2015 Parents Weekend

<p>Question for the experienced Vandy parents... DD accepted for the Class of 2019 (YEAH!) We are looking to book hotel for parents weekend (Sept 2015). Not surprisingly the hotels near campus have increased their regular rates substantially so we are looking at some places a bit further out. Does the school provide some type of shuttle or bus service to campus from other areas? Would just assume that driving and parking that weekend is difficult. Before I bite the bullet and pay through the roof for a hotel, thought I would get some advice on other options! Thanks. </p>

<p>The university does not provide a shuttle service. We have used the Nashville bus system and it has been very convenient. For parent’s weekend the last 2 years we have stayed near campus and paid the high price so that we or our student could easily walk to everything.</p>

<p>Call the hotel as well, sometimes they have a shuttle service that operates within an X mile radius and also have been known to make exceptions for Vanderbilt families.</p>

<p>With the opening of the new convention center downtown, I understand that Nashville continues to be underserved in terms of hotel rooms. This, despite the construction of several new properties in the West End area, accounts for part of the challenge. I would encourage you to develop a points relationship with one brand and stay with them through your student’s years at VU and you may hopefully be able to utilize points for stays at some point. I also have a credit card that earns me Marriott points and I was able to get some free nights along the way, including free Commencement nights (one night only) for two of the three I’ve had so far at a downtown Marriott property. The vibrancy of Nashville and its many activities makes it very difficult to find hotel bargains unless you want to stay by the airport and you waste much time and effort driving back and forth, IMO.</p>

<p>Agree that you need to learn to plan strategically for stays in Nashville. There are sudden sell outs in the city that will be unpleasant surprises. Personally we would retreat to Brentwood hotels during those unlucky overbooked and overpriced times because we liked driving up to Nashville from the residential Brentwood area…very stress free. However, it is worth a reasonable premium to stay in a hotel in walking distance from Vanderbilt whenever possible to improve the quality of your experience. I tended to like the Hilton Garden Inn on the back side of the university closer to the law school because they have nice QU QU rooms and a decently useful shuttle service for those rare occasions where parking is a nuisance near campus. You can get free parking at the Hampton Inn Elliston area near the Centennial Park/Parthenon. Otherwise, an extra daily parking fee is to be expected in Vandy area hotels. I know there are a couple well reviewed hotels off of Briley Parkway closer to Opryland hotels that we booked in --but somehow we always got off a waiting list in the Vandy area off of either West End or Hillsboro. Regardless, options are decent and there are college towns with much worse hotel deficit problems.</p>

<p>I have always stayed at the Embassy Suites on Broadway but drive to campus. Never had an issue with parking on campus. There is a huge parking lot behind the Hank Ingram dorm that always had spots available. Nashville like any other city suffers from rush hour traffic but between those times it’s fine. Look at the Hampton Inn in Green Hills. It’s a short drive to campus. You can usually get a great deal on rental cars on Priceline by bidding and they have always given me Hertz cars in the end. I would also look at Briley Pkwy. hotels but not all the way to Opryland. You can check the Sheraton Music City and any of the properties around it. Finally, if all else fails I would check Brentwood and the airport properties as they are further from campus but no more than a twenty minute drive.</p>

<p>@Poohbah29‌ – First, congratulations! What a terrific feeling to get to make Parents’ Weekend plans at Vandy! We did bite the bullet and stay at one of the walking distance hotels, and we were glad we did. We had a lot of going back and forth among main campus-dorm-hotel-mall-restaurants-sibling admissions session-tailgate events-game, Target, etc. Would not have wanted to be coming from too far away . . . at least for our first Parents’ Weekend.</p>

<p>Thanks for the info! Found “reasonable” deals on campus after discovering that some of the places outside the city that were comparable were nearly as expensive. So move in and parents weekend are booked. </p>

<p>I also recommend checking out airbnb – service lets people offer up their homes, apartments, etc for rent.</p>

<p>We’ve used VBRO in the past and stayed in one bedroom condos within walking distance of campus. </p>

<p>Our hotel reservations are booked for this year. Right now I have two reservations. One at Extended Stay Ameica and the other one at Embassy Suites. Once we know where S will be living next year we’ll let one of the reservations go. </p>

<p>Initially we didn’t think that we would go this year. S will be a junior. He was disappointed. So as long as we can get decent airfare, we’ll be there. We are planning on going back around Thanksgiving for a couple of weeks. One of us will go probably go back to help him move in. That’s 3 trips Fall Semester. Time will tell what we actually do.</p>

<p>@Go9ersjrh, didn’t you make an extended trip during this fall semester? How did that go and what did you end up doing?</p>

<p>@2VU0609 We spent 10 days in Nashville in September that included Family Weekend. It was great. We really didn’t see our son much. A few dinners and some family weekend activities. We did get to see him in the band for two football games. We went out to dinner with his roommates family.</p>

<p>The rest of the time we explored Nashville. We toured several mansions, went to a distillery, had some wonderful dinners and spent an afternoon at the Country Music Hall of Fame. The highlight was seeing Jason Mraz at the Ryman Auditorium. There is still a lot we want to do and plan to make an extended stay next fall. This time will probably spend the weekends in Nashville and explore another area during the week.</p>

<p>Son is planning to go to the Women’s SEC basketball tournament with the band this Spring Break. We’re thinking about going back so that we can spend part of spring break with him. I also have family in Atlanta so we usually see them when we head back there.</p>