How to get a room when hotels are booked months in advance?
This question is not necessarily aimed at Hilton hotels.
There are a couple of large conferences that I go to each year. They usually rotate between New Orleans, Anaheim, Orlando, and sometimes Chicago, Dallas and DC.
The conference housing authority seems to have an absolute lock on the hotel inventory surrounding the convention center (this time it's New Orleans). The hotels refuse any attempt to book a room.
Does hotel status (ie, say Hilton Honors) have any pull in cases like this?
Is there any way to do an end-run around the housing authority and book a room months (or even a year) in advance? Any inside info? Secret handshake?