We are planning a central New York leg to our tour of colleges across several different vacation times! We will visit SUNY Binghamton, Cornell, Colgate and Hamilton this time. The two overnights will be near Ithaca and Clinton. Can anyone please recommend good hotels in or near those towns? “Good” = Within 10 minutes of the school, clean and nice quality (at least as nice as a Hampton Inn- can be a hotel or a nice bed and breakfast- can be unique or a chain- either serves breakfast or has good fast dining nearby), maybe two queens or two kings as opposed to doubles in a room.
Try the Hampton Inn in New Hartford, or maybe two rooms in the Artful Lodger or one of the other B&Bs in Clinton.
We had a blast staying at the Statler Hotel on the Cornell campus. It is staffed by Cornell students, and just a few minutes walk to the admissions office.
We also liked the Colgate Inn, which is walking distance to Colgate.
The Hamilton website recommends several excellent options:
https://www.hamilton.edu/admission/visiting/accommodations
Williams Street Lodging appears particularly authentic and offers suite accommodations.
We found the Bristol Center on the Hamilton campus more spartan than expected. The bedspreads were thin polyester, there were no extra blankets available, and the room was very cold. Guests have to walk over to the Hamilton dining hall to eat breakfast.
In Ithaca I stayed in a fabulous air bnb, and I’m normally not an air bnb sort of person. It was inexpensive compared with the hotels and very cute.
Statler Hotel is more on the expensive side ($300+/night), but it is right on campus, next to Cornell Hotel school. If yo want to stay downtown with restaurants and such, there is Hotel Ithaca and Hilton. Argos is a great boutique hotel - redone from an old mansion. The rooms at Argos are very luxurious. I believe Marriott downtown Ithaca is open. It is the newest hotel.
I stayed at Colgate Inn few years ago. Unless it was refurbished, I thought it was a bit tired and old, but you can’t beat the location.
The Colgate Inn was completely renovated in 2011. It is not tired at all, offers quality dining and tavern options, is a 10 minute walk from the campus’ hill, and is great value for money.
Go 'gate!
IHG hotels just released their list of PointBreaks properties for stays between January 30 and April 30. The new Holiday Inn Express in Ithaca is on the list. That means an award night costs just 5,000 IHG Rewards points, which can be purchased from IHG for $57.50 anytime, or $28.75 when IHG runs one of their periodic 100% bonus promotions. (It is possible that the minimum points purchase is greater than 5,000; you’d have to check.)
Booking of PointBreaks properties for stays between January 30 and April 30 will not be available until Monday, January 30. Desirable properties on the PointBreaks list tend to sell out quickly.
Getting a decent hotel in Ithaca for $28.75 – or even $57.50 – is an amazing value.
There are a gazillion hotels in Ithaca. We usually stay at the Country Inn and suites, which is closer to Ithaca College, but only a couple of miles from Cornell. It’s always clean and has good pricing. If you’d rather be in downtown Ithaca, there are many options.
“The Colgate Inn was completely renovated in 2011. It is not tired at all”
Gosh, it sure needed it! We stayed right before it closed for renovations and it was shabby. But, given the renovation, I would stay there as the location is great.
I love the Statler - the hotel is lovely and the service is excellent. The rooms facing west have amazing views. Being right in the center of campus is really fun. If you don’t want to eat at the hotel, Collegetown is only a 5 minute walk away. It can be expensive, but if you come during a slow period, they can have pretty good sales.
Ithaca is a shockingly expensive place by rural upstate standards.
Make reservations way in advance because some weekends the nicer
hotels do fill up and you are stuck with a dump or traveling very far (30-45 min) for a decent place.
My favorite places are Marriott and Hampton Inn between IC and Cornell, or there is a Marriott near North Campus as well (near Ithaca airport). There are also a Homewood suites close to north campus, bigger suite rooms with livingroom and bedrooms but expensive.
North Campus is where the freshman dorms are located and very little traffic, quiet area.
South of the campus nearer to Ithaca college there are more stores and restaurants but more traffic.
Thank you all!
Nola’s in Clinton may be a good restaurant to try:
http://spoonuniversity.com/place/39-iconic-college-town-food-joints-across-north-america
Just to complete this thread: we loved The Hedges bed and breakfast in Clinton, near Hamilton College. Just in case anyone is looking for a good B and B!
We enjoyed our trip. Thanks to all who gave advice.
The Statler is nice but pricey! Try the Hilton Garden Inn Ithaca http://hiltongardeninn3.hilton.com/en/hotels/new-york/hilton-garden-inn-ithaca-ITHIGGI/index.html Very nice and good rates. D #3 not only a Cornell graduate but married another Cornelian 2 years ago at Sage Chapel. We housed most of our guests there and they were very happy