Planning to attend DSC in Jan. 2016 for the first time.
My first and only Safari was to Namibia two years ago and my outfitter will be attending. Would love to see and visit the boys.
On the DSC website is a list of participating Hotels that attendees can make reservations.
If I make a reservation, can you cancel without having to pay a penalty?
The Hotels that are listed have a statement, "A first night's room and tax deposit will be taken by the Hotel in mid-December".
What does this mean?
I'm new at this, so all the information and suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks
MauserK98

If you make a reservation at one of the participating hotels, you can cancel without any penalty up until mid-December. In mid December one nights rate and tax will be charged. The reason for this policy is because the hotels book so fast that in the past, many people have booked rooms "just in case" and when they discover three or four days before the convention they can't attend, they dump the rooms back on the hotel. This causes a lot of confusion for the hotels and DSC staff and some hard feelings for those that were unable to book a room at a particular hotel. Hopefully, requiring payment of at least on night will either decrease the number of last minute drop outs or cause them to cancel at least 3 weeks before the show. This was a problem the last two years at one hotel in particular.
Hope to see you there in January.