<p>Just wondering if anyone can recommend their favorite hotels/motels/b&b’s when visiting Brown. What are the pros and cons of staying close to campus vs. downtown or slightly out of town - especially for freshman move-in in August?</p>
<p>We always stay in one of the two Motel 6 locations. One is in Warwick and the other is in Seekonk, just across the Mass border. There are a lot of nicer (read: more expensive) places close to campus, but for us Motel 6 is just fine. Clean, convenient, quiet, not a lot of money. Each one is about 10 minutes from campus. Regardless of where you stay, I would suggest that you make reservations very soon (now?) because they do fill up.</p>
<p>If you have a car, there are several hotels in Warwick or Seekonk that are far cheaper. There’s a place with suites in Warwick my parents like when they have free hotel nights through points, otherwise, after several experiments, they’ve decided the Ramada Inn in Seekonk is the best bang for their buck.</p>
<p>This place is a little closer than the rest in Seekonk since it’s in East Providence. Easy access to the highway, good area.</p>
<p>Extended Stay America
1000 Warren Avenue
East Providence, RI 02914</p>
<p>If you want to go a bit more upscale and stay downtown, two small boutique-style hotels are the recently opened Renaissance and the Hotel Providence. Both have very good restaurants. The grande dame is the Biltmore, located downtown and the Westin, adjacent to the Providence Place Mall and the Civic Center. </p>
<p>The Crowne Plaza in Warwick is near the airport, if you are flying in. Very convenient to I95 and a good, albeit, generic option.</p>
<p>Another interesting location is the Hope Club on Benevolent Street (nearly on campus). It is a private social club, but they also have hotel-style rooms. It is a very top-notch, interesting place to stay, and it would not be unusual to see a few celebrity parents during your visit to Brown.</p>
<p>Last year we stayed at the Marriot Renaissance and the Hotel Providence. This year I’ve booked the Providence Downtown Marriot to both move-in our younger son who will be a freshman, and for family weekend because the price includes parking and breakfast (and my son was never up early enough to eat breakfast with us). </p>
<p>The Renaissance was really nice, but our room had a connecting door to the room next door and we heard every word they said. Other people we knew who didn’t have connecting doors didn’t have that experience – but it was totally booked last year for move-in so they can’t guarantee that the room will be a quiet one. </p>
<p>I booked the Hotel Providence for last year’s family weekend because I prefer not to stay in a chain hotel – it was nice but it was extremely noisey. Really loud church bells ring a lot and often. And then at night when the bars let out there’s a lot of noise from people down below in the street, who seemed to stick around for ages. When I asked for a quiet room they moved us to a room below ground that looked out at a wall. Really. The rooms are nice, but like the Renaissance they charge $25 a day for parking. If you stay here bring ear plugs – which do help.</p>
<p>You can walk to campus from all these hotels – which is important in theory. It rained a lot last year and so like true people from Los Angeles we ended up driving the 3 minutes to campus so we wouldn’t get wet. I know, we’re wimps.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t get a room downtown for walking to campus unless you like walking up the hill, especially if you’re carrying anything. I’m sticking with my previous advice of staying in East Providence or Seekonk. If I had parking downtown I’d be fine with staying there. Some hotels are in less noisy areas (ie Hilton) There are B&B’s but they get booked far in advance, but there may be some B&B’s in Seekonk or EP I don’t know about.</p>
<p>…and btw book graduation weekend a couple years or more in advance, eight months wasn’t early enough.</p>
<p>For commencement, parents can stay in Brown dorms. Unfortunately, the prices have gone up so much that it’s almost funny – $124/night for a double with the bathroom down the hall. </p>
<p>As for the Hope Club – I think you have to become a member of the faculty club to stay there. And no jeans are allowed in the lobby.</p>
<p>The Hope Club and the Faculty Club are not affiliated. The Faculty Club is part of Brown, and the Hope Club is a private club - not part of the university.</p>
<p>Non-members can book rooms at the Hope Club, although I’m sure they fill up early for big weekends.</p>
<p>I’ve stayed at the Best Western in Seekonk three times-- clean, comfortable, reasonable price, free parking, breakfast included, close to 195, and close to major stores for stocking the door room.
I don’t remember what we paid move-in weekend, but since then I got a room for $39 on a Priceline bid ($51.48 with fees and taxes) on a non-peak weekend.</p>
<p>What’s the big deal with walking uphill to Brown from Providence, unless it’s pouring? It’s a beautiful – and a very short walk. Maybe 10 minutes if you walk slowly. And downtown Providence is an interesting city. On the days that weren’t raining we walked with other Brown families – who were all staying at one of the hotels – and met up with them for some meals. Plus it was good to be so close to campus – during family weekend we went to some of the lectures and music events scheduled, and met my son and friends for dinner, etc. And when my son woke up in the morning, we were able to easily walk to meet him on campus. Walking around you get a better sense of things there. Plus we went back and forth to and from the room a lot. If you live close to Brown, and your child is able to come home occasionally on weekends, then I guess it doesn’t matter where you stay – but if you’re coming from far away, like us, to me it makes more sense to stay as close to campus as possible. It makes the visit more fun.</p>
<p>I said “unless you like walking up the hill”, so if you’re okay with it that’s fine but not everyone can walk up a 170 foot hill that steep (or wants to).</p>
<p>Well, one advantage to walking is that you can leave your car at the hotel. Parking near Brown is quite a challenge.</p>
<p>The Biltmore was nice- affordable, easy to find, and within walking distance of a lot of things outside the university</p>
<p>you could stay at the motel 6</p>
<p>I stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites right at the bottom of College Hill last Parents’ Weekend, and loved it. It was renovated in 2009; includes a good breakfast; has a free shuttle for airport pickups and lifts up the hill to Brown if it’s raining too hard; the service was great; and it was less expensive than other downtown hotels (they even offer a discount to families of Brown students!). I almost hesitate to recommend it, as I hate to ruin a best-kept secret, but as long as there’s still a room left the next time our family needs one, I offer it up to other Brown parents!</p>
<p>When we had a car and wanted to save money, our family stayed in Seekonk at one of the moderately-priced chains like Best Western, Ramada, or Fairfield Inn. The rooms are clean but nothing special, but then we didn’t spend much time in our rooms anyway.</p>
<p>On trips when we didn’t have a car and wanted to maximize time with our son, we stayed at a wonderful B&B adjacent to campus. The Annie Brownell House is located at 400 Angell Street, next to Brown’s athletic fields, and within easy walking distance of all campus buildings (with no steep hills to go up!). It’s an historic house (built around 1900, I think) and tastefully furnished with antiques. The owner, Anne Tundermann, is veddy,veddy British and extremely warm and gracious. She’s also a gourmet cook and serves a full breakfast every morning. Rates are $120 - $140. I highly recommend it.</p>