Booking Hotels and all That Good Stuff

Colleges and Universities A-Z Oberlin College
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<p>I couldn't get in to the Oberlin Inn (which, by the way, is expensive---I stayed there last summer for my D's first visit), so I've booked a room at the North Olmstead Marriott Courtyard in August for several days for move-in and orientation week. They still had availablity. There is also a Ramada across the street. We stayed at the Courtyard for D's accepted student visit on April 10. We met other students and parents at the same hotel at breakfast at the Courtyard. For August, I got a room for $79 a night (weekday rate; it's more on weekends). That's amazing for a hotel that is twice as nice as a Comfort Inn or other places at that level but for almost the same price. </p>

<p>I booked into the Oberlin Inn ($149 a night but not as comfortable or large as the Courtyard but right there at campus) for Oct. 16, the last day of classes before the one week Fall break. I'm going out to get my D and bring her home for the week (dining halls are closed during Fall break) then bringing her back the following Saturday, Oct. 24. I'm booked into the Oberlin Inn then too. We live too far away to make a round trip in one day. Interesting, I've never heard of a school with a Fall break and a Spring break. That's kind of neat. </p>

<p>I've booked us back into the Marriott Courtyard in North Olmstead for Parents weekend, November 6-8 (again, Oberlin Inn has no availability for those dates). </p>

<p>I'm trying to book a cheap flight to bring D home for Thanksgiving, a short break for the students. At Oberlin, kids get only Turkey Day and the day after off. They have classes Mon. - Weds. preceding Turkey Day. Some colleges give that whole week off, but those schools don't have a one week "Fall Break" in October.</p>

<p>North Olmstead Courtyard by Marriott (and the Ramada) are in a great location, it's a 20-22 minute drive from Oberlin and close to the airport, although we never saw or heard a plane when we stayed there a couple of weeks ago. There are restaurants literally right next door, including a Macaroni Grill, where we chose to eat The food was fabulous. There is a big enclosed shopping center on the other side of the main drag (can't remember the name of the main drag) but it's perpendicular to Country Club Boulevard where the hotels are located. There are other restaurants and stores along the main drag and a couple of gas stations down at the very end. It's a nice location and there was no traffic on the drive down 480 between the hotel and Oberlin, no matter what time of day or night we made the back and forth trip. Strange. There are closer hotels but they are of the low level Comfort Inn variety. To each his own, I guess. 20 minutes with no traffic was cake, so we stayed in a better area.</p>

<p>Even if they free up some rooms at the Oberlin Inn for orientation, I'll keep my rez at the Marriott. The Oberlin Inn it's a small hotel and priced absurdly for such tiny rooms (the bathrooms are laughably small). It's a nice, clean "quaint" hotel that charges premium prices because it's the only hotel right in town.</p>

<p>Orientation and move-in, Fall Break, Parents Weekend, Thanksgiving Day....man, this is adding up. :(</p>

<p>Have you booked your reservations yet? I think I'm late not early in that department.</p>

2

<p>The Oberlin Inn has an unbeatable location, and the staff is friendly and helpful; it has a lovely flower garden, but the accommodations are nothing to write home about - thin sheets, old blankets…unluxurious soap and towels. They fill up months in advance for the big weekends.
One thing to be aware of is that for some of the big weekends (including family weekend in the Fall), it is possible to arrange to stay at local homes on a bed and breakfast basis; the money goes to charity.<br>
Another thing to consider is that some of the events on campus sell out, so you might want to get tickets in advance. This is especially true for theater performances. For example, the Death of a Salesman performances, which were truly spectacular, were sold out by the time we arrived, but we had bought tickets.
No matter when you go, there will be daily recitals at the Con which are worth seeing, free of charge. Just walk through and look for postings of senior/junior recitals and ensemble performances. Contemporary Music Ensemble, Oberlin Wind Ensemble, and Oberlin Percussion Group are particularly outstanding, with exciting new repertoire that will knock your socks off.
And if you are an architecture buff, don’t miss the Frank Lloyd Wright usonian house near campus and run by Oberlin; there are docent tours.</p>

3

<p>“The Oberlin Inn has an unbeatable location, and the staff is friendly and helpful, it has a lovely flower garden, but the accommodations are nothing to write home about - thin sheets, old blankets…unluxurious soap and towels.” - Mamenyu</p>

