So we made the mistake of not booking a hotel right away for the Open House in April and now it looks like most hotels are full with the exception of some super budget motels. Any suggestions where we could stay within reasonable distance of Cal Poly?
Try Avila Beach or Shell Beach. It’s about 12 miles to campus.
Morro Bay. Nice beach community and easy drive to campus.
Dolphin Bay Resort on Shell Beach. Very nice property and an easy drive to campus.
Try looking through Airbnb.
Camping in the area is popular. Lots of nice RV parks. Can even rent a trailer that sleeps 4-6 where they deliver to campgrounds. There are nice ones in Pismo Beach, fully hooked up.
Avila Beach is only like 2 square blocks; it’s really really small.
If you get pushed out of SLO, there are indeed a few resort hotels in Shell Beach but they are quite pricey on account of being on the beach.
Pismo Beach proper has some really small, basic, motels downtown. Arroyo Grande has the bigger well-known national chains. 15 minute drive to Poly.
Thanks for everyone’s suggestions. We will likely stay in Morro Bay.
sidenote:
In case you want to drive the 1 north of Morro Bay, it’s closed due to erosion or a landslide.
Ok. Thanks.
We have stayed at the Hampton Inn in Arroyo Grande. It is a nice, clean hotel and an easy, rather quick drive to SLO.
Or do what I did when I visited and go a week before or after open house. You’ll get a better “feel” of the campus during the normal school weeks. I know it doesn’t quite have the catch that open house does, but your son or daughter seeing the vibe of 20,000 students during passing time or seeing students hands on doing work is very rewarding.
I remember all the labs I toured when I came because the tours at Cal Poly are awesome and if you can find one of the teachers who will show you around its well worth it. Now I work in most of these labs and make sure that when tours come by I can give them a quick rundown of whats going on. One time I found a this poor father and daughter who were lost and missed their tour… So I gave them my own 45 min tour inside all the engineering buildings and student labs. She ended up attending the next year and we are good friends now.
Keep checking the hotels. UCSD, UCSB and UCD have their open houses on the same weekend. As admissions to other schools are released, some who booked hotels early on may decide to visit other schools and will cancel their SLO reservations.