Just a reminder that if you have a child graduating in 2020, you need to book rooms as soon as they open up. The hotel I had in mind told me they would start booking on May 1, 2019 for May 11, 2020. I should have called at midnight! I started calling at 8 am. My iphone showed that I dialed 44 times. Sometimes I was put on hold, sometimes I got a busy signal, sometimes I got a message to wait and then got cut off, etc.
When I finally got through, they said there was only one room left! So I got it, but it was close.
Now I need to get a room for my parents. Other rooms in the area don’t open up until 365 days before the date. I will be calling at exactly midnight!
Also, be prepared to pay!! Maybe not for every school, but the hotels around the school where both of my kids graduated were $700 - $800/night for graduation weekend. And, they sold out! We’re not talking about nice hotels in a major city, this is for a Fairfield Inn and similar hotels in a college town. We stayed an hour away.
It really depends on the school and location. I booked last month for a graduation later this month. One hotel (a big pricey resort was full - didn’t want to pay those rates anyway) but still plenty of affordable rooms left in the area. Same for my other kid’s grad. But, small schools in fairly populated areas. I guess we’re fortunate not to deal with the hassle of high prices/crazy demand.
Closely check the stipulations on the reservation. Especially if you are calling in the middle of the night and not very alert. I almost booked a hotel at $1000 per night with a no cancellation policy.
Food for thought…we had hotel rooms for DD - the first to graduate. For DS we rented a home. It was SO much less stress. No need to elbow for room at a restaurant, no crowding no rushing. We had very simple dinners and asked those who joined us to contribute something. It turned into one of the most relaxed weekends which involved numbers of people come and going and coming and going.
That is one perk of D19 picking a college in a city - so many hotel choices! I never mentioned it to her but I always thought about it when we visited schools with not so many hotel choices. I always remember my mom asking the one hotel in town if she could book a room for my graduation - she asked during my freshman year parents weekend!
A friend was just visiting when he got a message from his wife saying that their hotel reservations, for this weekend, had been “reaccommodated” by the hotel because of a construction situation. They had made the reservations almost a year ago, and had several rooms booked for a large extended family. Now they have to scramble!
DD goes to Susquehanna, which is in a very small town. Bucknell and a few other colleges are nearby. So hotel space is hard to come by during big college events.
For kid one, we luckily had family to stay with. For kid 2, we rented a whole B and B. I had contacted the owner, and she knew we wanted the whole thing but didn’t book until 365 days prior. Believe me, I was in the queue immediately…but the owner had already reserved the place in my name…all she needed was my credit card.
Beware—some nearby lodgings require you to book a minimum of say 3 or more nites at inflated rates or won’t rent to you at all! As was said many places do have inflated rates for special campus events—parents weekend, graduation, etc. Plan accordingly!
@MaineLonghorn my S went to Bucknell. I did not get hotel reservations because I dialed at ten minutes after the hour and they were all gone.
But Bucknell rents out its dorms so we did that. And I have to say it was so much more convenient! We could walk to everything so no parking the car. I could run back for a jacket or to drop off items etc.
Bucknell has meals on campus so we didn’t have to worry about reservations. Is that an option at Susquehanna ?
In July I will be staying in a lovely 5 star hotel in Washington DC, one of the best hotels I have ever stayed with a beautiful breakfast included ( AM Ex Platinum) at 100 a night less than the mediocre Sheridan in Ann Arbor we were subject to at graduation.
The small hotel we booked at charged my credit card for the three-night stay but said they would refund it if I cancel more than 30 days ahead of the date.
I was able to use my Capital One points to pay for the entire stay.
^^So funny you brought this up. I started working on this earlier this week. We’re still in front of the 1 year mark, which I hadn’t realized, so my initial thought was that I hadn’t acted soon enough. And that as with all things college-relared, that I had figured out what everyone else knew, but just a little later thanI needed!
Good to have this on your radar. One of ours attended a small rural school in area with several other larger schools that often all scheduled graduation for the same weekend. I called several hotels the year before graduation to see what their booking policies were and took notes. It was a bit competitive, but worked if you knew the rules.
Same was true for restaurant reservations, especially with a large group.
