Just booked our tickets for March orientation. Any recommendations on hotels?
My daughter is a first year. I’ve stayed at both the Courtyard and Best Western Plus for various trips to Elon. You will see lots of Elon families at both. Any hotel in Burlington is minutes away. Wouldn’t hurt to book for Move in day and Parents Weekend now either! If your student is still deciding where to attend and chooses another school, you can always cancel your reservation. We had a beautiful March orientation weekend last year and it is just a preview of how nice the campus is. And the orientation was well done, too. My daughter met a girl on the residence tour and they decided to become roommates. It has proven to be a good decision; they are getting along great as roommates and friends. You can tell I am a big fan of Elon!
Most of the hotels in Burlington are fine. Nothing special, but fine. All are just a few minutes drive to campus. The Hampton Inn is my favorite. The Holiday Inn Express is new and nice. The Marriott Courtyard was recently renovated. The Best Western Plus and the Country Inn & Suites are also good. Do NOT stay at the Quality Inn; it is truly terrible. I also recommend booking for move-in (you’ll probably want both Thursday and Friday nights if you’re coming from a distance) and Parents Weekend.
We have traveled to Elon numerous times with two teens (S and D), and when we do we choose the Country Suites to have the extra room. Price is generally in the same ballpark, sometimes even less. (Right now it is showing a lower rate than Courtyard Marriott for March orientation.) It is smaller/quieter than the Best Western (have had a noisy stay there), and we like their breakfast offerings - they always have fresh berries (strawberries, raspberries, etc.) which you often don’t get in breakfast rooms. All rooms have a fridge and microwave, too.
If you can get into the Acorn Inn its right basically right on campus - has a separate bedroom and a pull out couch as well. Like the other posters have said all the other hotels in Burlington are all basically the same - nothing special but nothing too scary
Acorn Inn is already booked for both the March and April orientation week-ends. Not sure about Fellows week-end, or move-in week-end - I made that reservation the day my D sent her ED app! Family week-end it is only available by lottery. Best to book all your week-ends now!
Thanks this is helpful! Follow-up question… do all parents stay through until convocation? Is that the day after move-in day? Also, I can’t find the dates for parent weekend. I need to dig through all the papers!
Parents Weekend is September 25-27, 2015. Yes, I would highly recommend planning to stay through convocation, which is the day after move-in. There will be a lunch following convocation, after which parents generally leave. Although the Acorn Inn is very conveniently located, it does have some drawbacks. I’m not a fan of what others might call its “intimate” atmosphere. It’s also, of course, challenging to get a reservation.
We stayed at the Best Western plus for orientation weekend. It’s an older hotel but nice, and it’s quiet; it’s a ways off the highway and convenient to Elon. There were several other families staying there and my daughter made several friends that weekend. I’m sure the same thing happens at the other hotels as well.