January 16, 2019
News for A-Kon 2019:
A-Kon Announces Convention Has New Owners and Will Be Changing Dates and Venue
by Patrick Delahanty, FanCons.com Administrator
A-Kon, the longest-running anime convention in North America, announced today that the convention, previously organized by Phoenix Entertainment, will be run by a new, unnamed owner starting in 2019. The convention, previously scheduled for June 6-9 in Forth Worth, Texas, will now be held June 27-30 at an unnamed venue in Dallas, Texas.
In addition to the ownership, date, and venue change, A-Kon announced that it will start mailing badges, but only for "A-Kon+" VIP badges. Anyone pre-registered before January 15, 2019 will received a complimentary upgrade to A-Kon+.
The announcement states that anyone who had previously made hotel reservations through Hotels for Hope will have their reservations transferred to "one of our host hotels for 2019." Hotels for Hope will contact those with reservations to confirm the location, rates, and details. There will be a cost difference, but A-Kon says, "this should help save a little money." Anyone who has reserved a room on their own and not using Hotels for Hope will be on their own to cancel their existing reservation and obtain a new one.
A-Kon says that they will be "rebooting" their web site soon and will disable room booking until it's updated to match the new location.
The announcement also references a price increase, but says that they have "decided to postpone any price changes while we complete our reboot and catch up on announcements."
We have no additional information about the new owners or new venue at this time. On A-Kon's Facebook page, attendees are not reacting well to the news. Many are questioning the move just five months before the event, the web site not being updated with the announcement, and the name of the venue or new owners not being mentioned at all. Some are pointing out that the date change also impacts those that have already booked airline travel that cannot change their dates without expensive change fees. Any questions being answered are mostly being answered by A-Kon with referrals to Hotels for Hope or quoted text from the announcement and no new information being offered.