<p>All so true. But don’t forget the tiny rooms and bathrooms. I even thought the bed was smallish. Like I said, I’m booked at the Obie Inn for the start and end of Fall Break, but I’ll be at the Marriott 20 minutes away and a lot more comfortable for orientation and move-in week. I might switch if rooms at Obie open up for Parents weekend.</p>

4

<p>Oberlin owns the Oberlin Inn. Maybe someday, if the economy rebounds and there is a successful capital campaign, they will rebuild it as part of a mini-convention center; there was some talk of that. The original plans for Oberlin, by the architect who designed Finney and the Allen Art museum, and saved Tappan Square as a park, included another building at the site that became the Oberlin Inn…another Italianate building would have been lovely, but the war intervened. An interesting book about Oberlin is Oberlin Architecture, College, and Town: A Social History, by Geoffrey Blodgett, a professor emeritus. Lots of information about the history of some of the Oberlin architectural gems, which also include what is now Asia House (one of the theme housing choices and houses Pyle Coop), which was a theological school and resembles a monastery.<br>
Some interesting drives from Oberlin are toward Amish country, with little New Englandy towns with New Englandy names, farms, Amish in buggies; from Oberlin toward Lake Erie, where there is a beach.
In Cleveland, the art museum has reopened and is well worth seeing, as is the botanical garden nearby (and Severance Hall, also right there); Little Italy has some very good restaurants and is a fun area with brick streets and Italian bakeries and stores (though small); downtown Cleveland is supposed to have some good nightlife, but the daylife I saw was pretty depressing - reminded me of downtown LA before the building recent boom.</p>

5

<p>^
I’ve not visited Cleveland unless you count the inside of an airport terminal. I’ve heard there is not much to see there, but I’d still like to venture downtown once just to look around and satisfy my curiousity.</p>

<p>As for the Amish, we live in eastern Pennsylvania, 10 minutes from Amish. There are Mennonites around too. We’re not originally from PA, so all this is quite interesting.</p>

<p>Thanks for the info on the architectural treats in and around Oberlin.</p>

6

<p>We’ve now stayed at several of the hotels in the town of Elyria and have been less than impressed. We’ve been there four times and if it wasn’t for the GPS, we never would have found our way out of that town. It doesn’t matter though, any chance to see the very much missed DS, I’ll put up with the crappy location. We might give North Olmsted a try next time though, thanks for the review.</p>

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<p>I agree; Elyria sounds like an intriguing, even Shakespearian (As You Like It?) place, but isn’t.</p>

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<p>No far from it - but my sons are very intrigued with the exotic dancing establishment next door to the Holiday Inn. BTW we got the Holiday Inn for $56 a night on Priceline a few weekends ago.</p>

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<p>LOL! Maybe back in my bachelor days I would’ve gone for the exotic dancing location, but not anymore. Besides, anytime there is a hotel near an exotic dancing emporium the hotel is probably used by more than just weary business travelers, if you know what I mean. I’ll stick with North Olmstead. Nice clean suburban area with office parks, mainstream restaurants, shopping malls, all non-smoking rooms at the Marriott, and no exotic dancing emporiums. If you don’t like the Marriott Courtyard there is a high-rise Ramada 150 feet across the street.</p>

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<p>I’d recommend NOT going to Oberlin during Parents Weekend. It’s hectic, busy and not… representative. It’s hard to get a table at any restaurant during mealtimes, concerts/shows are far too packed. Theaters get sold out.</p>

<p>There’s a lot of events going on then… but it’s super-hard to get into said events.</p>

<p>Try b+b’s in Oberlin. They are about the same price (or less) of Oberlin Inn, much homier and just as close to campus.</p>

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<p>^
Good advice on the B + Bs, quibbler. I’d try it but I’m just not comfortable with the concept. I’m a hotel guy. Kind of like shopping at a mainstream but good supermarket vs. shopping at an organic farm. I’m too mainstream for the latter.</p>

<p>I’m curious why you would recommend NOT coming to Parents Weekend? Isn’t that when we should come? Isn’t that why it’s called ‘Parents’ Weekend, because they expect parents to be there? I would assume there are “a lot of events going on then” because they are expecting the parents to be there to fill up the events. I WANT to be there during the hustle and bustle and chaos. And I want to make sure that my D isn’t depressed because of all her new friends she’s the only one who doesn’t have her parents there for Parents Weekend. No way will I let that happen. Besides, when else would I get the chance to meet other parents?</p>

