Hotel$$$$ in Ithaca: Important Advice

Hi, parent of an Ithaca College junior. I am here giving a little advice which I wish that I had 3 years ago. Ithaca is a bit isolated, and hotels have a captive audience. They get expensive and scarce on special weekends (and there are a lot of those weekends with Cornell in town as well.)

  1. Ask your parents to make their reservations for hotel rooms ASAP for whatever dates they need for orientation, move in, Family Weekend in the Fall, etc. - not kidding, they get very, very expensive and even unavailable.

  2. If possible, sign up for “Jumpstart” http://www.ithaca.edu/sacl/experience/jumpstart/ where you can begin at Ithaca a few days earlier than other Freshmen. Not only did my S truly love this program (and has volunteered the subsequent two years to help lead groups) but it is much easier to move in, (and get hotel reservations.) The hotels can cost quite a bit less then, as there are many fewer students moving in (depending on when Cornell has their move in days.) While I believe that Jumpstart costs a little bit, it is probably a wash taking into account the increased cost of hotel rooms if you don’t attend Jumpstart.

  3. Rates have already skyrocketed for the Ithaca Family Weekend in NOVEMBER. If your parents want something for under $200 and want to visit that weekend, we’ve stayed at quite a few places, and the Super 8 is the nicest and cleanest (newly remodeled) of all of the lower priced hotels. (I found that information on TripAdvisor, and we agree with what they say - clean, quiet and comfortable, if not fancy. I strongly suggest using TripAdvisor and reading what others say about Ithaca Hotels - it has helped me a lot.) Two weeks ago I made reservations for Fall Family Weekend (which is 6 1/2 months from now!) I was able to get a room in a mid-level hotel for $149, which, 2 weeks later, is now booking at $211.20 a night. (The same hotel is now booking at a ridiculous $300+ a night for regular freshmen move in night.) We’ve only been up to freshman Family Weekend, so we wanted to go up for Senior year. That is why we booked so early.

  4. You/your parents can always book in Cortland, but it is easier to stay in Ithaca - we do a lot of little errands, and it is more fun to stay in Ithaca.

Please don’t delay - just check one of the aggregators like Kayak/TripAdvisor/etc. for the dates that you think you will be moving in to see what I mean - and usually freshman parents want to visit for the Fall Family Weekend.

Please let your parents know. I wish that someone had told me.

Ithaca is great!

Thanks for the great tips!

Thanks so much! I was recently surprised at the costs of hotels for orientation. Hadn’t thought to book for move in yet but will do so now.

@momsings and @islandmom32 happy to help. For what it is worth, when I stayed for orientation at the then Holiday Inn (it has since changed hands) a gentleman at the desk welcomed me to Ithaca, then whispered (after I shared my surprise at the hotel costs) that graduation weekend, they go on sale the morning after the previous year’s graduation, they charge $300 a night (+ tax) and it is a 3 night minimum. So, with tax, about $1,000 for graduation - three years ago. I was relieved to see that Ithaca College offers dorm rooms on campus for graduation weekend. $1,000 is a lot of money with a younger one in college. You can see that post here: http://www.ithaca.edu/commencement/lodging/ That is much more reasonable at $170 for a two night stay. It is a dorm, but hey, I’d rather take him out to dinner, and help out with a deposit for an apartment maybe.

You may also want to be aware that I have read about some of the hotels accepting reservations, then stating that they had overbooked, and housed people at a much less desirable hotel. I read this on TripAdvisor. Or, there was a mistake with the rate - I am linking some of those reviews here;

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g47958-d1026871-r158329824-Country_Inn_Suites_By_Carlson_Ithaca-Ithaca_Finger_Lakes_New_York.html#CHECK_RATES_CONT

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g47958-d1026871-r117099077-Country_Inn_Suites_By_Carlson_Ithaca-Ithaca_Finger_Lakes_New_York.html#CHECK_RATES_CONT

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g47958-d99482-r267769680-Comfort_Inn-Ithaca_Finger_Lakes_New_York.html#CHECK_RATES_CONT

I have had overall good experiences, except for our first visit. Then I learned. I don’t want to scare you with those reviews, only to let you know that things can get dicey, like they can anywhere - wherever you end up, I highly recommend getting your reservation in writing and reserve with a credit card which will back you up.

Just made a reservation for on-campus housing for when my son graduates this May.

It will cost us $340 for two nights for two rooms; one single occupancy and one double occupancy. In the dorms.

I checked, just to see, and a local “partner” hotel is charging $549. Each night. For each room. With a three night minimum. Plus taxes.

Here is how that looks:
Room Cost
Room 1 Cost: $1,620.00 USD
Room 2 Cost $1,620.00 USD

Subtotal $3,240.00
USD Estimated Taxes $421.20 USD
Estimated Additional Fees $0.00 USD
Total ESTIMATED COST $3,661.20 USD

The taxes are more than the cost of staying in the dorms.

While I am not loving the idea of staying in the dorms, I can put up with it for two nights at a savings of $3,321.20. That is a very nice dinner, all travel expenses (driving), a graduation present, etc.

Just thought I’d post after staying on-campus for Ithaca College graduation. That was a wonderful decision for us.

We stayed in one of the “towers” - we were able to easily walk to events/graduation. I’m so glad that we weren’t driving, as there were so many cars trying to get in/out both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday evening after the fireworks, we strolled across campus while a long line of cars snaked slowly down the hill. We were able to have a small celebration in our son’s apartment in Circles (drove up and back, as it was late.) I’m sure that we walked up to our car near Towers, and drove it up to Circles while there was still a gridlock trying to get off campus. Also, it was raining in the morning of graduation, and we were able to walk easily over to breakfast at Terraces (there is a back door off the loading dock - it was like walking one block), then over to graduation. SO glad we stayed nearby rather than drove. We would have had to walk a much longer way from the parking lot in the rain if we had driven.

The only small “oddity” about staying on campus was that there were still students in the room next to ours, as they had just returned from a sporting event. Quite a few families stayed on campus. Our college aged daughter (not graduating) was able to have her own room. I’ve already looked into doing this for our daughter’s graduation in a few years, and I’m sad to say that this does not look like this is the case. Two thumbs up for staying in the dorms.

Another alternative option to consider is camping. “Ithaca is Gorges,” after all. I’ve done it more than once on visits to Ithaca.

Camping in one of the nearby campsites is great, however for graduation it was easier to stay on campus because of the long car lines.

I second the camping option. We camped nearby for orientation and it was less than $30 per night. We ate all our meals at Wegmans. The downside was no air conditioning during a heat wave. The upside was a really awesome swimming area (Robert Treman). I work for Cornell (at an off campus site) and am well aware of the high price for Ithaca hotels.