We highly recommend confirming as many attendee’s names as possible, prior to purchasing your registrations, to avoid transfer fees and forms later on.
However, because of our low early-registration rates and high demand for hotel rooms, registering with placeholder names may be a good solution for your organization. Purchasing a registration at the lowest rate in August and paying the transfer fee later, can still be more cost-efficient than purchasing your registrations after a rate increase.
Should you decide to use placeholder names:
- A transfer fee is charged each time a registration’s name is changed. The fee is $125 USD. After the final rate deadline in early February, the transfer fee increases to $175.
- You must transfer the registration AND hotel reservation into the correct attendee’s name as soon as possible before they arrive in Austin, to avoid complications when checking into their hotel or picking up their registration.
- When filling out the SXSW registration transfer form in the shopping cart, be sure to select the option to TRANSFER the hotel reservation. This ensures the hotel reservation is transferred from the placeholder name into the new attendee’s name.
- If a reservation is shortened or canceled within 28 days of arrival, the new registrant will be charged a $50 penalty by SXSW Housing & Travel. If a room is canceled within the hotel’s cancellation policy window (usually 7 to 14 days before arrival), the new registrant will also be charged the hotel cancellation penalty.
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