How early do you need to book a hotel for parents weekend?

[Anonymous]

And for move in day/ student welcome day? Book them now? I’m freaking $$ out DD chose an out of state college in Texas.

[Anonymous]

Today.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the school. Both of my kids attend schools in cities so there are tons of hotel rooms. I recommend avoiding parents’ weekend if you’re worried about money and kid is in a small town — go on the weekend before or after as there will be more hotel rooms and they will be cheaper.

[Anonymous]

You need to book as soon as possible if in a small town or an area with few hotels and options. This applies for Parent's weekend, move in weekend, homecoming weekend, and any other special event. Seriously!

[Anonymous]

The day reservations open. And prices will be high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And for move in day/ student welcome day? Book them now? I’m freaking $$ out DD chose an out of state college in Texas.

if not in a big city, ASAP. we booked parents weekend already (ED admit). but not move in because they have not announced those dates yet for frosh.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the heads up that we need to start making decisions. I am feeling overwhelmed planning admitted student day, two graduations + all the events leading up the graduations, summer plans, move in day...

[Anonymous]

Honestly, This is one of the reasons I'm glad my child didn't choose the rural SLAC that was in the running. One hotel, super expensive, no availability for admitted students day, much less graduation or move in. Nearest hotel was an hour away.
Nightmare.

[Anonymous]

How do you find out when parents weekend is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you find out when parents weekend is?

You Google "<school name> parents weekend."

[Anonymous]

Look at the school calendars from years past if next year’s dates aren’t up yet. Book today. You can always change the reservation.

[Anonymous]

As soon as you can. For our Boston kid, they run over $600 per night graduation week, move in weekend, etc. For our smaller city kid, it's still outrageous - learned they book exactly one year out, and we booked as soon as they opened up.

Pro tip: you never know when your kids graduation is through the school in their college a year out, so book a full week at a refundable place and then adjust when you know. One of ours had a Monday 9am graduation from their school and a Wed late afternoon, large, entire graduating class of the university, so we had to go there Sunday through Thursday. The other had a late Thursday graduation from their school and the large event on Sunday afternoon, so Thursday through Monday. Thankfully, this was in different years

[Anonymous]

Depends on where the school is. Williamsburg, book early and be prepared for 2 day minimums. When you have a senior, move quickly on graduation reservations. My other child went to school in Philadelphia, and we had many other options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at the school calendars from years past if next year’s dates aren’t up yet. Book today. You can always change the reservation.

We pick several likely weekends and book them all. when the day is announced, we cancel the wrong weekends.

FYI, the date of parents weekend usually revolves around the football schedule. They will hold it when there is a home game. Sometimes these schedules are not set until way into the spring.

[Anonymous]

ASAP. We booked rentals in Evanston in December for Northwestern right after ED was announced, and they were already being snapped up for move-in weekend. (Had to guess about the parents weekend and luckily got it right).