<p>My son is going to be a freshman. I got the hotel for the weekend but I am not sure if I should buy the football tickets on my own ? How does it work?</p>
<p>See this link: [Student</a> Affairs | Parent Programs](<a href=“http://parents.ua.edu/fwFAQ.cfm]Student”>http://parents.ua.edu/fwFAQ.cfm)</p>
<p>If you want to sit with your child you’ll need to get him a ticket as well; with a student ticket he can only sit in the student section. My D is going to try to get the “A” package so she won’t have a student ticket to that game anyway.</p>
<p>Registration
Family Weekend 2012 registration will go live on June 4, 2012.</p>
<p>Ok, I don’t know if it is just because of Parents Weekend or because there is a game but all the hotels that are available are incredibly expensive.</p>
<p>All game weekends are like that in regards to hotel rates. Rates get raised 300% or more. I don’t have anymore rooms for Parent’s weekend but I have hotel rooms at great rates for all other game weekends. If someone needs one then PM me.</p>
<p>I just changed our Parents Weekend hotel today. We’d been booked in Birmingham but I found a pretty good rate at the Yellow Hammer Inn.</p>
<p>Was just checking Hotels out… YIKES… Capstone is $715/night… are you kidding??? I had no idea game weekends would get this crazy, even the cheaper ones are over $250/night. Thinking of bringing a tent! ;-)</p>
<p>I think it is unfair for them to do that to parents. Yes, it would be nice to go to a game with my son, but my main goal is to see him, and they have made that impossible for many people.</p>
<p>It has nothing to do with parents. Bama football is big business and has been so for 100 years. Hotels are always gonna jack rates up when they know it’s a busy weekend. It’s a simple case of supply & demand. Like the great line in The Godfather. “It’s not personal, it’s business”.</p>
<p>They do the same thing in other college towns for football weekends. We paid $500 a night last year for the Penn St game in Happy Valley and that was actually one of the lower rates. The rates in New Orleans for the National Championship game were even higher. </p>
<p>I’ve always been able to get at least one room in Tuscaloosa for each football weekend at good rates. This year I have rooms for every weekend at either the ambassador inn or the Wingate for under $100 a night. But I can’t share my secrets otherwise I’d probably get shut out next year.</p>
<p>Basic economics… supply and demand! I know of someone whose job at Southwest Airlines is to research events in their destination cities for the sole purpose of increasing rates for those dates. </p>
<p>Our oldest child is graduating from a Big 12 school next month. We don’t have a local room for graduation even though we started trying early last fall. I’ve heard of some schools where the parents book rooms for graduation when they bring their student in for move-in as freshmen.</p>
<p>Planning ahead is the key! Even when it’s not a game weekend, if there’s a large school event going on, the hotel rooms are going to be expensive, move-in weekend, graduation, move-out. If you don’t mind driving a little, you can look outside of the Tuscaloosa area and can get something cheaper. Also, you can try calling the hotels directly. I would guess that most families look forward to being able to go to a game for family weekend. Usually you can’t even get tickets to a game. At least this way, you can get tickets at face value. </p>
<p>Like casinoexec said, football is, has and always will be big business at Bama, and thanks to it the university makes a lot of money which allows them to invest in the school. </p>
<p>We didn’t go to parents weekend this year, nor are we going to go next year. We’d rather go when we can attend a better game! You could always visit your son on a different weekend.</p>
<p>Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the hotels jack up the prices when they know something is going on because they have large vacancies for days when nothing is going on. I guess it’s the way they can stay in business. </p>
<p>I know how frustrating it is. :(</p>
<p>Be aware that on many football weekends or other big weekends there is often a two night minimum stay at some hotels. I’d never pay $715 or even $250 for the Capstone. We just returned home after staying there. Although this visit was fine, those prices are way out of line for the quality of the rooms and we’ve had some pretty awful experiences there in the past. At the Capstone you always want to check the online price first before calling them. There was a pretty fair difference per night for our recent stay if we booked online rather than by phone. Do this even if you join the parent’s club because you will find you often do not receive the best rate with the parents club as promised. Calling produced a rate of $141, parent’s club reduced it to $115, and online we found it for $89 with a free upgrade to club level. Granted, earlier this week was not busy.</p>
<p>Because the Yellow Hammer is about 20 minutes away not as many people know about it. It’s a good place to stay. The rooms are larger than most hotels in the area which is nice if you are traveling with children, it is quiet, and the parking spaces actually fit my SUV. Take a camera and snap a picture with the elephant statue in front of the club during your stay.</p>
<p>I just think they shouldn’t have Parents Weekend when there is a game. It’s called Parents Weekend because the parents want to see their kids, not a football game.</p>
<p>I just plugged in a reservation request at the Greystone Inn in Vance, AL checking in Sept 21 & checking out Sept. 23 (Family Weekend) and got a quote for a king bed, two adults at $149.00/night.</p>
<p><a href=“https://res.windsurfercrs.com/bbe/page1.aspx?pcode=GYGREY[/url]”>https://res.windsurfercrs.com/bbe/page1.aspx?pcode=GYGREY</a></p>
<p>I’ve stayed there. It ain’t fancy but it gets the job done and the staff is super nice. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Ha ha, no football game for parent’s weekend? That’s how they get the parents to show up!</p>
<p>Jk, but we were glad that we got to see a game parents weekend, otherwise… S had absolutely no time to spend with us with pledge activities. There was lunch at the fraternity and then we saw him Sunday night at 10 pm for a snack at the waffle house.</p>
<p>There was lunch at</p>
<p>They really need to fix this iPad app. I can never edit the last line, as it opens advanced options every time.</p>
<p>Parent’s weekend can be any weekend you’d like it to be if seeing a game isn’t important to you. Away game weekends make great times to visit. No crowds, cheap hotel rooms, and great weather. Most like to see a game though and it’s one of the few games that people can actually get tickets to at face value (or even below). Personally I’d choose the Ole Miss game instead of Parent’s weekend. Tickets won’t be much higher and it will be a much better game. Texas A&M and auburn are the two good home games this year but ticket prices will be high. </p>
<p>As others have said, if you want to get a good price on a hotel room you have to plan way ahead and book as soon as they open reservations for the following year. For most hotels that is exactly a year in advance and some have it at 48 weeks.</p>
<p>ProudMama3</p>
<p>My husband would look at you like you were from MARS is he heard you say that! lol</p>
<p>Our main TV has been on the NFL draft for the LAST THREE DAYS, he knows ALL THE PLAYERS (their HS, COllege, stats, etc) as well as the needs of the NFL teams…He screams when a good draft is made, he screams LOUDER when a bad draft is made (or a draft “steals” a prime player from “his” team further down in the draft).</p>
<p>Football is a BIG DEAL in the everyday lives of most Dads, and many moms, and sending your kiddo to a powerhouse like 'Bama is almost a religious experience for many.</p>
<p>Those of us who will likely only get to visit during the schoolyear once or twice would be verrrrry disapointed if a Crimson Tide football game was not included in the Parent’s Weekend activities…</p>
<p>The prices ARE just business…but that business likely helped build the dorm, classroom or other facility our kiddos enjoy, AND, for some, might well have helped with funding that scholarship which made the entire education possible.</p>
<p>I feel your (financial) pain, but look for the work-arounds and you will get to experience 'Bama gameday! Personally, I can’t sleep just anticipating it!</p>