<p>If my preferred restaurant in town is overcrowded (i.e., Weia Teia), we can always find someplace to eat out of town. Here’s a list of the restaurants in North Olmsted:</p>

<p>• Applebee’s<br>
• Ari’s Family Restaurant<br>
• Arturo’s Restaurant & Lounge<br>
• Backdraught Bar & Grille<br>
• Bakers Square Restaraunt & Pies<br>
• Bennigan’s Grill & Tavern<br>
• Blvd.s<br>
• Bob Evans<br>
• Boston Market<br>
• Brown Bag Burger<br>
• Bruegger’s Bagel Bakery<br>
• Cafe Stratos<br>
• Chili’s Grill & Bar<br>
• China Dragon Restaurant<br>
• China House Restaurant<br>
• China Renaissance<br>
• Chuck E Cheese’s<br>
• City Club Restaurant & Lounge<br>
• Corporate Cafe<br>
• Corso’s Italian Restaurant<br>
• Daishin<br>
• Debbie D’s Lounge<br>
• Denny’s<br>
• Donatos Pizza<br>
• Dugan’s Pub<br>
• El Rodeo<br>
• Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que<br>
• Flavors Of India<br>
• Foo Sing Chinese Restaurant<br>
• Frank’s Place<br>
• Frankie’s Italian Cuisine<br>
• Fuzzy’s Tavern<br>
• Great Wall Chinese Buffet<br>
• Hanna’s Pub<br>
• Harry Buffalo<br>
• Insomnia Nightclub<br>
• Khan Restaurant<br>
• Lone Star<br>
• Manhatten Deli<br>
• Marco’s Pizza<br>
• Nuevo Acapulco<br>
• OHASHI<br>
• Ohasi<br>
• Olive Garden<br>
• Panda Express<br>
• Papa John’s Pizza<br>
• Pizza Hut<br>
• Ponderosa<br>
• Red Lobster<br>
• Red Robin<br>
• Red Robin Gourmet Burgers & Spirits<br>
• Romano’s Macaroni Grill<br>
• Rosati’s Frozen Custard<br>
• Rosie’s<br>
• Ruby Tuesday<br>
• Sakkio Japan<br>
• Sammi’s Deli<br>
• Sbarro the Italian Eatery<br>
• Slam Jams<br>
• Sly Fox Lounge<br>
• Smokey Bones<br>
• Steak on a Stone / Kristofer’s<br>
• Super China Buffet<br>
• T.G.I. Friday’s<br>
• Wild Mango </p>

<p>Some of the above are the type to be found inside a shopping mall (i.e. Sbarro, Panda Express) but many are standalone like T.G.I. Fridays, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, Bennigan’s, Olive Garden, Lone Star, Famous Dave’s, Red Lobster, Applebee’s, Smokey Bones, etc. They are far enough outside Oberlin that they won’t be packed to overflowing with Parents of Obies, but close enough to reach in less than 30 minutes. It’s possible to find a decent place to eat that is not in tiny Oberlin. I’m not vouching for any of these places. I’m just listing 'em. Don’t blame me, if you don’t like the food/service/whatever. :)</p>

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<p>Hi,
I have a daughter who’s just about finished with her second year at Oberlin. I thought I’d add my two cents. I agree with Quibbler – we’ve visited our daughter on non-“special” weekends instead of parents’ weekend. We wanted to avoid the crowds and we were more interested in seeing what was going on during a typical weekend. The other advantage to going when all the parents are there is that you can take your student’s friends out for dinner and get to know them better. If you go during parents’ weekend, they’ll probably be tied up with their own parents. Also, in terms of the Oberlin Inn, we’ve stayed there many times and often feel it’s ridiculously overpriced (on weekends especially), but the location is too valuable to stay somewhere else (for us). When we visit, there’s a lot of downtime when our daughter is in a class, etc., and we love having a base to quickly return to during the day.</p>

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<p>^</p>

<p>It’s all a matter of personal preference, I guess. Not worth arguing over. But if a lot of people agreed with you and Quibbler, Parents weekend wouldn’t be as crowded as Quibbler says it is. Besides, if you live within a day’s drive or so, or you’re rich and can afford to fly anytime, you can do both. Visit on Parents’ Weekend and off-weekends. That will surely be my modus operandi, although I will drive because I’m not rich.</p>

