mystifur]

I don't have real data on elevator usage
(and seriously.. this is meta discussion.. as there is no way that furries or the elevators will change.. but for the fun of it: )
my gutt feeling says that 90% of elevator runs have the following reasons:

- Having a drink in the hotel room, because far cheaper than hotel bar drinks
- Deposit dealers den treasures, or getting the sketchbook
- getting money from the room
- goingto / comingfrom roomparties

[Axle]

...Unfortunately as 'right' as using my room is, being on the 13th (top) floor in Wing 2, the one with all the breaking lifts and the heaviest usage, meant I was very limited in terms of how often and how long I could suit due to this

   So - just how many, or what percentage, of those elevator trips to and from the guest rooms are generated by people going up to change into and out of suit or costume?

Other than a round trip for breakfast and dinner, all of my trips were to go and change in to or out of suit (save one trip where I was feeling unwell and went for painkillers). I guess part of this was down to it taking around half an hour for me to do a trip from the lobby and back again, I may have made an additional trip or two in the day to save carrying additional stuff with me all day otherwise.

[Drift]

So - just how many, or what percentage, of those elevator trips to and from the guest rooms are generated by people going up to change into and out of suit or costume?

As a suiter: it is more for the showering rather than the changing! The latter I prefer to do in the fursuit lounge (though I keep one of my suits in the room due to limited drying space in the lounge), but the "clean up" you really can not do anywhere else...