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[ANTIcarrot]

I honestly expected was to get a room or not get a room in the first 10 or 20 minutes, since I thought Estral/third-party would be providing an appropriately configured server/cloud. The reality was a little different. Does this match anyone else's experience? 

Click EF link -> Too soon.

Click EF link -> Server not configured properly
Click EF link -> Server not configured properly

Click EF link -> Book a room -> Timeout

Click EF link -> Book a room -> Server not configured properly

Click EF link -> Book a room -> Enter group code (and other stuff which I assume means link not valid)

Click EF link -> Book a room -> 'Loading' in german. -> Booking page -> "Cannot book multiple rooms for one person" error -> Google translate -> Select multiple people then multiple rooms -> "Book" button (I think) -> "Reservations must be changed or canceled via the original booking system." -> <Back> -> Server not configured properly

Click EF link ->  Book a room -> Timeout
Click EF link ->  Book a room -> Timeout

Click EF link -> Book a room -> 'Loading' in german. -> Ten minutes pass (8:56) -> Internal Server Error - Read / The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request. / Reference #3.ac81655f.1484554340.ad08ae4c

Click EF link -> Book a room -> 'Loading' in german. -> Booking page -> Select multiple people then multiple rooms -> "Book" button (I think) -> [All room turned red] -> Internal server error

Click EF link -> Boom a room page appears then instantly changes to Internal Server Error - Read

The EF link included language ID which was set to 7. Would it be possible to provide the link in different languages next year? ID1 to ID7?

The system seemed to be run by iHoteler, which is a professional company, but perhaps they didn't get the message about being spammed by ~420 bookings in the first minute.

The most frustrating part of the experience was finally getting through to the booking page, and clicking on the 'next' button only to be kicked in the teeth, TWICE.

[Amber Eyes]

I did not actually count the number of errors I got when trying to book a room via the original bookings.ihotelier.com link. However, two friends of mine managed to book a room via an alternate link:

https://reservations.travelclick.com/17417?hotelId=17417&groupID=1604780

It is slow and displays error messages too, says no rooms were available... but after a couple tries, it worked. The confirmation email my friends got came from the Estrel, so it's not an overbooking site (ihotelier is a product of TravelClick). Looks like they weren't made aware of how much traffic they would get. Took us about three hours now to book two rooms. X3

[Lonewolfdiconis]

This new system sucks, I am sorry to say that, I am sitting here since four freaking hours and couldn't book a single room and I am not the only one here, all my friends have the same problem.
Sure I know that the Eurofurence doesn't run the website and its technically not their fault but come on.
Not only that a lot of people have to get credit cart which are not common in Germany, they open the "Hotelroom Reg" on 9 a.m. on A MONDAY where the one half is working and the other one is sleeping. They changed a system which worked for 22 EFs for one which collapse in a second.
Congratulations ...

[sloppy]

This new system sucks, I am sorry to say that, I am sitting here since four freaking hours and couldn't book a single room and I am not the only one here, all my friends have the same problem.
Sure I know that the Eurofurence doesn't run the website and its technically not their fault but come on.
Not only that a lot of people have to get credit cart which are not common in Germany, they open the "Hotelroom Reg" on 9 a.m. on A MONDAY where the one half is working and the other one is sleeping. They changed a system which worked for 22 EFs for one which collapse in a second.
Congratulations ...

you are so right i have to ask all my friends for using there credit card and when i finaly get home from work and try to book all i get is
Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "http://bookings.ihotelier.com/bookings.jsp?" on this server.

Reference #18.16fd043e.1484572421.7a925fd4

a friend gets on with a card and he can't select extra days

[Suicune]

Pages probably down for maintenance. Main pages thorow 404, so it happened on purpose

[Lonewolfdiconis]

Yeah the site is down and I couldn't still book a room... sigh...

[zuzu]

Yeah the site is down and I couldn't still book a room... sigh...

Same here

[draoncc]

The perhaps weirdest thing is there's been reports of people not being able to book any rooms all over the place, safe for a few lucky ones who reported success, and yet in the final minutes before the servers went down it appeared as though most rooms were already booked out, with only Standard Twin Rooms remaining.

Nice.

I'm just going to curl up in my bed now and try to catch up on the sleep I've missed out for five hours and thirty minutes of this bullshit. /rant

[JonathanO]

i stil booked at standart twin room after its said inaviabel need to clivh 10 tmes but it worked

[NightHawk]

This was a total disaster just as I predicted. "Better, Faster, Less Frustrating" yeah right...

I wasted 5 hours of my life booking a hotel room.

@Lonewolfdiconis:
SIGNING EVERYTHING A THOUSAND TIMES !

[draoncc]

I wasted 5 hours of my life booking a hotel room.

Did you at least get one? ^^ I wasted 5:30 hours on nothing but frustration.

[NightHawk]

Yes, I got a room right before they closed the ibooking site for good.

[darkenlink]

i have been trying since 9am and kept getting errors ,it kept sending me in cirkels ,and if i wanted to change the language it no longer remembered i was sent bye Eurofurence ,i finaly got a room from the 16 till the 20th , but we wanted to 14 till the 21ths i hope that we can still get down days.

[Lonewolfdiconis]

So a friend gave me this link to book https://bookings.ihotelier.com/Estrel-Hotel-Berlin/bookings.jsp?hotelId=17417 with the Grouppromo code EUROF130817_001
but it seems that all rooms are full

[ANTIcarrot]

Just a point of order for everyone: This is called the FEEDBACK section of the forum, not the running commentary section. Let's try to keep any comments or criticism constructive.

With that in mind, does anyone here have any suggestions as to how to avoid this next year? (Baring in mind the staff have already given the reasons for why the old system was unworkable.)