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<p>I have visited both during parents’ weekend and on other occasions and I must say I enjoy both kinds of visits. There are some nice activities on parents’ weekend, including lectures and concerts; I also enjoyed some conservatory performances (they are free and usually have plenty of seats), got tickets for the plays I wanted to see in advance, and really enjoyed visiting classes which might have been awkward at any other time; professors were fine with having parents in the classroom (these were classes my kid was not enrolled in). I was pleased to meet the family of my kid’s roommate; I even think I spotted BassDad lugging a bass around! Even with the “crowd” we had no trouble eating at the places we and our kid like, Black River, Agave, and The Feve. Our kid spent plenty of time off in classes and the practice rooms, while we went to classes on our own, wandered over to the reservoir (where we walked on a nature tour with some students interested in foraging for edible plants), sat in Mudd and checked the internet, and took short drives.<br>
We also enjoyed staying in local residents’ homes (in one instance a faculty couple; in the other an alum) and talking with these adult long-time Oberlinians; it was an added positive to know that the money went to charity (though since the Oberlin Inn is owned by the college, I suppose the high rates are a kind of donation).</p>

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<p>Another option no one has mentioned yet for hotels is staying in Amherst. It’s about the same distance away as Elyria, and has some similar budget-type hotel options, but without the sketchiness. I hear the B&B in Oberlin (The Ivy Tree) is quite pleasant, but it’s nearly impossible to reserve a room for high-traffic times like Parent’s Weekend.</p>

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<p>Thanks Plainsman for the tip about the Marriot. We stayed at the Oberlin Inn first vist last fall. It was ok. Then, for All Roads, we stayed at Country Suites in Elyria for two rainy days. It was a bit depressing and the carpets were damp, I hope from being cleaned. </p>

<p>I just reserved at the Marriot for orientation. It’s about 33% more $ but it sounds like a better stay. </p>

<p>We are planning on arriving Monday eve, then heading to Oberlin on Tues am. Spend the day moving S in, goodbye dinner, then spending a second night at the Marriot and hitting the road early Wed. S. won’t want us hovering so this should be a reasonable plan, yes? </p>

<p>Has anyone, especially from the NY/NJ/CT area driven to Oberlin with a day at Niagra Falls first? We are thinking of making that side trip on the way since kids (younger son on board) have never seen the falls. If so, any recommendations for a short stay (1 night) would be appreciated.</p>

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<p>Not from the NE, but we drove to Niagara Falls from Oberlin after orientation, stayed at the Marriot, which has rooms overlooking the falls, which are illuminated most of the night, with a rainbow of changing colors. The town is pretty tacky, but the falls are well worth the visit; don’t miss the famous boat ride up to the falls (they give you a big plastic poncho to keep you dry) – we almost didn’t do it because it seemed a little hokey, but it was astounding. There’s also a walk down to the falls.</p>

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<p>Has anyone stayed at the Hallauer House ? Comments appreciated.</p>

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<p>Jazz_parents: Glad you found a hotel. I suspect there will be quite a few parents/families at the Marriott Courtyard in North Olmsted. Like you, I’ve tried staying at cheaper motels/hotels like Comfort Inn, etc., but it wasn’t worth it. I kept thinking I was going to catch a disease and my kids kept checking for bed bugs. Also, we’re a family of non-smokers, and most of the less expensive hotels allow smoking, allegedly in designated rooms but don’t believe it. I’ve stayed in so-called “non-smoking” rooms, and the non-smoking part was always a joke. Anyway, the courtyard is not that expensive, on a par with the Oberlin Inn, except on Sunday night. </p>

<p>My question is will the College suddenly open up a block of rooms at the Oberlin Inn for orientation, setting off a mad scramble? </p>

<p>Hmmmm. I wonder.</p>

<p>In any event, I plan on hanging around for half a day on Wednesday to participate in the parents’ events. From a college that costs about $52,000 a year, I plan on getting my money’s worth. Then I’ll leave. As former President Clinton used to say, “When the last dog dies.” :)</p>

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<p>Thanks Mamenyu. I just joined the Marriot Rewards program thanks to Plainsman so the Niagra Falls Marriot looks good. </p>

<p>Plainsmain: My S. will be a Connie (maybe dual-degree later) so I am not sure about the Wednesday activities. Also, we have a 10 hour drive home to Connecticut so we’ll have to see about that. I don’t recall where the orientation schedule is, or if it even exists yet but sounds like you have seen it.</p>